If you were to have to hire between these two people...

[lulu]

Hands down I'd go for the positive attitude.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

A decent worker with a great, positive attitude. The great worker will bring everyone else down from all of their negativity.

I agree.

 

[Alistra]

Where can I purchase these Happypants (tm)? Do they come in plus sizes? Will they make my butt look big(ger)?*


*see, I already have concerns.

LOL I almost spit my drink on the monitor!

 

[Amethyste]

Being a woman or a man - shouldn't be a factor - given here that there is so little to go on. You cannot really discriminate, regardless.

But positive attitude is far better than the bitchy one. I am surrounded by people with the bitchy attitude and i hear it day in and day out. I just want a pair of earplugs and block those "wah-wah-wah" and have some serenity!

 

[VRBeauty]

The great attitude, any day. Who needs a co-worker that everyone wants to avoid working with? The only exception is someone whose duties would allow them to work from home almost all the time... we actually have one person, basically a programmer, like that. He's seriously non-social and generally negative but a he does great work. We only see him in the office once or twice a month/

 

[Scorpioanne]

A decent worker with a postive attitude as rotten attitudes can be contagious.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

A negative attitude can be directly associated with lack of productivity, motivation, and team work. I don't see how a person could be classified as a great worker if they bitch and moan all the time.

 

[Tuckins1]

Decent worker with positive attitude. They can always be trained and improve on their skills. Bad attitudes are bad no matter how you try to help them.

 

[iheartscience]

I think I'd pick the great worker. I get frustrated with mediocre employees whether they have a good attitude or not.

 

[Ninna]

Depending on the field. A Natural Positive Attitude is a must when you are trying to sell your product

 

[Amandine]

My perspective is probably colored by being a retail manager, but I would take the happy worker. We have had a "Debbie Downer" on staff before and even when they are a great worker...it makes everyone else foul tempered eventually, too.

 

[MissMina]

Negative people drain me

 

[Jennifer W]

I'd hire the positive attitude person.
I shared an office with a bitch about the company person for a couple of years. By the time that person moved on, I hated my job and hated the organisation I worked for. Looking back, there were issues, but not nearly as bad as I was encouraged to believe. If I'd been in an office on my own, or with someone who had a positive outlook, I'd probably still be working there quite happily. Not saying it was perfect, but the constant drip, drip, drip of negativity (and high drama on occasion) made me see the worst. I was a fair bit younger then, and maybe more easily influenced than I would be now, but with hindsight, that person was poisonous to morale while being very good at the actual job.

Jen

 

[yssie]

Deco, I'd hire you in a heartbeat, you'd be the life of the office (in one way or another)


I'd take the great worker, stick him in a corner office, and put him/her to work. "Decent work" doesn't take a company to the top of the food chain, no matter how sweet and smiley the people are.

 

[pennquaker09]

Well, if the person is truly happy and not in a fake way, I would hire them with the expectation that they would grow and improve. However, as a personal rule, I don't like fake people. I would much rather be around a negative but honest person. Plus, I sort of feel like if you're a rockstar at what you do, you sort of have the right to bitch. Now, you need to be 100% sure you're right, because otherwise, yes, that would be draining.

 

[cara]

People that can't imagine a malcontent being good at what they do probably haven't been around a certain type of work environment enough... Ok this is stereotyping, but I can think of several types of union jobs where most of the workforce is some level of disgusted/ horrified / really displeased with management on a regular basis. And sometimes the most competent people are the ones most fed up with management and most likely to be bitching. Sometimes this results in people being lazy and just putting in their time, but sometimes people are still performing stellar work in spite of their difficulties with management. Because their safety and livelihood depend on it, or their coworkers are counting on them to do their job, or they have pride in their work and are used to horrible relations with management.

Anyway, I think it really depends on the type of job needing doing and the work environment. There are some jobs that are challenging enough and important enough to a company, and the person's malcontentedness can be sufficiently cordoned off from infecting others, that you hire the more competent person with the bad attitude, and there are a lot of other jobs and work environments where the better attitude will be more valuable that the extra skill. So it does kinda depend on the job and exact type of unfortunate personality traits.

 

[LGK]

I do the hiring and interviewing at my work. I always hire for personality and how I feel they will fit into the group. I have had WAY too many terrible experiences with people who were good workers on their own, but their bad attitude disabled all the other people working around them- and that is just not OK, and the net result is far worse than if they were just a mediocre worker.

Plus the people w/ the good, engaging personalities and great attitudes are usually much more trainable.

In years past under old mangament we had a very cliquish environment here, and the work environment was horrible, very demoralizing for lots of the employees. I worked very, very hard to change that environment and avoid having it return- so one way I do that is only by hiring people I think will mesh with the existing group well. And that means that personality and attitude trumps experience every time.

Granted we are a customer service business and no extensive skills are required, other than at the front desk and some knowledge of antiques.

 

[elrohwen]

Positive attitude.

I'm all about good work environments and I don't think someone can really be a great employee, no matter how hard he works individually, if everybody wants to push him down an elevator shaft any chance they get. I also think that, sometimes, people who complain constantly about the organization or their position are generally positive people who just aren't a good fit for one reason or another. Other times, they are just negative people in general. I wouldn't want either of those people working with me or for me.

 

[swimmer]

TGal,
What you wrote about your husband would make him a great advocate. My group has to hire advocated all the time because they sadly burn out while fighting the good fight. A really great one will battle for a kid to get all the resources that a school can give her and then some. An advocate is not a smiley "fine" person to work with, the kid would not get her needs served if the advocate is "fine" and easy to work with. I want a byotch on wheels who will go to the mat for each of the kids on his/her roster and fight a draconian system so that it meets the needs of these special students. So here is a vote for those who howl at the moon and refuse to accept mediocrity!

Mostly I guess that it really depends on the field. I've known amazing teachers who were malcontents in the coffee room but rockstars in the classroom. As long as that situation wasn't flipped (and many Smiley Sallys are great to work with but mediocre as teachers) I say it just takes all kinds.

 

[Karl_K]

Because of the laws being the way they are it depends on the persons sex.

Lady - good worker
Guy - great worker

People who like to complain are not happy unless they have something to complain about.
So give them something minor to complain about and they will often perform well.
Smallest office?
No window?
Last lunch time?
Extra duties?
You got it.

Do that to a female even if it is the best thing for them and you can get sued.

 

[Hest88]

It really depends on the work involved. Someone who is, say, a programmer or researcher or someone else who may not need to manage or interact with people can easily get away what a bad attitude. However, if they have any chance of tainting a group, then you want the one with the positive attitude.

That said, I work in a dept that is constantly complaining to each other. However, when we turn to our jobs I'd say most of us are considered high performers. I think we just all have this sarcastic personality but we're able to turn it off when necessary. Plus, we are all still inspired by certain aspects of our jobs.

 

[omieluv]

Ideally, you would want someone with a nice disposition who exceeded expectations, but that individual is quite rare, as u know. It really comes down to what the requirements of the job are in order to decide what is of greater value for the role. In other words, if the role has minimal exposure to customers and working in a team environment, I would say personality is would be further down on the list. However, if there is team and customer interaction, personality becomes important.

Also, when looking at the person who has the negative attitude, we must explore why this person has it. Is the foul attitude work related? If so, is there anything that can be done to alleviate some of those issues? Consider the fact that this negative person might be negative because they take on too much responsibility. Of course, you may never really know why this person has a negative attitude, but you might be able to coach that person down the road. Also consider that the individual with the positive attitude might change over time, it happens, I have seen it in the workplace before. For example, there was a person in my office who was what people would characterize as positive, until she was promoted.

Sorry if I am rambling, it's late...

 

[iheartscience]

Because of the laws being the way they are it depends on the persons sex.

Lady - good worker
Guy - great worker

People who like to complain are not happy unless they have something to complain about.
So give them something minor to complain about and they will often perform well.
Smallest office?
No window?
Last lunch time?
Extra duties?
You got it.

Do that to a female even if it is the best thing for them and you can get sued.

Hahahaha this is good. I'm going to assume you were joking because I can't believe anyone would say something so ridiculous and NOT be joking.

 

[Steel]

Short answer:

I'd hire the bitchy better worker. Because they would be better able for the job.

Longer answer:

I think that people do not have to be all lovey dovey. Jobs need to get done. If people do them then what is the problem? I have worked with crazy bitching moaning people who were crap at their own job and that bugged me. But only because they did not get the irony.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

Because of the laws being the way they are it depends on the persons sex.

Lady - good worker
Guy - great worker

People who like to complain are not happy unless they have something to complain about.
So give them something minor to complain about and they will often perform well.
Smallest office?
No window?
Last lunch time?
Extra duties?
You got it.

Do that to a female even if it is the best thing for them and you can get sued.

... Please be kidding.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

Because of the laws being the way they are it depends on the persons sex.

Lady - good worker
Guy - great worker

People who like to complain are not happy unless they have something to complain about.
So give them something minor to complain about and they will often perform well.
Smallest office?
No window?
Last lunch time?
Extra duties?
You got it.

Do that to a female even if it is the best thing for them and you can get sued.

... Please be kidding.

 

[Karl_K]

Hahahaha this is good. I'm going to assume you were joking because I can't believe anyone would say something so ridiculous and NOT be joking.

:}
stirring the pot a little, it gets boring having to be good all the time lol
Im just shocked it took that long for someone to comment