Annoying things your work colleagues do all the time? #4

[CatCafe234]

Ive got an interview lined up this week and they've asked me to bring an object that I think represents me

Apparently it's so that they can get to know me as a person.

Aaaaand this is why I will never get anywhere in the corporate world. I cannot stand things like that, I’d be thinking of ways to be as politely subversive as possible … ‘Oh this? It’s my lucky mushroom, it represents me as I thrive on bull-poo and do best when I’m kept in the dark …’

 

[Mamacita]

My colleagues typing on teams.

....Typing....

.......
.......
.......
(5 minutes later)

"Ok"

Your whole job is sitting at a computer typing, how can you not do it faster

 

[earlgrey]

Worked my ass off on a piece of work for the CEO over the last two weeks, now it’s done the CEO has mistakenly credited my manager for the work twice, in a company wide presentation and email shout out. I did it all very much solo. Feels petty to correct a little shout out but also feels very shit to grind on a piece of work for someone who doesn’t even realise you did it and probably doesn’t even know your name.

 

[Mollywobbles]

I had a job where we had to take turns to open up, usually at 7.30
My Dad’s funeral was on a Tuesday. The bastard I worked with said he usually had a Tuesday off and it didn’t suit him. Then he asked what time the funeral was. I said 11.00 and he said well I could still open up and he would come in at 10.

I spoke to my boss and handed in my notice. He said why was I at work? I should be at home until after the funeral and as for the bastard, he could open up for the next two weeks as I needed time in the morning to get myself together.

 

[Jane Porcupine]

There's a special place in hell for people who organise meetings on Friday afternoons.

 

[Black.bird]

I was looking forward to finishing up at this contract today but one of the staff members was involved in a car accident on the weekend and they've asked me to stay on until in her role she feels able to return to work. That's okay; I'm happy to help out as there is a genuine need.

Unfortunately that means I'm now sitting next to the office slob who seems to have a shoe floordrobe going on under his desk and more energy drink cans than I care to count. He goes out for lunch at midday on the dot and returns with either McDonald's, KFC or Burger King, which he proceeds to eat at his desk. I had drinks after work with friends and felt conscious about smelling like fried food!

Someone sent me a file today which I couldn't open; he kindly offered to come over and see what was happening and in taking control of my mouse left it all greasy ... he couldn't get the file to open either and when he was explaining what he thought the issue might be, he started coughing and some of 'it' went on my monitor and keyboard. God I sound like such a bitch but is it too much for people to have a bit of pride in their appearance and behaviour?

 

[camotea]

We have a talker on our team but she’s actually funny and a decent sort. Trouble is she’s also magic… She manages to get TONS done (genuinely) while gabbing away and we are all chatting and laughing, then she leaves slightly early to pick up her child and I’m just sat there, in silence, with a pile of work. I’m jealous tbh 🫠

 

[Heidi88]

I flew out for this project and this stakeholder I’ve been working with for two years saw me for the first time. After an hour, he said “Oh, are you so and so I normally work with?”. Then he was like “I didn’t recognize you at all, I only recognized you when you started talking because you have a rather distinctive voice”.

Then one of my colleagues started laughing. What is that supposed to mean lol? I don’t know how I should take these comments. Now I’m going to be self-conscious about my voice and face since I clearly don’t look like my group directory picture taken at a photo booth (no retouching therefore). Lol.

I once had something similiar (ish). Our entire team was made redundant a few years back and we were moving some of our tasks to an outsource provider. I wont mention the country but we were given cultural training in dealing with them. We were told to talk a lot about our families. We were told they would question why a woman wasnt married if she was finished her education etc etc. One gay colleague was basically advised to refer to his partner rather than his husband. The company went to great lengths to give us training not to offend them and once we asked the question what training were they given in dealing with us.

On one of my first calls the woman I was dealing with said I had a voice like a 6 year old. So all this training to make sure we didnt say something inappropriate to their culture and I open my mouth and she offends me!

 

[The Devils Arse]

Again...Colleagues coming in when they are obviously ill. Lady came in today with quite literally the worst cough I have ever heard (our employers are quite easy you can wfh freely) but no we were all wearing Christmas jumpers today and she 'wanted everyone to see her jumper'. Thanks for that pleasure we all now get a hacking cough for Xmas day .

Amen. My colleague who came in ill has passed it on to everyone else. She "feels so much better and glad she isn't ill for Christmas ". I feel irrational anger towards her as I'm typing this message with a horrendous throat and tissue shoved up my nose.

 

[ChastityDingle]

When you email someone a question and they call you straight after. I get it's easier/quicker to speak on the phone but just reply to my email please.

Plus, in some cases, you might need an audit trail.

As an aside, I worked with a bully boy, and after one to one meetings I used to document in an email, to him, what we had agreed. Otherwise he would announce something completely contradictory and undermine me to others in the process - one of his many bullying tactics.

 

[Black.bird]

Today for the second time since my colleague has been working his notice he has been aggressive towards our manager. Our manager made a simple request for some information to be passed to our new hire and my colleague started sulking, so our manager took him aside to a different room, as soon as the door closed I could hear my colleague shouting at our manager. After a few minutes our manager walked out of the room and I could hear my colleague mocking him and laughing at him. It was so awkward and our new hire immediately started asking questions. The new hire asked whether my colleague has anger issues and because we will all be working together for some time to come I just said he didn't. but he does. My manager said he was fine when people asked him whether he was ok and joked that at least my colleague didn't hit him. My manager seems OK about it but I want to raise a formal complaint because i don't want to be in the office on my own with my colleague in case he turns on me next- Have you ever made a complaint? What is the process? Would he know i'd made the complaint?

A few years ago I worked in a small company that had a relatively flat structure aside from the Owner / Managing Director and Operations Manager. I was the only female working with about 15 men.

One afternoon, when the MD and OM were out, one of the guys - who I always found to be very 'off' (I suspected he was on drugs) - walked up to one of the quieter guys in the office and started verbally attacking him. At the time, there was a gentle hum of chatter, which stopped as the bully's voice rose. The quiet guy just sat there, looking down, not giving any sort of reaction, which fueled the bully to then start hitting him on the head.

I stood up and shouted at the bully to 'cut it out' at which point a couple of guys went over and intervened ... I was peeved that they seemed to wait for someone to make the first move! The bully eventually moved away, grabbed his bag and went off in a huff.

When the MD and OM returned, I went straight to the OM and reported what had happened, and he said to leave it with him. I told him I was one of many witnesses but was worried the bully might come after me for reporting it - the OM said not to worry about that. Well, as it turned out the bully was told that I was the one to report it, and he blamed me for him losing his job over it (apparently some things had been leading up to this event, so he had already been issued with warnings). For a while, he would wait outside work and follow me to my car asking why I did it; at lunchtime he'd follow me down the street ... I complained to the police but they were useless. I asked the OM to talk to him - he wouldn't have a bar of it ... it was just awful, but eventually the bully got bored and moved on.

My advice: Be very, very careful about reporting it and becoming involved. Your manager should be the one to report it, and you may be called in as a witness. It's human instinct (I feel) to want to remedy a situation, but it never ends well.

 

[Happy Lady]

I'm dreading work tomorrow. I'm a teacher and cannot stand my TA. She's a complete gossip. I have asked her to stop but she continues... I work in a difficult school where I am always vigilant that a pupil can disclose something to me at any time. If a pupil does start to talk she is straight over to try and join the conversation (because she is nosey) which to a pupil may mean they completely shut down. I said to her once in a kind voice 'me and X are just having a little chat but we'll let you know we're finished ' and she got all passive aggressive saying that she knows when she's not wanted and then told the rest of the staff how rude I am.

She interrupts my lessons constantly. I could be stood at the front teaching and she'll approach me from behind and whisper in my ear (I don't like her being that close to me either) that a child isn't listening or that a child has nits. It completely throws me off my teaching and interrupts the flow. If I am trying to mark she is chatting away about other staff members and telling me things that she probably shouldn't. Complaining that other TAs leave her out etc.

I had a dental procedure last week and came to school straight after and other staff were checking I was OK etc. She hated the fact that people were asking if I was ok so started crying saying she had an awful headache. Ive asked her to start sticking some sheets in whilst im teaching phonics as they need to be stuck in and this is a time she goes off to the kitchen staff for a gossip. She's not happy about that so has been sticking them in all wonky on purpose.

I have spoken to her about all of this. I approach it calmly but I don't get 2 sentences out before she runs off crying.

She also volunteers to do lunch duty and then complains to everyone that she has had to do lunch.

Everything sounds petty but it's like death by 1000 cuts. Shame because I've always treated my TAs with respect and been aware that they are underpaid and over worked. But in this case she gets paid to gossip and tittle tattle. She is the only TA I have ever worked with who doesn't enjoy the children or make them a priority. She puts her gossip and games as a priority over the pupils.

She keeps saying how wonderful it was when she was a TA in the reception class compared to now.

I have spoken to the Head who basically said she knows and that's why no other teacher wants to work with her!

I know that this is all very petty. Maybe I just need to learn to be more tolerant. I have my own struggles and am struggling with my eating disorder reappearing at the moment so maybe I'm just being more irritable.

You are the teacher, my love, not the TA. You have taken all the correct steps so far - spoken to her and to the Head who is aware of her "antics". You do NOT need to be more tolerant of her at all.

Next time, whatever she is doing wrong, you must stop her in her tracks and talk to her, then mention it again to the Head. Tell the Head that you have tolerated as much as you can, and would rather not have a TA at all, than to have her approach to the job, which she clearly is unable to perform.

Good luck, persevere, and enjoy teaching those who need you.

 

[bubbadabut]

When I get an email notifiction pop up, and it starts with just my name rather than a greeting, eg:

Jane,
Please could you...

Rather than

Hi Jane,
Please could you...

It just feels condescending to me. It has a very slight passive‐aggressive touch to it. Makes me anxious and not want to read it.

 

[petitspois]

Worked my ass off on a piece of work for the CEO over the last two weeks, now it’s done the CEO has mistakenly credited my manager for the work twice, in a company wide presentation and email shout out. I did it all very much solo. Feels petty to correct a little shout out but also feels very shit to grind on a piece of work for someone who doesn’t even realise you did it and probably doesn’t even know your name.

It would be right for your line manager to email the CEO and point out it was all your work. In fact, they are a bit of a twat if they don't tbh.

 

[Emsie]

"hi emsie" on teams chat. I read it wait for more conversation .... Nothing happens. 10 minutes later I type "hi annoying person" at which point they launch into their chat. Drives me mad. Just put your pleasantries and request all in the one paragraph!

 

[DA Stella]

Reminds me of a former coworker. I had major, life saving surgery and was out for three months. The day I returned he said "Oh, so how was your vacation? You should have been fired for missing so much work!". So I lifted up my top and showed him my five inch scar that still had bandages over it. The look on his face!

 

[PurpleRox]

My colleague has pissed me right off no filter.
So the head of department came in
Out of no where she pipes up 'oh Rox and I have our periods so we might be a bit grouchy'
I'm like ffs - I don't need to head of the department knowing about the going ons of my womb
Plus you only know as you saw me put a pad in my pocket and go to the bathroom
I was sooooo mad

 

[TheGlossy]

Thank you all for the kind advice It really means more than I can express.

I agree with you all. I had the time to ponder over what happened and I realize she had the intent of deflating me at some point because she made a few strange comments during the week that I didn’t think much of in the moment but I realize they could have been warning signs:

- Monday, her own manager told her she highly valued me (and that must have struck a cord for her). Then she pinged me asking me what I said in the meeting with her manager that impressed said manager.

- Tuesday, her other two reports in the team kept complimenting me over some matter and she said to me ‘seems you’ve been showered with compliments lately’.

- Wednesday, she made a comment saying ‘the strategy is to not stand next to TheGlossy because we don’t want to look bad’ (in response to someone complimenting me about something). Who says that even says that to a direct report even as a joke?

Then Thursday was the culmination when she lectured me after that presentation which I believe was the cherry on top for her.

I’m not an attention seeker. I’m just me and it seems to be a problem for her. Something is clearly not right there and I’m done having to shrink myself to make sure I don’t shine in case the manager doesn’t like it. Been there, done that. This is the clear red flag and this time I’m seeing it for what it is. I think I’m past the stage where I will tolerate this nonsense, especially after all I went through last year. I’ll start polishing my CV and look elsewhere.

 

[emmer_moans]

I have just seen this, this would be my nightmare, I would not want a travel buddy every day twice a day either If on a train I would want to be alone with my thoughts. If driving I don't want to chat
I drive, and it's bad enough that a colleague lives 3 streets away and occassionally asks for lifts. I would hate having to buddy up every day.


I feel this poster's pain

 

[Mamacita]

At a workshop I was at this week we had to say one thing from our bucket list. What was clear was everyone needs a holiday

It was so boring I have worked with 80% of the people in the room for years and I don't care what's on their bucket list.

Would "an orgy" be an acceptable answer or is that not on