Trickle.

There is a man two doors down from me who is unbelievably loud. He utilizes the "screamerphone" approach to every telephone conversation (i.e. he SCREAMS into the speakerphone) and has it set up to the highest level because he wants everyone on the floor to think that he's important. There's nothing quite as jarring to the nerves as an extremist right winger who literally asks each woman who calls if they want to have phone sex. I kid you not. You would think that a) while he's not an attorney, he was previously in law enforcement and would realize that this constitutes harrasment; and b) he works in a damn law firm. I literally have had clients asked me what was going on because they can hear him yelling in the background. It's that bad. I've complained, but they haven't moved him.

Nonetheless, I can't take the screaming anymore, so each night (I often work late and he's a 9 to 5 kind of guy) I sneak in his office and turn the speakerphone volume all the way down. Our office has an "open door" policy - they like you to keep your doors open if you're not on a confidential call to help with camraderie in the office or something. Well, I can't concentrate unless it's very quiet. And when you're modifiying giant legal documents, you can't afford to be sloppy.

My solution - I put a fountain in my office which plays various nature sounds, etc. I haven't used it in quite a while, but I decided to today. Whew. There is nothing making my day more unproductive than running to the bathroom every ten minutes. Between the extra cups of coffee today and the fountain, I'll be billing most of the day in the loo.