Annoying things your work colleagues do all the time? #3

[Messychaotic - one word]

I'm dealing with a lady at the moment who seems very nice but her baby talk drives me nuts!

Example:
Me: "Could you please extend the training out for two weeks in August ... just to cover off anything else that might crop up in the meantime?"
Her: "Okey dokey chokey wokey. Croppy woppy no soppy!"

I kid you not.

 

[Hope96]

Someone has heated fish in the microwave and the entire break area wreaks of it.

 

[soph30]

Those who make a fuss about everything or chat shit, and it’s always bored managers. I just sneezed and some middle manager goes “Oooh that was a big sneeze! Are you a sneezer?” I mean what the hell just shut up and get on with your work

 

[ItsMeMelZ]

To toot my own horn I work hard, I'm organised and professional. I was lambasted last week for a spelling error in an e mail (the spell check had changed it to an Americanised spelling and I didn't notice).

I have literally seen an e mail from a colleague to a customer that said 'I don't know what you're on about' just that as a response!.

And they wonder why morale is low. I really wish I was the kind of person to tell tales as I spent most of my time rectifying others mistakes to save the company face/money. Working hard and not making a fuss is obviously not enough.

How petty to pull you up on something so subjective. American English/ British English - who cares? Its hardly the same as sending out something with a major typo. Some people just have to make themselves feel important.

Speaking of low morale, I'm fed up of senior managers not thanking support staff for their efforts. Being able to recognise efforts appropriate to their level is so important for morale. Obviously as a senior person you have a deeper understanding of things but I see people work harder where there is acknowledgement of the work they put in rather than having it picked apart. Thanking some for their efforts separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of good management.

 

[emmer_moans]

Ok .. hear me out . I took time off after my mum died and I can finally talk about her death without crying. Some colleagues won't just stop at Hi ,how are you . They keep going on and on to the point where I burst into tears and it seems they enjoy that element of making me sad so they can feel special by comforting me .

They aren't even close colleagues . A friend observed this recently & after the other person had left said they were on the verge of telling them to fuck off because it was blatant goading.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice for people to ask how you are but that's where it should stop .

If it happens again I'd try to say something like, please, it's still a heartbreaking discussion topic for me, can I politely request people not to ask me how I am regarding this, any further.

Or is there a manager you can have a quick word with who can send an email or speak to the colleagues quietly and say look, don't bring up this on conversation please. This happened at my old job where a lady was so excited about marrying her long distance fiancee abroad, we all heard about all the details of her wedding plans, hobeymoon location, etc. She took a month off to go get married and honeymoon. When she came back she was absolutely in pieces and an email went round to us all saying she'd been jilted and please don't mention it or her time away.

It's a difficult one but worth considering if people keep prodding you. And to be honest I was grateful to be told not to ask, so that I wouldn't accidentally upset her.

 

[rosemarina]

I don’t do collections within my team, and if somebody has a baby or leaves, I buy the present myself but mark it from all of us. I really think collections shouldn’t be a thing in most workplaces, especially right now when so many people are struggling.

 

[WilmaHun]

I'll send an email around about a change of process. A week later a staff member will ask me "how do I do this?" I'll refer them to said email of last week and they'll say "I didn't read that" or "oh I forgot about that" or "nobody told me"

Fucks me off.

 

[JustmeKC]

The company who has let an employee take every Thursday afternoon off - that is purely between that employee and the company. Management of the work from that period is a management issue, and it’s not for another employee to just take it on or be expected to take it on. If it’s suggested that the work for that period of time is landing on you, ask what is being taken off you? Diligent employees (and I am one!) cause issues for themselves by not saying no and not asking for help when it’s needed, and it’s always to our own detriment.

 

[rosemarina]

I'm not sure which country you're in, but I'd be taking that straight to HR. It's absolutely not ok to express views like that at work*. In the UK, sexuality is one of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.


* or anywhere really, before anybody says.

 

[DA Stella]

A company I used to work for had a holiday shindig every year. The first year I worked there I went. Now, this company is very clique-ish and I was most definitely NOT a member of the cool crowd. So I got a nice dress, fixed my hair and makeup and drove to the venue. Only to be completely and totally ignored by everyone at the event. I had even set my handbag and sweater on a chair at a table where the other ladies were sitting and left to get myself a drink. When I got back someone had removed my things and set them on a planter. I guess I wasn't going to be sitting there! So I found a seat off by myself in another room and spent the evening alone. The ONLY people who talked to me were the friend of one of the "cool group" coworkers who had been unwillingly dragged to the party, and the nice girlfriend of another coworker. Otherwise I was completely ignored.
The next year the same "cool group" coworker (who, incidentally, was my supervisor) asked me if I was going. I said no. She asked "Why, didn't you have a good time last year?" And I replied simply "No". She seemed to think back and I think she realized I had zero reason to want to repeat that experience.
So no, not a fan of after hours holiday events.

 

[TheGlossy]

My manager is a complete car crash.

We had a team outing yesterday and I left before everyone else. I walked into the office, greet my manager and other people in the team. I asked him “did you guys stay late last night” and he was like “I didn’t sleep well last night”. I said “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that”. Then his response was “you don’t sound very sincere” and returned to working on his emails.

The guy is completely insane. He didn’t get enough sleep, so what? My reaction wasn’t “sincere”? What was I supposed to do? She’d a tear?

What a tool.

 

[flutternutter]

The place I work at has a company-wide function four times a year and one of those is an overnight stay in a different location or city. As well as that each team will have two to three social functions a year including an overnight stay as well.

I’m introverted so dread these things because the company events are 200+ people in a room being talked at all day and then dinner, a band, tons of drinking and socialising all night long. The next day there’s a choice of four activities like yoga, exercise or some other hellish things to do. It’s mandatory and if you don’t want to go you have to take annual leave for the two days. I’ve gotten so stressed out about the thought of going that I’ve woken up sick the day of and my manager told me that I needed a doctors certificate to prove that I genuinely was sick.

They organise buses or flights to the overnight destination, which is thoughtful, but it’s exhausting. The other annoying thing is that we don’t get told where any event is until maybe a week before. They like surprising us

The company employs a lot of young people but doesn’t seem to realise that not everyone is in their 20’s or 30’s and not everyone loves socialising. To be promoted you need to network your butt off so people who don’t always have the technical skill are promoted.

There are other good reasons for staying with the company so it’s not all bad but from this time of year onwards it’s party central. Plus everyone wants to make up for missing out on the events during 2020 and 2021.

I hate enforced fun. Im a complete introvert. I struggle with depression and anxiety. All the things that make going out a struggle.
I have explained this time and time again in detail to people i work with and they still look at me like im an alien when i say no thank you to a night out

 

[CatCafe234]

One of the (very few …) benefits of being public sector is that, certainly in my corner, we are prohibited from having any kind of paid-for-by-the-organisation mandatory ‘fun’. The idea of enforced jollity makes me feel ill, and I am very glad that I don’t have to think of ways of dodging it every year. We might have a Christmas lunch at a team level but we organise it, pay for it and it’s taken in our own time. People are free to attend or not and there’s no real pressure, which is the way I like it.

 

[Messychaotic - one word]

I worked in a project team a few years back that had a lot of vendors sitting in with us.

There was a woman who worked for one of the vendors, who gave me a very bad feeling from day one ... just the sight of her sent a shiver down my spine. She was incredibly sweet - sickly sweet - but I would often catch her giving people the evil eye when she thought they weren't looking. A couple of times when we were both working late, she'd let rip and tell me how she hated her job and would start listing what was wrong with each and every one in the project team. It was so bizarre - very Jekyll and Hyde-ish.

We sat with our backs to each other and a couple of times I would feel her watching me, which would be proven to be the case when I spun around. I'd ask politely if she needed me for anything, and she'd just grunt.

When I took leave, she made an appointment with my line manager (who didn't sit with us, nor did he have any sort of involvement with her as a vendor) to express an interest in applying for my job if I ever decided to leave! She also made out to him that I was extremely unhappy. This was all lies - I kept my conversations with her to a minimum and never expressed dissatisfaction with my job. I only found out she'd said all this when he invited me out for coffee and said he had made some initial progress with getting me a transfer to another project. I was absolutely furious and told him that I thought she was untrustworthy and out to cause trouble. His response was to ask if I was jealous of her because she was younger; I honestly could not believe he asked that, especially as I'm someone who is very appreciative and respectful of rising talent.

I moved on - to a new organisation - a few months later, joining a project manager I'd previously worked for at this place (who couldn't stand our line manager). At that point, the vendor woman did take up my old role but was let go after a few weeks for telling porkies in an effort to cover her butt on something quite major! She'd also been acting like a complete bitch to a couple of the project assistants, dumping work on them at the 11th hour and blaming them for her mistakes. #Karma. My former line manager asked if I would come back and admitted he should've listened to me, but I had great pleasure in telling him to take a hike (nicely, of course).

 

[Lola Ruby]

The dreaded 'Hi Lola Ruby, how are you?' messages on Teams. Just tell me what you want FFS. Had 2 today already!

 

[Hollie Day]

Whenever this one colleague has to say thank you for some unknown reason he puts on a high pitched voice and pronounces it 'fankoo'
Maybe most wouldn't find that annoying but it makes want to pick up my laptop and smash it over his head.

 

[Heidi88]

Another member of our team handed in their notice today...including me that is 3 people in 2 months. We all have long notice periods and I am first to go. I am so delighted that my awful manager will have to explain this to HR.

 

[CatCafe234]

going through the exact same thing at the moment. They aren't 'bitchy' really it's just awkward cause they've known each other for a lot longer. It's hard to explain but it's like trying to penetrate concrete sometimes. It's not all female but the guys are involved in their circle. Tbh I actually feel like I'm back at school as an outcast again.

Of all the things that have disappointed me about adult life (and there are many …) the fact that work is just like school is probably one of the worst. I cannot stand workplace cliques and I don’t think I’ve ever worked in a place that doesn’t have them.

There’s always that moment when you realise that you’ll probably never really progress somewhere simply because your face doesn’t fit and no matter how hard you work or how much you take on, you’re never going to be part of that ‘in’ group who seem to float though the workplace and get a promotion every six months without really doing anything. It’s like being back at secondary school and having that realisation that it doesn’t matter how often they ask you for help with their homework, you are never, ever going to be allowed to be one of the cool kids. So much talent and ability gets wasted in the workplace when it is cliquish - companies wonder why they have issues when they literally have a string of people who I’ll only promote people who are exactly like them …

 

[TheGlossy]

I logged in at 9am this morning and someone ping me: "Morning, how was your weekend". I responded and politely asked about theirs. They responded followed up with how the manager is annoying them and how they don't like the team.

We both dislike the team and we've talked about it at great lengths BUT it's 9am on a Monday morning. If you're gonna complain, please wait until I've finished my coffee. Complaining at 9am on a Monday is far too violent for me.

 

[Probablylurking66]

This has probably been mentioned, but when a manager (or your manager's manager) puts in a 'quick chat' meeting in your calendar, which invariably leads to a surge of panic and wondering what you're going to be told off about/what you've done wrong...only to get in said chat and it's only that she wanted to tell you she's pregnant. Just feels like a fucking power trip and surely you'd have the common sense to know that putting in a random chat with someone is going to make them nervous!