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

[Popcornshovel]

My company has been really flexible in that you only go in to the office if and when you want to. Now they are changing tack and there was an announcement from the CEO that we will be required to work 3 days in the office.

What annoys me is the people who are now saying "but I have kids" and "I have a massive commute" when these people worked in this company for years and had their kids when we were all in offices 5 days a week and their commute was the same then!

I know one of the team constantly logs off to drop kids to and from school and appointments and after school activities and then complains she is the only one working late but it's because she is offline for hours during the day. I IM'ed her one day with a question and asked could we have a call and she was down in her mother's house for a chat. Now I do adjust my time for appts but its one every now and again not constantly.

I dont have kids and my commute while not amazing isnt that bad but it still means getting up earlier. Everyone is already asking for exceptions and I think this defeats the entire purpose of a wfh policy. Just because I dont have kids doesnt mean I should have to go in more.

That's annoying that they changed the requirements. If they'd left it as flexible as it was, it would help with 'good will' from the good workers like you.
But sounds like some were taking the flexibility too far, with the colleague who popped to her mums etc. She could still have done that, just worked a bit later to make up for it without making a song and dance over it.

 

[ot55]

I’ve joined a company where one of the women is best friends with the manager. They worked together at a previous company and they’re so thick in with each other it’s painful.

This woman is really nasty and rude to everyone else on the team but my manager turns a blind eye. She has such a huge ego and acts like she’s second in command. It doesn’t help that my manager fuels her ego and says things like ‘oh I don’t know what I’d do without you’. This girl isn’t even that good at her job, but she just sucks up all the time.

This woman also loves to brag that she goes to my manager’s house once a week for dinner. Like no one cares.

My manager tells her confidential information. She also treats her with a lot of favouritism (example, she gets given all the best jobs).

I’m looking to leave.

 

[Chickenandgravy]

I work with a guy who has (I think, not being an armchair psychiatrist) schizophrenia, but unmedicated. He's a young guy, only about 22 and it's came on suddenly. He thinks he's god or working for God, says really inappropriate things, is so paranoid and just not the guy we knew. Used to be a great worker but now making loads of mistakes.

Have escalated it to senior management but nothing seems to be getting done. Very draining on all the rest of us having to deal with it, we're not trained and so scared we might say the wrong thing that sets him off. Horrible horrible place at the minute

 

[DA Stella]

I don't think individuals should get exceptions for having kids or a long commute. What I do plan to ask for is if the entire team could do two days a week in the office instead of three. All of us would prefer two days. Plus other departments are allowed to be fully remote and in addition other people are just flat out refusing to come in with seemingly no consequences.
It should be across the board or not at all, IMO.

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

I think the issue with WFH, is when your job requires office presence (i.e. mine which is client facing and can’t be delivered entirely remotely) the people who take the piss never being in when there’s needs to be a core presence. We have to be in 3 days per week, some of those days will be to be duty officer, and then you’re expected to make up your other 2 days. Some people just take advantage and make every excuse under the sun, or only come in late and leave early. It leads to resentment amongst people who can follow simple instruction. And it is annoying the same as the person who commented above, that coming in 3 days a week for a full office day is so inconvenient when they used to do it 5 days a week. It’s like Covid erased some people’s memories

 

[Heidi88]

I actually dont mind going in but at the moment so few people go in that it is pointless. I end up doing all calls on Zoom anyway. If exceptions are made for others I will be in the office and still doing Zoom calls with others wfh.

The company is quite nice to work for and people dont realise how good they have it. They complain about trivial things like we recently got a voucher issued to all staff for a nice amount of money but you had to collect it in the office and people complained about this. I've worked in a good few companies on both ends of the spectrum and turnover is for the most part very low in the company so you have people there 10 to 20 years. They complain about everything not realising its one of the nicer companies out there.

 

[Rxt156]

I actually dont mind going in but at the moment so few people go in that it is pointless. I end up doing all calls on Zoom anyway. If exceptions are made for others I will be in the office and still doing Zoom calls with others wfh.

The company is quite nice to work for and people dont realise how good they have it. They complain about trivial things like we recently got a voucher issued to all staff for a nice amount of money but you had to collect it in the office and people complained about this. I've worked in a good few companies on both ends of the spectrum and turnover is for the most part very low in the company so you have people there 10 to 20 years. They complain about everything not realising its one of the nicer companies out there.

Sad when this is the case but they will never realise til it gets worse or they leave and go somewhere that’s awful 🫣

 

[TheGlossy]

It's definitely sucking up and cringe! I will never understand why managers accept such behavior.
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Me neither but this manager seems to like attention.

Mind you, it was just three of us in the office today. The person brought a coffee for themself and the manager but none for me.

I don’t care for someone to buy me coffee and I wouldn’t have such expectation ever, but it’s really inappropriate when it’s just 3 of us to leave someone out. It very clearly shows the person is a suck up.

 

[emmer_moans]

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.

I think it's weird. I cringe at the thought of an adult buying a manager unsolicited breakfast unless they are in a secret relationship and this is one of their ways of showing love or something The manager should say something.

 

[Ensay]

Yesterday's annoyance:

I've had a regular meeting with a few people for a while, yet one attendee falls over herself to decline it if any other meeting goes into her diary, even if it's not that important.

If I get a meeting invite and I'm double booked, I'll nearly always decline the new meeting, as I've already committed to another meeting and they can see it in my diary. Whereas it's obvious this one is glad to get out of the regular meeting so accepts anything else, even if the invite comes in on the same day.

I wouldn't have minded so much, but it was some fluffy non-project meeting that wasn't more important.

 

[Heidi88]

I forwarded one person an email yesterday asking for 5 min call today to go through something. My manager asked me to contact her when I asked him a question.

Then she sent me a whopper email and bearing in mind I am new and she is in a very different role 50% went of it went over my head. She then included two other people and its obvious this is more complicated than my manager thought.

One of the two others came back and hasnt a clue and asked me what someone else in another dept said and I havent a clue. This is their area. I set up a call to discuss rather than multiple back and forths which could all have been avoided if the first person I emailed just had a call with me in the first place to find out who I should contact.

 

[Ensay]

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.

If they're only buying things for the manager it's obviously an attempt to ingratiate themselves. If they weren't, they'd buy a few things for other colleagues at the same time.

 

[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.

 

[TheGlossy]

I think it's weird. I cringe at the thought of an adult buying a manager unsolicited breakfast unless they are in a secret relationship and this is one of their ways of showing love or something The manager should say something.

They’re definitely not in a secret relationship haha.

I find it super cringe and rather inappropriate. If it’s not breakfast, it’s home baked goods every week or so.

The manager will never say anything because they like this kind of attention.
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If they're only buying things for the manager it's obviously an attempt to ingratiate themselves. If they weren't, they'd buy a few things for other colleagues at the same time.

Agree! I found it super inappropriate yesterday when this colleague showed up with coffee for the two of them only. It honestly made me uncomfortable.

An employee with no ulterior motive would either bring nothing or if they felt compelled, would first get into the office and then say ‘I’m going downstairs, does anyone want anything?’.

SMH.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Colleagues calling all day. There's 1 person in particular that calls me about 10 times a day.
I manage a team of 10 people and I'm currently covering for someone as they are on holiday so double workload. I do not have time to answer the phone to you every 30-60 minutes

 

[Lolly505]

Folk who act far too familiar for an office environment. I started a new job a couple months ago and there's one new guy who still hasn't grasped that he's among colleagues at the office and not his friends down the pub

He's loud, he's obnoxious. He constantly brings up money and how much he's paid for something - for example, a few guys were discussing collecting vinyls as hobby, this dude immediately jumps in with his Discogs page up to show off the most expensive records his collection (which - spoiler alert - it turns out were all a gift from his well-off dad rather than something he'd collected). He chatters constantly but speaks almost exclusively about himself. He has an opinion on absolutely everything and his opinion is always correct - but this guy also has some of the worst takes imaginable on stuff he clearly knows little about (and gets salty whenever you use his own logic back at him ).

He's managed to alienate everyone in the office he interacts with (whether they've worked there 2 weeks or 20 years) in the space of a couple of months. But what winds me up the most is some colleagues just let him away with it because "Oh, well, he's only young!". Like mate, I'm only a couple years older (and neurodivergent to boot) but by the age of 23, I definitely knew how to behave at work!

 

[TheGlossy]

I was on a call and my manager who was not on the call and was sitting across from me was listening to me speaking. She pinged me halfway through the call to correct what I was saying.

It was an internal call to prepare / brainstorm. I think it’s quite frankly inappropriate to listen to someone’s calls and comment like this. I’m uncomfortable in the team already but this makes it worse.

 

[emmer_moans]

I was on a call and my manager who was not on the call and was sitting across from me was listening to me speaking. She pinged me halfway through the call to correct what I was saying.

It was an internal call to prepare / brainstorm. I think it’s quite frankly inappropriate to listen to someone’s calls and comment like this. I’m uncomfortable in the team already but this makes it worse.

I end up getting stagefright on a call when someone else is pinging me at the same time, it throws me off. So yes, it's inappropriate to listen in on the call, but also annoying to distract someone.

 

[Rxt156]

I was on a call and my manager who was not on the call and was sitting across from me was listening to me speaking. She pinged me halfway through the call to correct what I was saying.

It was an internal call to prepare / brainstorm. I think it’s quite frankly inappropriate to listen to someone’s calls and comment like this. I’m uncomfortable in the team already but this makes it worse.

It would be acceptable to ask NOT to be pinged half way through a call. Very distracting

 

[TheGlossy]

It would be acceptable to ask NOT to be pinged half way through a call. Very distracting

This is the same person who told me ‘we don’t ping people when they’re presenting’. Lol.