Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 14
Communication Breakdown; Distraction
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Procedure
I worked a very busy arrival push into the ZZZ Metroplex.  Because of the lack of staffing; I was forced to work [Position 1] and [Position 2] combined with weather and substantial in-trail requirements which I was physically unable to meet.  The entire workload was pushed onto one controller.  During this time; Operations Manager [name] was a direct distraction to the operation of the sector and a detriment to safety.  His loud conversation caused me to have a difficult time hearing the aircraft.  Eventually; I was forced to ask him to have his conversation further than 3 feet away from me.  Of course; this led me to take my focus away from the task at hand; which was the safety of air traffic.There needs to be some reasonable in-trail requirement restrictions from ZZZ-TMU.  If I have to give 15 miles in trail; and I am only receiving 10 in a sector filled with weather the task is near impossible.  Especially; if the majority of my clearances are 'When able' clearances.  There is just not much you can do to conduct a safe operation in such a situation.This is a direct and detrimental distraction to air traffic safety.  I would avoid having managers enter the control room and have loud conversations about things other than air traffic right behind or beside controllers.
Center Controller working combined position reported communication issues with an aircraft after being distracted by a nearby manager having a loud conversation.