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

[DA Stella]

Having me create word docs and convert them to pdf docs and then telling me AFTER they're done that additional information needs to be included. Which means I have to redo all of the documents.
I'm "helping" another location and this goes beyond the agreement they made with my manager. But despite paying nearly $100k they can't keep anyone in the position because everything is so effed up. They asked me if I wanted to transfer there a year ago and I said "hell no". More politely, of course. There isn't enough money to intice me to put up with that crap full time.

 

[PillowsofFluff]

Also does anyone else find that now that loads of people WFH they don't have phone numbers and it's impossible to get hold of them? Internal colleagues I can get on Teams but I've got 1 huge client with probably 50+ contacts there and I swear I never get to actually speak to any of them. It's like they're allergic to talking.

Oh dear this sounds like my team

I work in accounts payable, and we are often behind paying our suppliers - the company is apparently doing ok financially, they're just crap at allocating cash to the different companies in the group. Anyway, as a result, anyone who rings the company and asks for finance is told we all work from home and are therefore not contactable by phone, only email. Even though we work in the office now about 70% of the time Basically we got sick of people chasing us for money and you can ignore an email easier than you can a phone call haha.

 

[EleanorRigby]

Thank you. I already started looking but finding a suitable job takes time. I’m still stuck in the role in the meantime.

I was on sick leave half this week and it was the only time I felt like myself again ever since she started her shenanigans towards me.

On another note, earlier this week, someone proactively approached me randomly asking if I was ‘OK’ because they overheard the conversation where she basically told an entire report I did was crap based on one sentence at the beginning. They said that they overheard her tone during the call and according to them, nothing justifies speaking to someone that way. They said it was really bad. I wasn’t aware anyone had paid attention at all.

She was in the office that day with tons of people around her. It didn’t go unnoticed.

Yes, looking for a job takes time but you need to prioritise this for the sake of your mental health.

 

[EleanorRigby]

Do you guys think a person constantly bringing coffee and pastries to the manager on their way to work in the morning is appropriate (especially if the manager never asked for any of this)?

It seems like sucking up to me but maybe I’m harsh. I’ve never seen this in any other team.

I think it sets the expectation for other people in the team to do the same.

No one can afford to spend £10 on someone else’s breakfast multiple times a week.

Even funnier if said manager likes neither coffee nor pastries.

 

[Eirawen]

Colleagues muttering to themselves loudly while I am trying to focus.

Just had a teams meeting where about 3 people didn't turn up, wasted quarter of an hour of the time for the rest of us who tuned in.
---

This does my head in - is it that hard to refill and press the button again?!

Some people are so selfish...

 

[DA Stella]

My home office doesn't have today (MLK Jr. Day) as a holiday but the other office I support does. My manager whose home office is the same as mine doesn't seem to be in today. So why again am I working??

 

[JOHN1967]

I track my annual leave to the T and check the system once a week. The fault does not lie with me but with my previous manager who gave me the wrong information on the carryover policy, not with me forgetting to take the days.

I asked my manager how many days were allowed to be carried into 2023 and he said 10. I had 6 when I asked, so I thought I was fine to carry those into 2023. That was in November when I asked.

I checked my carryover from 2022 today and saw I’d lost a day. I asked my new manager how many days were actually allowed to be carried into 2023 and they said it’s 5 not 10. SMH.

My previous manager is to blame for overstating the amount of days allowed. I believed what he said. How was I supposed to know he was wrong?

You are absolutely right, but the rule is read the company policy for yourself.

I learnt this the hard way, once the police misinformed me and I acted on that information.

I told my uncle what happened, and he said your fault, you can read can't you, you should have checked what they were telling you was correct,

 

[Black.bird]

I have a colleague who is a smart cookie - very polished and although lacking in wider experience, is hungry for challenges and does a fantastic job no matter what the task is.

The only problem is, whenever she talks to clients either in person or on the phone, she adopts a baby voice. The rest of the time, she sounds completely normal! It's baffling. Maybe it's nerves or something.

 

[Shoequeen91]

Wow, he sounds awful all-round! How crap for your team (and the wife). It must be in the “deflect from how shit I am” rule book. I had to really bite my tongue this morning, I don’t mind if it’s their usual writing style but when it comes mid-email chain I’m like…

View attachment 2014476

I definitely think it’s a case of them being threatened. And if your situation is anything like mine, they add a ‘hi *insert name here* in the mix for everyone else. Idiot doesn’t realise I have folders and it’s all just ammo at the end of the day. I also tend not to reply to the emails anymore if I can and just archive them. He can swivel. If asked outlook “self-archived them”.

I’m not the only one who has noticed in my team. It’s crap tbh. I’ve had members of the team who come up to me and are like “you know more than him etc” and “how is he the manager, we don’t even know him/you're more impactful/you give better advice”.

The only thing I did with all this information was took it to the head of the team to secure myself a pay rise so that the gap between my pay and his isn’t anywhere near as much as it was. Still doesn’t resolve anything though.

Hope your situation gets better. Sod ‘em, don’t let the bastards grind you down and all that

 

[Hope96]

Previous thread: https://tattle.life/threads/annoying-things-your-work-colleagues-do-all-the-time-3.28307/

 

[emmer_moans]

I work with a woman who never stops talking about herself. It’s gotten to the stage where we just do a polite nod at the end of one of her stories but if she feels that she doesn’t get a big enough reaction, she just repeats the exact same story again, immediately. It’s getting ridiculous, the other week I heard her tell the same mundane anecdote three times in a row

I have someone like this in my team. It’s exhausting

 

[TheGlossy]

He is seriously taking the mick now.

I was in a meeting and he pinged me at 10am saying “Hi, can you please respond to my query?”

Like I have to go digging into my archives and it’s clear from his query he is trying to basically tell someone it’s not his job to do X and looking for evidence from me to support that.

I don’t appreciate this pestering at all and particularly his tone from yesterday. The day is not finished and he’s onto me at 10am.

I said “I’m swamped at the moment and will dig into my archives later”.

 

[TheGlossy]

We have a booking system for desks at work. I showed up this morning and someone decided to sit at the desk I had reserved. She thought it was appropriate to sit at an already booked desk just to be next to her work friend when there are a lot of seats available elsewhere because it’s Friday.

There’s a booking system for a reason, use it.

It really irked me because some people think they’re above everyone else and if you don’t show up at 9am sharp, the seat is gone.

I honestly didn’t want to make a scene, but this is not the first time.

 

[Rxt156]

I would appreciate some perspective.

I posted about how I joined a new team a few months ago. A few days ago, I was asked to do a presentation in front of 70 people. My manager knows I’d never done this and public speaking terrifies me. Fast forward, I do the presentation and the manager wasn’t in attendance.

All good. People apparently loved it. At around 5.30pm when I’m about to log off, I get a ping from my manager asking me to talk. I dial in and they go on a tangent about how some people did not like that I didn’t have my camera on! They said it wasn’t good, that I should have had my camera on and the team culture is one of collaboration.

I explained that my camera was on and if it appeared off when I shared my screen, I apologize but I’m pretty adamant I had it on. Then she goes on a tangent saying she doesn’t want an apology and that she wants to know why my camera is occasionally off (during weekly team meetings with roughly 100 people on and where I’m not a speaker!) I said it’s for personal reasons and I shouldn’t give such justification. Then she goes on a tangent about how she’s not asking for justification. What? You just asked me ‘why’.

Anyways, I apologize, say it was an oversight (even though I 100% had my camera on and maybe turned it off for a second to drink water) and she kept going on a tangent.

At that point, I had enough and I started crying which she quickly gathered and she says ‘this is not a formal reprimand that will go in your performance record, if that’s what you think’ . I go silent because my anxiety went through the roof and she ends the call.

Fast forward, the following day, I log in, no trace of her asking me even as much as an ‘are you OK’. Nothing. I got an email asking for a deck, nothing else.

I was honestly so happy with my presentation and some people even asked me to join their project with leadership as a result of it. She tore it all apart right after. I’ve been feeling distraught ever since because I’ve been in the industry for 8 years, had disagreements with managers, but never cried in front of one and this one pushed me to tears over something so petty.

I‘m genuinely contemplating resigning next week without any other job lined up because I’ve never seen this my entire career and God knows my previous team was awful.

What a cow. I’d say you smashed it and she’s jealous that it went well. Sorry they treated you like this

 

[Rxt156]

I brought up a couple of points to my manager this morning. It was related to a project, so nothing outside of boundaries. Her response was ‘this is above your pay grade. You don’t need to think about this’.

I’d never heard this sentence ‘this above your/my pay grade’ until I joined this company. I hear it all the time.

Gosh that is so rude isn’t it


I heard someone say something along the lines of:
“…. Not that I have to explain myself to you”
To a person that they line manage
WTF

 

[WeHadFunRight]

Not a work colleague, as she’s external but I had to work with a project manager recently who I can only describe as cold, lazy and arrogant. She was so difficult to work with it hurts my head. She designed and implemented a system that she didn’t share properly with me and now I’m staring at these blatant areas where I asked her to change things and she didn’t. It’s our compliance tool and I’m honestly just so furious with her. She acted the entire time as though she was far superior to me and hated having to bring herself to my level when in truth she’s fucking shit at her job and has no attention to detail or customer focus. I actually threw her under the bus during one meeting which her colleagues were present in because I was so sick of her not sharing updates with me and ignoring my requests, but I shouldn’t have to resort to that to get some kind of traction with progress, surely? I’m usually very friendly and chilled but man she was hard work and now I have to stare at shut she has totally fucked up.

 

[mee43]

We have a full complement of staff for the first time in ages. Everyone knows their job, and everyone knows enough to cover somebody else’s if they’re off.
It should make things so much easier for all of us. And did last week when the boss was off.
They’re back this week and tinkering with everything so we all do bits and pieces of each other’s jobs and end up really pushed to get everything done. Difficult to explain but it causes confusion and allows others to slack because they can hide behind the ones who actually work.
I felt so irritated by the time I left yesterday

 

[EleanorRigby]

I had a bit of a weird and scary experience when shaking someone's hand a few years back that's stayed with me, so now I just hold my hand to my heart and say how nice it is to meet/see the person. The only good thing to come out of Covid was that I could use that as an excuse for a while!

The scary thing was, I attended an interview with two men. The first man shook my hand; I reciprocated; fine. The second man held out his hand; I reciprocated and he bloody crushed my hand so hard I was trying not to flinch. He knew what he was doing. He continued to act like a prick throughout the interview as well. My hand was sore for days after.

I have no qualms in asking colleagues or management to stand back if they're in my personal space - it's just gross.

Good grief I do hope you called him out on his bullying behaviour. What an absolute bellend.

 

[CrimsonCountess]

Fuck me where did you work as I think he works here now

 

[Popcornshovel]

Speaking of hot desking, we have to book desks when we're in the office (sounds like most of you). Sometimes I arrange to go into the office on the same day as another colleague because we're working on the same thing and so it makes sense for our weekly office day to be on the same day if we're working on something together.

She always arranges for the desks to be booked for us both so that we can sit side by side. Weirdly we have to email our office reception to book a desk rather than being able to do it ourselves and they reply to the email with our desk numbers.

She's always in the office before me as she lives a short walk away and she always picks the better of the two desks. So even though the email will say "Ensay has desk 421 and Annoying Colleague has desk 422" if 421 is next to the window, or has a better monitor, or is better in any small way, she'll sit her arse in it - leaving me the other one.

I know it's a small thing but it really fucks me off. If I'm in the better desk then I sodding well want it, thanks! However, I don't say anything as I know it'll come across as petty. It also doesn't help that she talks far more than she needs to, but that's another story.

I have something similar. Im fairly organised and will book my preferred desk in 2 week blocks. There's a group of 6 desks available for my team (on a floor of about 100 desks). One of my colleagues will just plonk himself down on any one my teams 6 desks (I.e not the one he actually has booked) if he's in first. Then I'll need to open up the booking spreadsheet, check which number he had booked and sit there instead (or else I'd be sitting in someone else's seat).

Drives me mad!