Co-Workers who Look over your Shoulder while You're on your Computer

[JanetRose]

Annoying! Especially when they do it quietly so you don't know they are there or they ask you what are you looking at or doing?

 

[Art 1]

I'll bet. Buy a mirror and set it next to the computer.

 

[Kaspar Houser]

Would not bother me if I was doing the work the boss pays me for.
On the other hand if I was wasting time on Facebook,booking a vacation or surfing sex sites, commenting on the DIS during work time than yes it would bother me

 

[elaine amj]

I would hate that. I recently moved offices and the new office had the desk set up with my back to the door. I insisted on switching it around (massive corner desk that was hard to move) so I faced the door instead.

None of my coworkers would sneak up on me though.

 

[njmom47]

I sit in the back of my department so I can see what everyone is doing at all times. So technically, this is meHowever, some people have their monitors angled so unless you are standing right there you wouldn't really be able to see. And we all face the entrance to our department so we all see when someone is on their way.
That would definitely creep me out though!

 

[Coconut36]

As in they just creep up and start watching you? I find that odd and unprofessional. Why would anyone do that and who appointed them "monitor of everyone".

It's one thing if they are waiting for you to finish (phone or typing) to get your attention or standing behind you waiting while you pull something up that they need/asked for. That I can understand. I don't get randomly walking up behind people at watching them for no reason.

 

[tvguy]

Doesn't bother me, they usually catch my mistakes, saving me a bunch of time and trouble.

 

[NMAmy]

Would not bother me if I was doing the work the boss pays me for.

Reallly? Because much of the work my company pays me for is confidential--student information, budget including salaries, HR work such as hiring, terminations, and disciplinary actions. So, yeah, it wouldn't just bother me if someone was reading over my shoulder without my permission but it would bother my boss and HR, as well.

It's rude and unprofessional to sneak up behind someone and read over their shoulder.

 

[Gigi22]

Agreed--of course, the real question is, why isn't the snooper at his/her workstation and doing the work they are paid to do? That's what I'd be asking them, quite loudly, too!

 

[okeydokey]

When I worked handling confidential information in the past, the company bought a security screen for the monitor. You could only see what was on the screen if you were directly in front of it.

 

[Coconut36]

Reallly? Because much of the work my company pays me for is confidential--student information, budget including salaries, HR work such as hiring, terminations, and disciplinary actions. So, yeah, it wouldn't just bother me if someone was reading over my shoulder without my permission but it would bother my boss and HR, as well.

It's rude and unprofessional to sneak up behind someone and read over their shoulder.

I agree. Nobody needs to be lurking over their peers shoulder and I worked in the CC industry. On proprietary technology projects or dealing with data that was secure/confidential customer data..nobody should be lurking around peering at that stuff.

Agreed--of course, the real question is, why isn't the snooper at his/her workstation and doing the work they are paid to do? That's what I'd be asking them, quite loudly, too!

I was thinking that too..snoopers not doing work if they are snooping!

 

[cluvsdisney]

The way my desk is positioned, there is no reason for someone to stand behind me unless I am showing them something on my computer. Every once in a while someone will walk past my desk and stand behind me and I ask them to move around to the side. It's not that I am dong something I am not supposed to be doing, they don't need to be there.

 

[canopynut66]

have mirror on my desk at work and it does help the sneak up on ya BUT another was is to say when the startle you is --OH excuse me did you need womething? and not alway but more than not saying it loud enough will stop the sneaky ones.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

That's why I have my desk facing my office door, I hate it when people come up from behind....

 

[Cinerbelle]

Office BS like this is what makes me so so thankful that I work from home. Not only does no one read over my shoulder... no one knows when I'm working in my P.J's!!

 

[luvsJack]

The way my desk is sitting right now, everyone has to walk behind me to get out the door. Most people don't linger around to see what I am doing--not even my boss walks up to see what I am doing.

But, right now they are doing some work in our office so that I will be able to move my office to face the door and no one will just walk up behind me. And while the workers are in there, they have a horrible habit of not only seeing what I am doing but reading it and COMMENTING ON IT!!!

Normally, first thing in the morning my boss will give me several things to do plus there are just some things I do every week--like payroll. Once all that is finished, I mostly just answer the phone and "put out fires" for the VP--like mad parents or complaining students that say they can't get any help, so if the time is available, I work on the classes I am taking and sometimes I get on the DIS. These guys now know where I am taking classes, what kind of classes I am taking and what my degree will be in all by looking over my shoulder.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I can't stand people coming up behind me like that. At a previous company, my cube had a wrap-around desk with extra chairs & sometimes people would come in behind me and sit down quietly without me even knowing they were there. When IT set up my new cube, I told them to spin me around facing the "door" or not to bother setting me up at all

 

[momof1princess]

thank goodness, my desk faces the opposite wall, and my office door is just to the left of that wall, so everyone who comes in is in front of me and to my left. if someone were walking up behind me and watching me work, i'd be really creeped out.

when i sat at the front desk, my boss could walk up to the front office from his office and see what i was doing when he walked through the doorway, but he didn't do it much. he doesn't really care what i'm doing, as long as i get the work done. i'm only part-time anyway (28 hours per week).

we're getting a new children's/youth pastor in two weeks, and there's going to be some office-swapping, so it'll be interesting to see where i end up, if i move at all.

 

[ArielsVoice]

I couldn't agree more! I'm in my own office, however, my door is always open and in a busy hallway. I kid you not, every person who walks by my door peers in as they pass. Like a previous poster I too work with confidential information so I always feel as though I need to be on my toes for any passers by!

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

My husband does that, makes me want to poke him in the eye.