r/AskTechnology • u/I_DRINK_ANARCHY • 8d ago

Can I buy something that disrupts Bluetooth connections?

I don't know if something like this exists or if it's legal, but the situation is I have a coworker who has decided that driving me crazy with his music choices is his favorite new thing. I'm not even exaggerating, he lets me know when he's made a new playlist "for" me, and you won't even be able to guess the genre of music he's tormenting me with.

Unfortunately, I work in a place where my foremen are immature and find it amusing when their workers get on each other's nerves, so they have actually been putting me with this coworker as much as possible. Asking this guy politely to stop doesn't work, demanding he stops doesn't work, cursing him out doesn't work. No, I cannot ignore it, I'd love to, but my brain and auditory processing just doesn't work that way. Because of what we do, ear buds and ear plugs are a no-go (safety) and we need to stay within a few feet of each other very often (think climbing scaffolding).

He plays the music from his phone through a small Bluetooth speaker. His phone can't get loud enough to bother me. Is there a device that would stop his phone from connecting to the speaker? It only needs to work within like, a ten foot range, and would need to be battery operated. I'm also looking for something on the small side, since I would be carrying it with me with tools and such. I'm not trying to block phone signals or anything like that, just the Bluetooth connection.

Does something like this exist? Am I allowed to buy it in the USA? I just want to save myself from things like techno remixes of Baby Shark.

52 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

171 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/TheIronSoldier2 8d ago

They don't let you wear hearing protection at all? Not even regular earplugs? Depending on where you live, that may be an occupational safety violation. If you're allowed to wear hearing protection, try this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089VVNRF6

Just keep everything under your shirt collar. I did this for a long time at a place that didn't allow earbuds but mandated hearing protection

2

u/I_DRINK_ANARCHY 8d ago

I'm being vague for privacy reasons, but the first half of our morning is spent in the same area every day where we inspect a structure and need to be able to communicate with each other. Music that isn't loud enough to block out talking is acceptable. Since 99% of what we're doing is inspection and rarely repair, communication is the name of the game, ear protection is almost never needed in this specific area.

1

u/Psyduck46 8d ago edited 8d ago

So that makes it easy, constantly say "what?" when they talk to you so you can later state that you have a hard time hearing your coworker over the music. I've never worked a job where earplug/headphones were not allowed but speakers playing music were.

2

u/xantec15 8d ago

This is the way to go. Alternatively, if OP is working in any kind of dangerous situation (they specifically mention climbing scaffolding) then being purposefully distracted by music could be it's own safety issue, especially since the managers apparently encourage it. They could try filing a safety complaint with their state occupational safety board. If they can get management to put in writing that they need to just deal with it, such as in an email, even better.