On a more constructive note, I find a good way to keep your concentration and also stop people from disturbing you is to turn on your mp3-player and put on the headphones. This sends the message that you're concentrating and don't want to be disturbed unless necessary and also drowns out unwanted background noise.

People talk to me even when I'm wearing my headphones (technically they're earphones, no head band). I have a mirror on my monitor (my desk faces away from the open door in a shared office, and I can't rearrange) so sometimes I see their mouths moving. It doesn't help that my earphones are sound blocking -- because my officemates play music on external speakers. So I really can't hear anything other than my music.

But still I'll look up and realize that someone has been talking to me -- when I pull out the earphones and say "huh?" they act all exasperated that I haven't heard the last five minutes of conversation. You would think that me typing away on the computer would make it obvious, but no.

I've decided it's a no win situation. Eventually I'll have my co-workers trained to start talking only after I've taken out the earphones, but I'm not optimistic. Maybe I can do some positive feedback and give out cookies when they wait.