Many things I can ignore: people clicking pens, frequent coughing and loud sneezing etc. However I found it unbearable when the person in front of me cleared his throat every 60 seconds. It was very loud, disgusting and distracting. I never met him before, and had no idea who he was. We don't have assigned desks at work, and just go to whichever is available.
My work place keeps a very close eye on it's employees, and we have to send an email out to a couple people if we need to log off early/unexpectedly. I sent the email, and said I had to move desks because a person near me is making a distracting noise and I couldn't focus, and got the ok.
Was this the right thing to do? I noticed I was distracted enough that I was making mistakes, but I may have been able to tune out the sound after 20 minutes. Would it have been better to address the issue with the person himself? I'm in no way trying to get him in trouble, I realize he may have allergies or something.