"THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK From a Mile Away" Topic

In the maintenance headquarters where I work, a few of the women office workers wear some kind of thick heeled shoe that makes the subject noise.

I am often in my office with my door closed, talking excitedly with a group of trades people with a lot of loud voices. I'm half deaf (big guns ka-booming around me when I was an armour soldier a century ago) and the trades people are used to communicating in loud booming voices in noisy environments. I hear similar thunderous cacophony coming from other managers' and supervisors' offices all the time – and when people are angry about something (surprisingly very infrequently, despite being in a union environment – we do pretty well on that front) it's an order of magnitude louder, of course.

Yet, cutting through all of that comes a hollow sounding sound that almost vibrates the walls:

THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK

It always comes from certain office ladies. The trades gals who are apprentices or have their ticket/are journeyed wear steel towed boots. They, and everyone else, only softly inform you of their passing by or arrival from a short distance away; or not at all.

I have lately been finding the noise rather annoying. Whether it's in my office or a board room, it's become kind of distracting for me. Possibly because my nerves are wearing out.

I would love to outlaw such footwear, but of course if I even brought this up, they would smile and nod while pressing a secret button for the nut gatherers in white jumpsuits.

So, instead, I've chosen to rant here.

Thank you for reading.
--
Tim

It's almost certainly a fashion that will pass. Hopefully before it gets on your very last good nerve. In the meantime, might one be so bold as to suggest some carpet for the halls?

Tim,

Don't know about you but with my hearing loss, I'm totally dead in some frequencies, but capable in others. In the ones that work, there are certain pitch sounds that once upon a time were fine but now I'd rather hear nails on a blackboard (although some readers only know whiteboards, and it isn't the same) than those sounds.

As for commenting on them getting on your nerves and possibly saying something, I'm reminded of an exchange from a Marx Brothers movie, which goes something like:

Annoyed Aristocrat: "Sir, you are trying my patience!"

Groucho: "You don't say. You'll have to come over and try mine some time."

JJ

Probably Doc Martins. Are the ladies in question fond of women's basketball?

Fiorello: Hey, wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?
Driftwood: Oh, that? Oh, that's the usual clause that's in every contract. That just says, uh, it says, uh, if any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.
Fiorello: Well, I don't know…
Driftwood: It's all right. That's, that's in every contract. That's, that's what they call a sanity clause.
Fiorello: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause!

Doc Martens airwear soles are almost silent apart from on tiled or bare wood floors.

I would be hard pressed to imagine what such noisy footwear might be, particularly if noisier than safety boots. Some form of clog perhaps?

" Rubber soled shoes also produce less noise than steel shoes and jar the hoof less."

I think a word with the company farrier is in order.

cheers