So, I work in a rather large building with a good amount of people on shift at any given time. 500+, pretty casual, as we're a gaming company, so everyone is pretty relaxed. Like, I can tell my boss (jokingly) to shut up, and he'll tell me to "hold the *eff* on" and stuff, and we're cool. The operation runs 24 hours, 7 days a week, so you can imagine people tend to get pretty comfortable with one another.

However, there is one thing that really, REALLY bothers me.

There is one guy in particular that sneezes obnoxiously loud. Like, I'm not even kidding, this dude, is LOUD. Our building U shaped, and about 3 blocks down one leg, and you can get shivers and hear him loud and clear on the opposite end of the building WITH your iPod on (can you tell this is me? Lol). This sneeze is completely ear shattering, and is comically drawn out to be this huge build up to a head-imploding shriek and yell.

"ahhh .... AHHhhhhh ... ah ... ahhhhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW-
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!"

No joke. Not only that, but I've had the unfortunate opportunity to sit next to this guy, and when he sneezes (I think I jumped about 2 feet out of my seat because this time, the sneeze snuck up and kind of detonated like someone smashed a grenade with a sledgehammer), he sprays his keyboard, monitors and desk with saliva and other nasal fluids. It's so gross.

When approached about it, he always smiles and laughs, and proudly explains that he has a health condition or some such thing. He never elaborates (which he doesn't have to of course), but the sneeze is so obnoxious, I wonder if there even is such a type of illness that would cause you to have to be so loud. He's very cocky about it too, and I'm wondering if this is just some type of attention grabbing thing, or something he does to get people to talk to him? I don't know.

Well, he sneezes at least once an hour, and it's so distracting. I'll be working on something and adding numbers or whatever, and this sneeze just makes me lose my bearings and want to chuck my monitor out the window, lol. I mean, I'm laughing about it, but it really is frustrating. And it can't just be me that is annoyed by this, because when it happens, the dull murmur of voices and other noise suddenly stops, BUILDING WIDE, and kind of hangs for a second. Sometimes, you can hear the random snicker, or giggle too.

Does this sound like something I should bring up with HR? Am I whining? Lol Or should I just crank up my iPod a bit more and hope I don't a) lose my hearing from loud music, and/or b) catch some kind of bacteria from the spray that likely spews hundreds of feet from his mouth?

Gah.

Before you go doing that he needs to maybe figure out what he could be allergic to
Something as simple as the AC being too cold could cause him to sneeze.
I'd hate to see him lose his job over sneezing but I know it can be annoying.

I sneeze really loud to and I know it can't be helped
He may be cocky about it because it is his way of being defensive.

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Difficult... not only the sneeze but the spray from it, not very healthy for anyone in the vicinity.
Could you maybe move to another work station? OK you'll still hear him but will be clear from the spray.
Maybe when he's not sneezing, you could have a casual chat finding out a bit more about his condition and perhaps suggest a different medication he might try or even a visit to his doctor, after all it must be really embarrassing for him especially being that there is nothing he can do...

Haha that really sucks I'm sorry that you have to deal with that at work..

So the guy doesn't even cover his mouth when he sneezes? That's so weird! And it sucks that it's disturbing the whole office..

Maybe if you talk to HR they can then talk to him and may ask him to figure out what he's allergic to and maybe take some medication for his allergies.. it's not just disturing you, it's the whole workplace.. gosh that would be so annoying sorry

There isn't much you can do about the noise factor, but him not covering his mouth could get other employees, and that's what your company needs to focus on.

I know that if I ran around unshowered, sneezing everywhere without disregard for everyone else I'd get fired...

Thanks for sharing that story today though, I think that made my day (its been a rough one)