Things your co-workers to that drive you batty.

[coda72]

After reading all of your descriptions about your coworkers, I am thanking my lucky stars I no longer have coworkers! I had some inconsiderate coworkers also in my past, and that''s part of the reason I''m self-employed now!

 

[Amandine]

Date: 4/8/2009 7:40:20 PM
Author: Irishgrrrl
Coughing. CONSTANT coughing. He has three kids who must bring home every blessed germ that goes through their school, and then give it to dear old Dad. Oh, and that coughing I mentioned? There''s no mouth covering. None at all. And the best part is when he has a bunch of phlegm in his throat and sits there going ''hhhhhhhhck'' to get it out! Bleeeeeeech!!!!!

ETA: Oh, and I forgot to mention the fingernail clipping! And the interrupting me while I''m on the phone with a client!!!

Not to get flamed...but if your co-worker has constant coughing, it could be a medical condition. My sister had cystic fibrosis, and sounded constantly like she had bronchitis. Little old ladies in church (if they didn''t know) would turn around and hand her a mint, "to make her throat feel better."

I know she did not tell everyone, but if you didn''t know I imagine it could be annoying, only there was nothing she could do about it.

As for me...my male co-workers do not always raise the toliet lid and so we find drips on it...and the floor due to bad aim.

 

[Mannequin]

Any of the body clippings and pickings mentioned here = ICK. I am so squicked out by that stuff anyway, it would be doubly gross at work.

There are a lot of cliquey teachers in my building, so there''s always tons of gossip and complaining behind backs. I can''t stand the passive aggressive stuff that some of my coworkers do. Thankfully I work in the most "open" of the grade levels there. We''re not afraid to air out our problems.

Come to think of it, *I* may be the annoying coworker. I have marshmallow fights and dance-off contests in my classroom, feed candy to other teachers'' kids (ha!), and have karate fights with my co-teacher in the hall.

Eh, it''s middle school.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 4/9/2009 5:56:34 PM
Author: Amandine

Date: 4/8/2009 7:40:20 PM
Author: Irishgrrrl
Coughing. CONSTANT coughing. He has three kids who must bring home every blessed germ that goes through their school, and then give it to dear old Dad. Oh, and that coughing I mentioned? There''s no mouth covering. None at all. And the best part is when he has a bunch of phlegm in his throat and sits there going ''hhhhhhhhck'' to get it out! Bleeeeeeech!!!!!

ETA: Oh, and I forgot to mention the fingernail clipping! And the interrupting me while I''m on the phone with a client!!!

Not to get flamed...but if your co-worker has constant coughing, it could be a medical condition. My sister had cystic fibrosis, and sounded constantly like she had bronchitis. Little old ladies in church (if they didn''t know) would turn around and hand her a mint, ''to make her throat feel better.''

I know she did not tell everyone, but if you didn''t know I imagine it could be annoying, only there was nothing she could do about it.

As for me...my male co-workers do not always raise the toliet lid and so we find drips on it...and the floor due to bad aim.

Amandine, I know what you mean . . . if it was a chronic medical condition, that would be one thing. But, when I say "constant" I''m probably not being clear enough. There are short breaks between illnesses where he doesn''t cough at all, so I really think he''s just very susceptible to whatever cold germ may be going around at any given time, and he catches ALL of them! He went to the doctor for this most recent one, and he was diagnosed with bronchitis. He has been on medication, and it is getting a little better . . . but it''s still not gone! And once it IS gone, I''m sure it will only be a matter of time until the next cold comes along.

Honestly, this wouldn''t bother me so much if it weren''t for the fact that he DOES NOT COVER HIS MOUTH!!!!! UGH!!!!! That is just SO completely repulsive to me! I just fail to understand why someone can''t show common courtesy and cover their mouth when they cough/sneeze/whatever. And the hocking of phlegm while he''s sitting there in his office right next to mine . . . EEEEW!!!

 

[gummibear]

These are so funny!

A coworker of mine has a habit of yelling her own name in disapproval when she does something wrong. Let''s say her name is "Sally." She''ll mess up something on the computer and yell, "Oh, Sally!" or "Sally, Sally, Sally!" in a really negative way, the way you''d yell at your dog for eating your shoes! She does this almost EVERY DAY and sometimes I can''t keep from laughing.

 

[Haven]

I teach high school, so I get to spend most of my time during the regular workday with teenagers, who are actually lovely to work with. However, we do get one planning period during the school day, and that''s when we can do the light work associated with teaching--paperwork, make photocopies for class (we lost our department secretary a few years ago due to budget cuts,) call parents, grade a paper or two, etc. I''m not expecting to get serious research or planning or grading done, but it''s valuable time for completing the little tasks.

WELL, my BIGGEST pet peeve is when a coworker ignores the fact that I am obviously trying to get work done during my planning period, and hangs around and talks at me. It doesn''t matter if I have headphones in my ears or if I have my I''m-extremely-behind-and-cannot-do-a-thing-but-work-right-now brow furrow going, *someone* is bound to try to suck up my planning period by talking incessantly. The worst is that most of the time it''s my boss, so it''s really difficult to get out of that.

OH, and not surprising, most of these planning period talkers are people who don''t coach anything or have other after-school obligations or jobs, so they have all the time in the evenings to do their work.

I also really hate it when people steal my food. I caught one culprit last year, he regularly stole the frozen dinners that I brought to take with me to grad school, which meant I''d have to wait until I got home at 9:30 or 10 PM to eat dinner.

 

[Haven]

I forgot one:

Teachers who criticize the way other teachers teach even though they''ve never actually been in the "bad" teacher''s classroom during an actual class.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Wow, it makes me so glad to hear that I''m not the only one here absolutely aggravated by people I work with.

I''ve been on a training program where I work in which I work at various offices/branches for a month or two at a time. One place was basically a huge office building full of hundreds of cubicles. In one cube I was in, I was right next to the file "room" (aka big open cube area) - the 2 ladies that ran it were incessant gossips. I learned so much about their lives that I never needed to know. And they didn''t even know who I was, ha. Another supervisor liked to treat our "cubes" like offices - "OK, we''ll meet in your cube in an hour." Those cubes were all set up with your back facing the cube opening too, and you couldn''t move the computer. I don''t like not being able to do anything without my supervisor being able to sneak up on me whenever they want.

At mu current office, while training, I had to sit in the cubicle area right next to the shared printer/copier/water jug/file cabinet. It was also the area people walked through to get to the boss'' office. So every 5 minutes, people were walking through there. One woman loved to smack her gum - drove me insane when she''d stand there across the wall and smack her gum for 10 minutes while making copies. Another guy liked to "talk to himself" - aka talk loud enough to himself so other people could hear... "OK, I''ve gotta make sure I do this, this, and this today, oh and my wife needs me to get this..."

I took a job at that same office, so thankfully I got a permanent desk in a much better/more private location. But it''s still a big "room" split up into our 5 cubes. One girl likes to greet me when she walks into my office, saying "Hey, how are you doing..." "Oh cool, ok..." and just kind of stands there shuffling her feet - I have to ask her what''s up or what she needed with the papers she brought in. The guy right next to me is by far the most annoying though. He is pretty loud and obnoxious. His cell phone is always on the loud song ring, and rings forEVER when he''s not in the office. I can''t even concentrate when it does. He also talks really loud - hurts my ears all the time. I think he has a hearing problem. When we take office trips to a meeting, he talks so dang loud in the car that he''s practically yelling. UGH.

It''s all good though. I can wear my headphones and mostly keep to myself, thankfully. And no one in my group smells badly or smokes, so I''m usually ok when I can just retreat to my little area. My goal is to one day find a job where I can work at home though.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

FI works with guys who smoke all the time and have horrible habits. He talks about how the men never wash their hands after using the bathroom. One guy has the same skin condition as mentioned on here before - he flakes everywhere, all over the computer desk he shares with other guys who work in the field, and it sticks to the mousepad. YUCKO - thank goodness FI has his own office.

The secretary at his work is the nosiest person alive - she opens people''s mail and reads it, comes in 30 minutes early to get comp time while she reads the newspaper and drinks coffee before everyone else gets there. She basically makes and breaks people''s reputations there, since the bosses just love her for some reason. It''s terrible. And she''s so self-righteous.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Thought about something else - I''m so conscious about making sure my music''s not too loud to bother others, so it annoys me when others don''t. The guy next to me likes to play a video game on his computer during lunch - he never uses headphones, so the music just blares for me to "enjoy." Ha. He likes to play his sports talk radio for the remainder of the day. We live in NC, and our local radio station was broadcasting UNC''s basketball team coming home from the tournament and announcing all the players. I''m the last person to want to hear about UNC, haha, so I definitely could have had that radio be quieter. Fun stuff.

I also hate it when people use my desk area. I''m very germ conscious since people these days can be so unclean. I know most people don''t consider it rude to ask to borrow your pen or something, but I just cringe when I have to take it back. I wish I could say no, but they''d probably see it as rude. I don''t know their handwashing habits, so it grosses me out. BLEGH.

I sanitize my keyboard and mouse after anyone else uses it, even if IT comes just to install some software or something.

 

[beaujolais]

The one who sings, hums, babbles and does little dances all day.

 

[jcarlylew]

i will say for E (who works with DOT) - people who do not bother to do their job, will not get qualified in ares they HAVE TO in order to do their job, and then when they risk getting fired, file a grievance with the union. GRRR. this stops E from being permanent with his position that he can do with his eyes closed!

for me - one dude who constantly is sick, something is wrong at home, and ALWAYS complaining about his custody battle. I mean, i feel for the guy because the mother does sound wacky, but instead of always focusing on the bad, something slightly, remotely, maybe a tiny bit happened that was good.
- my boss asking me if we need to arrange a driver for me since i broke my foot. the day i was at the ER (the day i broke it).
- coworkers who cannot get to work on time, take their breaks on time, and the whine about not going to break on time.

there are millions more, but some of them are beyond rude so i keep them to myself

 

[fieryred33143]

I had to add mine to the list.

I never added my coworkers to the very popular social network that shall not be named (

). They were poking fun at how I must be a double agent at night if I''m that secretive. So I decided to add them over the weekend.

I walk into the elevator with one of them this morning along with 6 other people. He starts talking about my statuses, the pictuers I have posted, and the photos I''m tagged in

.

Who does that?

 

[jcarlylew]

Date: 4/13/2009 9:13:14 AM
Author: fieryred33143
I had to add mine to the list.


I never added my coworkers to the very popular social network that shall not be named (

). They were poking fun at how I must be a double agent at night if I''m that secretive. So I decided to add them over the weekend.


I walk into the elevator with one of them this morning along with 6 other people. He starts talking about my statuses, the pictuers I have posted, and the photos I''m tagged in

.


Who does that?

ooh i hate that. i specifically did not add one person because i could not stand her.. and was forced to. so i took her off, and the next day "well i guess you don''t even like me enough now, huh?" and then posted rude comments on a mutual friends site. oh. and i was her supervisor.

ugh.

 

[PaulaW]

ugh... unfortunately, I have superhuman hearing so I hear every little thing. Most of the time I can tune things out, but one coworker''s laugh cuts through. She sounds like Krusty the Clown from the Simpson''s - it''s pretty much a hoo hoo hoo hoo ha ha ha... very bizarre. Most days I giggle at her, but others... ugh.
Then there''s the incessant throat-clearer. It seriously sounds like we have a pig roaming around the office.
My favorite is the girl who likes R&B/Gospel music and feels the need to sing along all.the.time.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/13/2009 9:13:14 AM
Author: fieryred33143
I had to add mine to the list.

I never added my coworkers to the very popular social network that shall not be named (

). They were poking fun at how I must be a double agent at night if I''m that secretive. So I decided to add them over the weekend.

I walk into the elevator with one of them this morning along with 6 other people. He starts talking about my statuses, the pictuers I have posted, and the photos I''m tagged in

.

Who does that?

Haha my coworkers have mentioned in passing that they''re on that site as well. I''ve never mentioned that I''m on it though. They''ve never asked me to befriend them on there, and never tried on the website either. I''m kind of glad and hope they never do. I like to keep work and outside work separate, unless I worked with one of my friends or something, which I don''t. Haha I''d feel kind of violated if someone I worked with came to work and started talking about that like he''d been stalking my profile or something!!! *shudder*

 

[aprilcait]

Two of my cubicle neighbors just got back from a walk outside (it''s a balmy 80 degrees today). Now they smell sweaty (I''m very sensitive to the smell of sweat... yuck), and one of them just heated up her lunch of leftover fish and brussel sprouts and is eating it at her desk.

 

[Gypsy]

Okay, so I have to admit since the time I''ve started this thread, I''ve developed a rather marked dislike of one particular co-worker. It irritates me to no end just to be in the same building as her. And if she emails me, my teeth clench till I can hear creeking. Wednesday she sent me an email and for 2 hours afterward I was like... "I am not going to respond to it, I am not going to respond to it. If you don''t have anything nice to say, don''t say anything at alll." I managed to not send a reply, but it was a near thing.

 

[Erin]

The game show host type salesguys who are traveling most of the time, but when they are back they tell me how nice I look today as they scan me like an xray. Then joke about whether or not we are going to meet in the mezzanine/server room/coat closet/archive hall for a little wink wink later.

They think they''re being funny but I just roll my eyes at them and shake my head in disapproval.

 

[jcarlylew]

these arn''t coworkers, but my higher ups.
they decided to change the menu (catering), removed all the items from the program, and didnt bother to tell me. oh, and they took off the club sandwich. what catering company does not have a club sandwich?!?!

 

[princesss]

I''ve had to do the same thing this week Gypsy. Here''s the text of an e-mail I didn''t send:

Dear ________,

Perhaps if you had sent the request to the right person the first 3 times you sent it, you wouldn''t be so desperate to get this done RIGHT NOW. This may be the 5th request you''ve sent, but it''s the first I received. Calm down. Just because you don''t know how to find the right person to contact doesn''t mean I don''t know how to do my job, so don''t imply otherwise.

 

[Gypsy]

LOL Princess.

Mine would have been something like this.

No, I did not finish that stupid contract. A) the vendor didn't respond to my emails which makes negotiations difficult. B) The business didn't seem to care one way or the other whether it got done, because when I escalated the non-responsive vendor issue they did nothing. C) The contract was for you. I hate you. D) And the week you pawned it off on me was the same week I was re-assigned to a different Business Group Division and I TOLD YOU that except for contracts L, M, N, O, P (none of which were this contract) I was returning all open contract assignments BACK TO YOU because I was NO LONGER ASSIGNED TO YOUR GROUP. Good Riddance.

So if you are looking for someone to blame. Look in the mirror. OH, and BTW the business is HAPPY that the contract didn't get done, because THEY DON'T WANT TO USE THE VENDOR ANYMORE. So put that up your tight *(& and smoke it.

 

[princesss]

I like your letter better.

 

[Gypsy]