Dear Evil Skippy:
One of my co-workers has the most annoying laugh in the world. I literally want to strangle her when she starts to cackle. How can I make her stop?
— Going Crazy
Dear G.C.:
You “literally” want to strangle her? Really? You are not “going” crazy. You have arrived.
Many readers will be expecting me to recommend Tasers or duct tape as a solution (other than murder) for your problem. Those methods never work against an Annoying Laugher. You need to make sure that nothing is funny, so start talking about dead puppies. Problem solved.
— Evil Skippy
I want to know one thing. Is your co-worker genuinely laughing at something or is she one of those people who loves to be the center of attention and laughs at volumes almost beyond measure in her quest for the spotlight? If it is the latter, tell her to shut up. (Do it respectfully and say something like, “Would you be ever so kind as to stop making such an infernal racket? My latte just curdled.”)
If she’s truly laughing and the laugh is torture for you, all I can suggest is learning to ignore her. And ear plugs. There will always be something to annoy us. Obnoxious laughter is better than a bunch of other options.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!
You are lucky. There is nothing to laugh at where I work.
I’m not a fan of the advice today. I say swing by the Pike Place Market, pick up a 15 lb full body salmon, take it to your office and the next time she laughs swing it by the tail and smack her into next week.
I work with a couple of people who laugh loud and hard at EVERYthing. I can hear one of them from the front of our office and I’m at the back. How can everything be so funny to LOL all the time? I think she does it as a stress reliever and maybe doesn’t realize how annoying it is. How about pouring the curdled latte on the offending laugher while telling him to her to please shut up?
Easy solution: GC should tell the Laugher that s/he wants to strangle her then enjoy the silence as s/he looks for a new job for making threats to a co-worker.
Ooh, Brent. Fish slap calm me! (50 First Dates)