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

[Gee_whip]

Maybe I’m extremely antisocial but I hate office Chatty Cathies on every Teams i am eagerly waiting for it to be over so I can go back to solitude lol.

I had a Teams meeting with my boss today and I had a long list of things that need her approval before I can action. She joined, spent 20 mins talking about her kids exams without coming up for air then said “oh hold on someone else is calling me” and disappeared. A completely pointless meeting and waste of a half hour, i came off still unable to progress anything on my list

 

[ChastityDingle]

My husband died in the March of 2018 ( I nursed him at home as was his wish ) I was absolutely devastated and had 8 weeks off signed by my wonderful GP, I wasn’t ready to go back but knew if I didn’t go after eight weeks I would never return. Anyway I walked in the double doors and just wanted to cry because the last time I saw those doors he was alive, anyway, I walked to my desk and was greeted by my manager who was typing she looked at me and sort of huffed, I didn’t need her to ask me how I was because I knew she wasn’t interested anyway, I sat down and started doing my work. After about an hour the supervisor called me to “ have a chat “ off we went to the empty office and I was told my sickness was unreasonable ( I worked there for 3 yrs and never had a day off sick before ) and I was lucky because they were debating whether to give me a warning ! i sat in front of her and wanted to fold up and die I was so upset. And suddenly from within me I stood up and told her exactly what she and the manager could do with their job and how I pray nothing ever happens to their loved ones I was calm but very very direct, I walked back to my desk with arsehole face running behind me saying “ I got it all wrong and I might not even get a warning “ I grabbed my bag, and keys and walked out with my head high. I had numerous phone calls from both of them begging me to reconsider until I told them if I get one more call from either of them I would be taking out a grievance procedure on them. I haven’t worked since and slowly got a new life but I will never ever forget how I felt that day, I now enjoy being with my new grandchild and helping my gorgeous DIL with childcare and recently saw a colleague from the office who told me manager had been sacked and the supervisor was off long term sick after losing her mother. I am a strong believer in Karma !

That is dreadful.
Well done you for walking out.

I was very badly treated by a bitch of a manager when I was unwell some years ago.

Thankfully our paths will never cross again, and while I don't wish ill upon her, I would like to think that someday she will be in a situation where a bit of kindness or compassion would help an awful lot, and that it doesn't come her way.

 

[CatCafe234]

Sounds like an absolute knob! Why do some people take such delight in being abrasive?

I cannot stand people who treat the workplace like they Alan Sugar leading an episode of The Apprentice. In fact I can’t stand that show, because you get so many people now who either treat work like they’re a contestant and everything’s a task they have to win, or you get managers who genuinely think that being an abrasive arsehole is actually a way to lead a team.

 

[littlemissmercedes]

I have a co-worker who would announce everything he was doing in a soft, annoying voice. "I'm going to prepare the report now and make 40 copies for the clients.......I am going to put this file here for easy access..I am going to send a copy to Cindy in the finance department.I am now going to eat my sandwich" No one cares, Darrell!

 

[YetAnotherObsessionx]

I know this is massively less shocking than the posts above from earlier this week, but I've just experienced this tonight & can't think where else to share: when people in the UK don't have any idea where some other very large well-known places are. I'm mainly referring to my Kent/Sussex colleagues referring to pretty much anywhere that isn't Kent/Sussex/London as being 'up north' so much that one of them said she was going 'up north' next week which in fact turned out to be Bristol. They all think 'oh well it's somewhere outside London' is a hilarious excuse for not knowing something as basic as what's the next county to the one they live in... as if driving an hour east, west or north is a thousand times further than driving an hour from London to Brighton to go to the beach. They know Cornwall exists but I doubt some of them could find it on a map, like it's some sort of mythical place you get to via a portal on the M25. I find this all infuriating.

Anyway. Rant over. Back to reading everyone else's far more dramatic colleague issues!

 

[KindnessWins]

I hate when people send ‘hi newaccount’ on teams and then nothing else. Just state your request or question.

Or “Hello, how are you?”

Never you mind how I am, ask your bloody question so I can get on with my life ffs

 

[DA Stella]

It’s so annoying isn’t it! And you raise it and the manager says it’s being addressed but nothing changes.

I worked with a shift partner who did nothing all shift but shop for shoes online and look at houses for sale he could never possibly afford. He even told people I was his "assistant" even though we were equals. This went on for months because he and our manager were of the same ethnic background and the manager said he didn't want to "bring down" a man of their race. Well, he wouldn't have been, the guy was bringing himself down, but whatever. Then it all became crystal clear when I went out on leave after having surgery and we got a different manager. Suddenly they realized he did NOTHING. Complaints came in from all over. I transferred to another location but heard he had been put on a PIP and had been written up two times. He finally quit when the third writeup came. I, on the other hand, got promoted twice more. So at least all my hard work paid off.

 

[Norfolking Good]

Sadly a lot of it is down to managers not wanting to have difficult conversations and letting what starts as a small issue turn into something huge that impacts large numbers of people.
Managing is a skill and until mandatory and regular training is provided sadly you’ll always get crappy managers who just shunt the dross from team to team. Incredibly frustrating though

 

[TheGlossy]

I personally wouldn’t leave a meeting just because it’s 12pm. It’s rude.

My issue is with people who see in your calendar that you’ve already had 4 back to back meetings by 1pm and your afternoon looks just as packed, so they just slide it their meeting during the only free slot you have which should be your lunch break.

 

[redstraw16]

One of the guys I work with is fully on the Andrew Tate defense team this morning, he’s literally willing to fall out with our whole office over a man now with rape/trafficking charges that he doesn’t even personally know…

His obsession with him seemed like a joke at first but it’s entered worrying territory.

 

[TheGlossy]

This person in my team

I cannot deal with them talking about their dog every single time we interact. We were on a group call on Friday, then again today and they talked about their dog in both calls. Then, I was in the office this afternoon and we spoke twice. The dog was again mentioned in both chats.

Nothing against dog owners, but if you cannot have a conversation without mentioning your dog, you must have dependency issues.

I don’t know which one is worse - parents who talk about their kids all the time or dog owners who won’t stop talking about their dogs.

 

[Black.bird]

People who loiter around your desk chatting, when you're trying to work ... they don't even sit near me; they just happened to see each other in passing and stopped. It's just rude.

 

[Black.bird]

Some people's office hygiene is vile.

I worked at a client site for a bit a few years ago and sat next to a guy who never, ever washed his cup - he would just make hot drinks in it over and over again. He also used to store his gym gear under his desk and it smelt vile.

Other people would leave bowls in the sink filled with water and a lot of food scraps that were floating to the surface - I mean, who even does that?!

The ladies' toilets were always something else. Most of the women were impeccably groomed, yet the way they left the toilets - paper on the floor, water everywhere - on the counters, the mirror, the floor - was shocking. The company (very generously!) supplied hairdryers and hair straighteners which were hard-wired into the wall; within weeks they were broken.
---
Another pet hate from my office days - when you sit around all day waiting for something to come through from someone that absolutely has to be dealt with that day (this usually happened when I was working on proposals), and it comes through just minutes before you're due to finish.

For some people it's because work is their life and they're happy to drag things out and work all night; but for those of us with a life it simply isn't on. It was usually managers who did this, and it sometimes felt as if they were doing it to remind you who's boss.

 

[MagpieTree]

My manager took me aside today to mention someone had shared a social media post of mine where I was complaining that we’re currently sharing desks. I know exactly who it is as I’m only followed by one current colleague!

 

[Lola Ruby]

Multiple people in the office having their volume turned all the way up on all their devices so it's a constant PING PING PING of emails, Whatsapp messages etc and I mean constantly So annoying

 

[Norfolking Good]

My colleague who has managed for the last 7 years (yes you read that right) to avoid learning how to use our national database properly is now being performance managed after my boss finally admitted in a meeting that they couldn’t manage her (no shit) and it should have been nipped in the bud at the time it was beginning to show. She managed to just answer the most simple email queries only and openly admitted to cherry picking the easiest to deal with and I put in a formal complaint last year which was fobbed off with a comment of what I said was bang on but that’s just how she is!!
I’ve just got a promotion and they can see how much I’ve been covering her workload when I’m off in another team. Makes me so mad.

 

[mee43]

I hate not having my “own” desk. I waste so much time logging on and off of scrrrns and setting up first in one place then in another.
Equipment is at such a bare minimum that you’re forever playing musical chairs so that everyone has a spell of access to what they need.
Makes me feel like a spare part rather than a valued employee.

 

[EleanorRigby]

I really think my manager is trying to push me out.

She’s disregarded every positive feedback I’ve received in the last few weeks and has categorically refused to give me any kind of positive word during the past two months.

This week, I spent hours preparing a birthday video/presentation for one out of colleagues. Everyone liked it but the manager wasn’t on the call.

I sent the presentation via group Teams to the birthday person. The manager comes along and puts a ‘love’ emoji reaction to the birthday person saying ‘thanks’ for the presentation but no reaction to the presentation I sent, not even half a like or anything when everyone else did.

I may be reading too much into this, but if you’re gonna react to the birthday person saying ‘thanks’ you can also acknowledge the coordinator right above in the same thread who actually put the effort into doing this. I didn’t do it to get a thanks, but I find the attitude of the manager to be highly dismissive when it’s her tradition in the first place.

How much more evidence do you need?? Stevie Wonder can see it's a toxic environment. Get yourself out of there.

 

[HoGi]

Drives me nuts that everyone takes everything so seriously. There’s one particular girl in work who has nothing else going on, her whole life and personality is her work. She’s available to clients 24/7, brings her laptop on holiday and sits in the hotel and logged on every day over Xmas. She goes through periods of being grand to deal with but this month she’s unbearable, so negative and making a huge deal out of everything.

I need a job with the council or somewhere that doesn’t give a shit.

Hate to tell you but I work at a council and someone I work with is exactly like this!

You get them everywhere

 

[JustmeKC]

Out of interest, what puts you off a full time office job? How long do you tend to stay in jobs? It was the norm pre-covid times in my sector. Our office is heaven and we work so well across teams because we are mainly office based.covid caused such a problem with training and development. We have air con at home but why the hell would I want to pay the electric bill for that when I can get it for free at work? same for the heating bills in winter also, unlimited coffee and biscuits so it’s a no brainer for me

I want a remote job because not commuting to my office would give me back 3 hours a day of my life