Working in a small co-work space, the current office manager constantly and repeatedly (every 10 seconds approximately) produces loud noises (mostly tics) when not engaging in a conversation. A few examples:
- clearing his throat;
- knocking on the table with his knuckles;
- teeth whistling (to mimic the sound of birds);
- horse hoof sounds mimicking (with his tongue)...
These grew in their frequency and intensity since I started working in this place and I am sure I am not the only person being disturbed by these (there is a person sitting right on the same table working on a computer most of the day).
I rarely talk to this manager (a few greetings and very few office related topics, that's all) and I am working on a nearby room, but the sound propagates so well in this office that it is as if I am listening to these sounds right in the same room. Moving to another place is currently not an option.
I always used headphones and recently I started placing head muffs (proper hearing protection) over them, but still some of these sounds are clearly audible. These have been literally ticking me off more often than I'd be glad to admit to, but I never approached this person about this issue (no other person from this co-work space did, I believe).
Only one colleague and friend of this person tried using a shushing sound one day they were together, but still there were no audible results.
I do not want to upset this person, since this manager is the main responsible for the space I am working in, but if I were to approach this subject, how should I do it?
Edit
This question:
What can I do about a very loud coworker?
Is similar but (from my comment):
this manager does not belong to my company and he manages the space I am working in... I have read the answers there but they are targeted to 1) a co-worker's case and 2) using something I am already doing (noise-cancellation/protection muffs).