&gt; it&#x27;s far easier to pop your head up and discuss a quick question<p>Oh man I hated it when people did that. I&#x27;ve been working from home for 5 years now and it&#x27;s pretty great, except for my hatred of people not being able to use instant messaging properly.<p>Back when I worked in an office, if I was intent on my work, some idiot would inevitably need me and because I was thinking I wouldn&#x27;t hear them. So they&#x27;d go, &quot;Phil. Phil. Phil! PHIL! PHIIIIILLLLL!!!!&quot; which is when they get my attention. Not realising of course that to me it feels like some wanker has just screamed &quot;PHHIIIIIILLL!!!&quot; in my ear whilst everyone laughs.<p>My new hatred is how people think instant messaging means ALWAYS getting instant feedback. So you&#x27;re sat there working on something and realise someone&#x27;s sent you a message 10 mins ago. It says, &quot;Hi Phil&quot;. So I respond, &quot;Hi&quot;. Now they&#x27;ve gone to the toilet or something and come back and say, &quot;Hi, so my question is...&quot;. Why don&#x27;t people ever just put, &quot;Hi Phil, my question is...&quot; right at the beginning? That way when I read your message I can answer you and we don&#x27;t have to guarantee we&#x27;re both at the keyboard.<p>And whilst on a rant, I also hate, &quot;shouting across the room&quot;. This is where someone sets up a group chat for something, and then ends up using that group chat for the next six months even when they actually just want to speak to one person. Because it happens to be in their &quot;Recent&quot; list on Skype.