Is there a polite way to ask someone to stop laughing?

i can't stand the noises my co-workers make -- but i've resigned myself to the fact that they are just going to make 'em.

guy in the next aisle, for example, likes to exhale. .a lot. .loudly.

he also likes to use his desk as a set of bongos.

he also also is good at making this cricket-whistle sound.

after the first hundred times it got really old.

i just bite my tongue and live with it because i'm the one who brought the guy in in the first place!

most people are simply not self-aware; .some figure it out;. others never do.

i don't think there's a good way to tell someone they are annoying you...

Is there a bad way?

heck yeah!

however, they may never speak to you again.

if that ain't important to you, go for it...

I think I have an annoying laugh. And I laugh a lot as well.

My boys told me they can find me at the ballpark from it. That is embarrassing.

Not sure how to fix it though. How does one refine the laugh? How can I make it better and still be honest in presentation?

I totally get annoying - but really - not sure there is a nice way to do it without totally making the poor person totally self-conscious.

I shall think on it. Can you practice a laugh you want until it becomes normal? ugh. I always though my laugh was like Julia Roberts - until I heard it on a video. It is so not. Very disappointing what is in my head and what is in fact reality.

Try: "YO CLOWN BOY . . . shut the **** up!"

Personally I prefer the direct approach but if it isn't an option for some reason....in lieu of diplomacy...saying to the person's face that the laugh is a distraction....you gotta love those sound-deadening ear plugs. They cut that sort of thing right out without blocking out the fire alarms. Then there's using earphones and listening to iPod music. At work, I prefer listening to instrumentals or classical.

Anonymously dropping a muzzle on his desk could also bring the point across.

"Hello there, what's happening? ... Uhh hmm, we're going to need to go ahead and have you stop laughing all the time, we, ahhh, find it annoying. So, if you could just go ahead and stop laughing, that would be terrific ... Mmkay?"

ummmmm - she said POLITE. This is not Bizarro World.

Oh - nevermind - that was the bad way. Gotcha. My bad.
That was a very good bad way.

Things like whistling or pen clicking can be controlled, and fall under the realm of "please stop that"

However, people don't really control the way they laugh, so sorry, suck it up.

Maybe drop an anonymous note on his desk listing what's bothering you. "Your desk is not a bongo drum and this is a workplace... your drumming is distracting others, so please stop." kinda thing.

Seriously though. People can change the way they sing. And if they practice it enough they can change their style and make it effortless.

So why can't one change a laugh?

btw, I used to work with someone who had one of those braying donkey laughs. I hated her on top of it, and wanted to slit her throat.

Yeah...bad combo.
If you are going to have an annoying laugh the least you could do is not be annoying on top of it.

Look:
http://www.wikihow.com/Change-Your-Laugh

I think you can change your laugh if you're doing one of those "it's time to laugh now, so I will sound this way" As in a group situation where everyone is expected to laugh, or if it's one of those polite laughs you give someone to indicate you agree with someone, or want to show mild amusement.

However, when you're REALLY laughing, trying to control how you sound would be like trying to analyze an orgasm while you're having it.

What a miserable life it would be if every time you gave a genuine laugh, you had to wonder if it was acceptable to others.

It wouldn't be a genuine laugh any more, but what you thought others wanted to hear, and that's pretty messed up.

You know, I think that's kinda sad.

Feeling so insecure about yourself that you can't even have the pleasure of being happy and laughing.

Besides, look who's in the video.....really young people who look like they're afraid to be themselves.

Don't you think that is what happens when someone says they have an annoying laugh though?

I googled it - and there are tons of sites on how to change your laugh.

Apparently it happens quite a bit.

I do think that it affects young people more.

I heard myself on a video the other day and was horrified. But my thinking is - what the hell? I will just avoid listening to myself laugh (the whole "bury your head in the sand approach"). I do have a polite indoor laugh. Maybe it is just about being consciously aware of where you are when you are laughing.

I believe in employing subtlety in solving life's little problems.

Obviously.