I was about to post a non-sequitur "well do this" reply, but honestly, I just haven't got a bulletproof answer, only one that reflects what I really want to do and probably won't work for everyone.

You will probably come to the answer more quickly now that you've actually seriously brought it up and posted it on a public forum.

In the meantime, I've found that at my company, work is much more bearable (and I get more done) if I (politely) get into other peoples' business without asking.