Annoying things your work colleagues do all the time? #6

[HoGi]

Our director cannot get their head around the fact that sending a blank "hold this time" or meeting invite to the whole office with absolutely no information causes anxiety.

Their response is "if it was about anything serious you would be told" which I do understand but it sends so many people into a spiral.

As a manager we often have no idea what these all team invites are about either. So can't even reassure the teams. It's so frustrating

 

[emmer_moans]

Our director cannot get their head around the fact that sending a blank "hold this time" or meeting invite to the whole office with absolutely no information causes anxiety.

Their response is "if it was about anything serious you would be told" which I do understand but it sends so many people into a spiral.

As a manager we often have no idea what these all team invites are about either. So can't even reassure the teams. It's so frustrating

Exactly! When this happens at our place we all get panicky and go maybe it is a redundancy announcement and then it just turns out to be a senior manager at the front going through stuff we've already read in the internal newsletter
I fall for it every bloody time.

 

[Goldilocks3108]

OMG I thought it was just me! I got a random “can we schedule in a chat” last Thurs and honestly I felt sick with worry. I’ve only just had a probation review which was fine but I was panicking. My contract is due to end at the end of June and this meeting was to ask me to extend it end of March 2025 (which is great) but I was convinced I was being sacked!

 

[Popcornshovel]

Happened to me today...the big boss asked if I had 5 mins. Turns out he just needed a link to something which I've sent him a few times before... Phew!

 

[HoGi]

Exactly! When this happens at our place we all get panicky and go maybe it is a redundancy announcement and then it just turns out to be a senior manager at the front going through stuff we've already read in the internal newsletter
I fall for it every bloody time.

Ours are usually even more mundane than this! It will be the director saying I thought we should have an all office catch up but I haven't really had time to put much of an agenda together so thanks for your time

ETA and despite the last 3 being this crap, people still panic. But I get it! All they have to say is catch up regarding XYZ or similar

 

[Popcornshovel]

Ours are usually even more mundane than this! It will be the director saying I thought we should have an all office catch up but I haven't really had time to put much of an agenda together so thanks for your time

ETA and despite the last 3 being this crap, people still panic. But I get it! All they have to say is catch up regarding XYZ or similar

It's the worst when they get everyone together for an all office catchup and then don't even have an agenda sorted. It's like they feel they should do it and then scramble to find topics for the update.

 

[whoareyouu]

Our director cannot get their head around the fact that sending a blank "hold this time" or meeting invite to the whole office with absolutely no information causes anxiety.

Their response is "if it was about anything serious you would be told" which I do understand but it sends so many people into a spiral.

As a manager we often have no idea what these all team invites are about either. So can't even reassure the teams. It's so frustrating

It is the worst. Every time they did that at my old workplace it was a round of redundancies.

So, I took voluntary as I was sick of the constant anxiety.

 

[Mamacita]

It's the worst when they get everyone together for an all office catchup and then don't even have an agenda sorted. It's like they feel they should do it and then scramble to find topics for the update.

Then send passive aggressive emails out, like 'im still waiting for suggestions for agenda topics to cover' eh mate if you have nothing to tell us , feel free to cancel the meeting?

 

[AshMay]

My boss is good at writing in the invite exactly what our catch up is about.... but then she uses the opportunity to talk about 847474 other things anyway so I'm still anxious and have to try and prepare to be asked about everything!

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

It makes for very uncomfortable email exchanges - I'm belligerent enough to not just ask what it's about but if they refuse to tell me, especially with the 'nothing to worry about' shite, I'll follow it up with a 'I need to know whether I need to arrange for my union representative to be present or not'. Tell me or don't bother me.

 

[Aceofspades]

I hate having meetings about having meetings about having other meetings.

 

[Popcornshovel]

My manager has got obsessed with minutes of meetings.

We've been asked to log every meeting we have, including agenda and minutes. But usually meetings are more like update chats with stakeholders for 10-20 minutes - it's adding alot of admin to write those up. I'm used to minute taking only being a thing for big/important meetings like boards/committees.

There's no clear reason for it, I think the manager has just thought this is a management-y thing to ask for.

Years ago I had a manager, who went on a course, and came back raving about risk matrices. He wanted us to do a risk matrix for everything just cos it was a new thing he'd learnt about.

 

[cowtastrophe]

I’m in the office today and I like to have lunch by myself browsing Tattle, reading news etc. My colleague, who has form for PA comments, just popped her head around the cubicle where I’d just take a giant mouthful of sandwich, to say that she and our other colleague were sitting nearby if I fancied joining them, ’unless you want to stay here social media-ing’.

duck off! I literally had the Guardian open on my screen!

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

Had a neverending stream of people wanting tech help from me today and the only things that were vaguely related to my actual job, I'd already done my part for over a month ago. Ended up filling 15 tickets with IT for them. 15 where I'd identified and traced the faults for them - and they'd already told the people that it was nothing to do with them. Sorry, guys, yes it is. And one asking me to volunteer to give up my lunch break (snorts: what lunch break? And committing to breaking employment law on an ongoing basis to do it?).

Just NO.
---

My manager has got obsessed with minutes of meetings.

We've been asked to log every meeting we have, including agenda and minutes. But usually meetings are more like update chats with stakeholders for 10-20 minutes - it's adding alot of admin to write those up. I'm used to minute taking only being a thing for big/important meetings like boards/committees.

There's no clear reason for it, I think the manager has just thought this is a management-y thing to ask for.

Years ago I had a manager, who went on a course, and came back raving about risk matrices. He wanted us to do a risk matrix for everything just cos it was a new thing he'd learnt about.

It can be helpful when tit is flying thick and fast to have a record of what was said/agreed in a chat, though. You don't need to write it up in the old fashioned formal style you do for big meetings, just include a line of explanation, the occasional question/answer and action, more like notes anybody with half a brain could work out (maybe even senior management).

 

[Kinderbelle]

My favorite thing is when a social event has been planned for ages so I arrange a hotel and travel to the city (I WFH as office is a big commute) whole team plus a couple of extra people invited, but then on the day when i'm is already commuting in the organizer pulls out so it's just cancelled and everyone else decides to WFH. So now I am in the office, none of my team are here and i'm locked in to a hotel stay and a train the next morning.

This is the second bleeping time. Just because the organizer pulls out doesn't mean no one else can go, surely?

 

[TheGlossy]

I got so annoyed this morning. People honestly think the office is a coffee shop.

I was working on an urgent and complex deliverable when this girl walks up to the guy sitting next to me, grabs the chair next to me and turns around facing him, laughing and giggling out loud for a good 35 minutes as if they were in some kind of tea house.

I’m not saying people aren’t allowed to chat at the office but when you see someone clearly trying to get work done and you purposefully sit next to them and strike a non-work related conversation at the top of your lungs for an extended period of time, it’s just rude.

I got so annoyed I kept glancing at them to make it known thus is rude.

 

[hytuhh]

Not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last - period blood left on the toilet floor I understand as much as anyone how awful and heavy periods can be, but there should never be a reason that you haven't cleaned up after yourself, especially in shared toilets

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

I just wanted to say thanks for the support here that several posters here gave me the other week. I got my anxiety under control again after a couple of days, and I think the thing I was stressing out about may not be as big a deal as I feared (fingers crossed).

 

[Lynno77]

Not so much something that a person has done (that I'm aware of) but I do wonder why my workplace has a notice in each cubicle asking that nothing is wiped on the walls. I find it surprising enough that anyone can't clean the toilet bowl after themselves when a toilet brush is provided in the cubicle let alone that they might wipe anything on the walls.

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

Not so much something that a person has done (that I'm aware of) but I do wonder why my workplace has a notice in each cubicle asking that nothing is wiped on the walls. I find it surprising enough that anyone can't clean the toilet bowl after themselves when a toilet brush is provided in the cubicle let alone that they might wipe anything on the walls.

I've seen this notice in several buildings that I've worked in. Apparently it's not uncommon for people to put faeces on the walls in the toilets at work. I don't think it's necessarily malicious, it's summat exhibited by people who have experienced abuse.