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

[earlgrey]

My company has generally nice people but there is one colleague who gives proper mean girl high school vibes, and I’m one of the many females in the company she seems to not like (talking to everyone in a group except me, leaving me out of updates and emails on my own projects, fawning over male colleagues, playing favourites, blanking others, coming to my table and talking over me to someone else, even dropping me out of projects she’s managing - other colleagues have experienced this freezing out kind of behaviour from her, all women). Amyway, she just won the company annual “kindness award” for the second year in a row.

 

[petitspois]

One of the worst things for me is when you are in an email conversation with one person and they respond and cc in loads of others who can then read your previous conversation (which you intended to be private).

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

Had an unscheduled meeting this evening just before I left legged it out of the building at half the speed of light.

Oh, shit.


They've only gone and promoted me.

I'm going to be a manager.

 

[Elle Woods]

This sounds so petty when I write it down but my colleague just really pissed me off

I put a teabag and sugar in my mug and put the kettle on to boil, but my phone rang so I ran back to my desk to quickly answer it whilst the kettle boiled.

In that time my colleague went in the kitchen, made herself a drink completely emptying the kettle and didn't even bother to re-fill it. My mug was literally on the side and there's only us 2 here so she knew I was making a drink! Considering the only milk in the fridge is my soya milk which I paid for, her drink is looking suspiciously milky too so she's pinched my milk as well! Cheeky cow

 

[Boredofinstahuns]

There is a bit of a mean girl vibe in my office at the minute. The last few years a couple of new people have started and the atmosphere has changed a lot. You know when colleagues are gossipy and there's lots of hushed conversations that are obviously not work related, then they dissappear off together. Just reminds me of high school not how 40 something females should behave.
Not enjoying work lately and dread most days tbh.

 

[ChastityDingle]

'My boss started getting all desperate and saying he didn't want me to leave and although it was a major client and I'd made a serious mistake in judgement (!!!) it wasn't the end of the world, and he would be prepared to let me off with a warning which shouldn't impact too much in the scheme of things. Stuff him! How dare he try to make me the scapegoat!'

@Black.bird WTF - 'a serious mistake in judgement' and being 'let off with a warning' because you continued with your annual leave. Wow ! And others were obviously happy to let you be the scapegoat too. Ugh.

Well done you for giving your notice.

 

[DA Stella]

People who copy the CEO or GM on an email in an obvious and blatant attempt to get you in trouble.
Someone did that this morning. I think the CEO has better things to do than worry about slight delays with a document upload.

 

[blahblahboring]

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

 

[TheGlossy]

OMG.

We have these personal introductions for new joiners & some guy added selfies of himself with his bare torso showing off his abs. I can’t

We work in a corporate environment. People need to keep it PG!

 

[emmer_moans]

I worked with a woman who spent hours on the phone every day with her mother and her fiance's mother where they micro-managed every single part of the fiance's life for him. The rest of us had to listen to interminable conversations about what he should be wearing or having for his lunch.

Oh yes, people who involve the office in personal stuff get on my nerves. Someone on my team has just got married this year, we got a whole year leading up to it of her bouncing up to us to show us potential colours, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, cake, on and on about deposits and how hard the guest list is to whittle down etc etc, complete and incessant updates as though we were all personally involved... It was bliss the week she was on honeymoon, nice and quiet in the office Then she came back and we got all the holiday pics, we had to crowd round her phone whilst she showed us, and all the gifts she got from her registry

Now she's looking for a new house and we are getting constant updates on their mortgage plans, possible providers, possible search areas, council tax bands etc

None of us give a shit but it's daily updates it is getting to be too much. I know more about her plans than my own life at this point. I have earbuds that I have started putting in when she starts up again, hoping she takes the hint.

 

[Black.bird]

I have an update!

I met with my boss last night for a drink (he invited me) - he was apologetic about the situation and admitted that things should have been handled differently. He said he felt I had to shoulder some of the responsibility for what happened, for not agreeing to go in on my time off - because I've never said no before, it was a given that I would. I do understand where he's coming from. He asked me to reconsider leaving, and I told him firmly no; in the end, we agreed I'll work until this Wednesday - just long enough to tidy up some loose ends and hand over to someone else.

I'm feeling much better about the situation and am actually really looking forward to working part-time on one of the coffee carts I co-own. My business partner is thrilled as it's going to solve a lot of staffing issues we've been having.

I feel lighter - much happier - knowing the end is in sight.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and shared their thoughts!

 

[Mollywobbles]

@rainbowlemon you can absolutely say no! 🤍 my work are pushing this ‘employee well-being’ this year by organising activities and dinners outside of work hours. I haven’t gone to any and I’ve openly said it’s because they won’t let me work from home. I’m not gonna commute in and out every day, sit in the office for 8 hours and then head to an activity and dinner with colleagues and not land home until 10pm. That’s not good for my well-being

I hate these compulsory enjoyment events.
You will join in! You will enjoy yourself!

 

[YetAnotherObsessionx]

People who put meetings in between 12 and 2 o'clock are just downright rude. I try to decline but they always seem to be those ones that you just can't get out of...

 

[EleanorRigby]

My manager. I don’t know if it’s a passive aggressive thing or if I’m reading too much into this but..every single time she writes my first name after other people’s first names, she makes sure to always write the first letter as a small letter/minuscule instead of using a capital letter. Yet, for everyone else’s first name, she uses a capital letter as you should. Example:

‘Hi Mary, Olivia, theglossy’.

She does it all the time. She never does it with anyone’s first name but mine. It’s really rude! If you can add a capital letter to everyone’s first name, you can give me the same courtesy.
---
I also need to add:

Clingy coworkers who want to do everything together (breakfast together, coffee together, lunch together and afternoon tea together). They are so clingy that they do all of the above together every time we’re in the office.

If I’m on a serious Zoom call with one of them, Person A randomly shows up on screen to say ‘Hi’. If I’m in the office and I’m off with one of team for a scheduled catch-up/meeting
in the cafeteria, Person A again literally follows us downstairs and randomly shows up pretending to be passing by to say ‘Hi’. A coworker walked to my desk the other day to ask me a work related question and Person A again walked up to us saying ‘I have FOMO, saw you guys talking, what are you guys talking about?’. I literally said nothing and gave her the side eye.

Literally, no two coworkers can do anything or talk without this person showing up.

Please, for your mental health, please find another job with another employer. You were in a toxic situation and you found another job in the same organisation which has also turned out to be toxic. This is clearly not a good place to work. Find another job and get the hell out of there. It is not worth the angst.

 

[CatCafe234]

We have to book desks at work and it’s so annoying when you’ve found your Goldilocks desk - near a window, good light levels, everything working - you book it and then you get into work to find someone’s sat there anyway. There are too many other empty desks so you’d just look like an arse of you asked them to move, and it’s usually someone more senior so you can’t politely remind them that we should be booking desks. I just sit there at the desk I didn’t want, quietly fuming and plotting my revenge.

 

[ChastityDingle]

This fits nicely in here, I think. (From the memes thread)

 

[Orange99]

My department has 3 receptionists and instead of making them god forbid cover a reception they’ve been allowed to hybrid work and for 2 out of the 3 days I’m in this week I’m covering it for them. As a senior staff member (sadly not management or that would be the first thing stopping) me and my colleagues are getting really annoyed. Trying to sit in a teams meeting is challenging with constant interruptions we keep bringing it up but they’re so soft

That makes no sense - I’m all for hybrid and remote work but the definition of a receptionist is to be in the reception…

 

[shadowcat5]

Have you ever had to read an email or document like 5 times because it is just so shockingly written and nonsensical that you genuinely question how that person managed to even write it.

 

[anonesk223]

Perfect place to rant about my OLD boss!!!

I work in healthcare, a very small company. My boss and I were the only workers, but she works part time and I was the only full time worker. Essentially I made all the money and she did f all.

I called in sick one day, the next day she called a meeting and said “okay I’m getting straight to the point, this isn’t working out”. Her reasons were not only ridiculous, but she never even discussed these with me prior.

• she said the thing that made her decide was that “I was off sick”. And I “let her know too late by email and didn’t even call”. She literally told me before that email was fine. And it was only a little later in the morning because I tried to come in, but still told her before my shift. And I had a doctors note.
• She said it’s not just this though, but other things:
• She said “you moan that you have too much work on, and no time to do anything, but you really don’t have that much on”. She saw 2-3 clients a day when she’s in. I saw 5-6 and have to do notes/report/admin/answering the phone.
• She told me I need to communicate with her that I’m struggling, so one morning I did call her saying I had struggled to find the time to prepare for a session. She said it was ridiculous, and that I “can’t be ringing her at all hours for fun” (it was 9:30am).
• I told her my housemate had covid. She said I need to pay for my own tests if I want to test as I don’t have symptoms. A few days later I came in coughing my guts out. She didn’t ask if I was ok, no concern, nothing. So I had to pay for my own tests even though I work in healthcare. She said it’s “because I didn’t come to her and ask”. She said she didn’t ask if I was ok because “I was running a team meeting at the time, and I’m currently moving house, it wasn’t on my mind”. I told her I had a problem with that and she said “yeah whatever”.
• She said I’m “not very good at winging my sessions”. Basically telling me I don’t need time to prepare - as long as I’m earning her money I shouldn’t be putting time to prepare or plan good sessions. She said she puts her family first.

AND IT GOT WORSE.

I go to write a note on the work phone, and there’s a note about all the things I’ve done wrong for me to find. This is SO unprofessional. But also there’s LOADS of things she’s never even brought up with me. Such as

• “leaving covid tests all over the table” I left one used test on one occasion by accident while I was in a session
• “Leaving the cabinet keys too close to the cabinet” fine, but she never told me this. And I came in the other day and SHE’D LEFT THEM IN THERE
• “Requesting she works from home one day while I was away” I literally should not be getting sacked for asking this??? The answer was no and I said okay fine??
• “Looking scruffy at work” again NEVER mentioned this and I know I do not look scruffy at work ever. Sometimes I don’t wear make up??
• “Heating at full blast” never told me to turn it down, and the office is freezing???
• “Not responding to clients emails” one time when I was off sick.
• “Not replying to my email asking if she was returning to work” she had emailed me at 7pm when I was sick, and I replied early the next morning???

I couldn’t be happier to be out of there!!

 

[Lola Ruby]

People who comment about you 'never being in the office'. I was just in the staff room and my nasty, toxic, gossipy ex colleague (we used to work in the same department, until I moved to the department I'm in now, thank gooddd otherwise I would have had some form of breakdown for sure) came in and said "Lola Ruby! Long time since I've seen you, where have you been?" Implying that I'm never in because I choose to work from home half the week, unlike her who is always in the office because she's a dinosaur, doesn't seem to think you can get work done any other way and (I suspect) doesn't have much of a life outside of work. I just said "Here" because what else do you say to that? Fuck off. Really pisses me off.