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It is horribly frustrating when I am deep in thought and some conversation (even work related) bursts out around me and I am distracted.

Amen to that brother.... I have a cow orker that does that. A lot. He typically waits until I'm leaning forward reading something on the screen, the blurts out "Mason! I saw this really cool Warcraft vid yesterday, wanna see it'?

FRICK.... Now I have to re-read that entire paragraph about how to properly set up security settings in Exchange 2003 again. It's like he has no sense about when it's apropriate to goof off, and when it isn't, or when I'm busy and when I'm not. There are only three of us in the office proper, with the manager sitting in an adjoining office. For myself, I'm constantly working out fairly complex things by myself. I would be MUCH more productive in my own office. A few years ago, when I did more (I do almost none now) actual end-user tech support, it was great to be able to bounce ideas off each other. With my new position, people interrupting me can completely kill my train of thought, making me much less effective. And MUCH more pissed off.