Annoying things your work colleagues do all the time? #9

[pinkmug]

“Will you send me the email?” You were already copied into it. Ffs. Just look in your inbox.

This, and asking me to send it again instead of doing a quick search in their inbox. Ffs.

Similar to this: asking me questions that would take them maybe 6 seconds to Google. I don't know the answer either yet when I say I don't know, they ask me to Google it quickly. Do that yourself, it's faster than asking me about it and waiting for an answer

 

[ChastityDingle]

I used to work with someone who was big into crystal healing woo.

Every now and again, there would be a mad rumble and clatter as her entire crystal collection would avalanche to the floor.

Sat opposite someone once upon a time who had a large selection of cuddly toys on the partition between her desk and others, including mine. I may or may not have helped some of them to fall onto her desk when I was alone on the office. It's the small things y'know.

 

[OliveOil2020]

I'm in a teams chat with over 100 people. I hate it when a question is asked like "does anyone have experience of x? If yes please contact me" Say it's "baking cakes", the chat will then be flooded with various responses like no, not me, sorry I can't help, I baked a cake once, I can't bake cakes but I can bake bread, I ate a cake once.... having to read through various different no's. I suppose it's good that the person asking the question isn't being ignored but this happens multiple times a week!

 

[cowtastrophe]

I was on a course with a junior member of staff today and I was shocked at what she told me about her manager and the department head. She needed PPE for the course and has been asking for it for weeks only to be brushed off by her manager, then called into the department head’s office and berated for asking for PPE, then threatened with being taken off the course. Both of them basically told her that if she rocked the boat, she could be got rid of. She’s still in probation at the moment but I’ve told her to contact the union.

I‘m going to speak to my manager about it and ask his advice because I’m appalled at the way they treated her.

 

[Pinkii]

I’ve got a colleague I’m actually quite friendly with, but honestly she’s quite negative and it’s starting to drain me a bit. There’s rarely a day where she’s just like “yeah, all good” it’s always something, whether it’s work, feeling ill ( literally this one is the most frequent- surprisingly never ill when she is about to go on holiday), not sleeping, or something else going on.


On top of that, her main job is doing client presentations, and she completely spirals every single time. And I mean every single time. It’s not even occasional, she’s doing them weekly at this point. The morning of, it’s constant messages about how nervous she is, how she can’t do it, etc. I do try to be supportive because she is actually good at them, but hearing the same panic play out over and over is honestly quite exhausting.

I get nerves, I really do but if something you’re doing every week is still causing that level of distress, at some point you either need to properly address it or question whether it’s the right fit. Because being someone’s emotional support system for the same issue on repeat is just draining

 

[DA Stella]

So I went for the promotion. Was knocked back, not even offered an interview. For a job I’ve already been doing. Trying not to rage cry right now because wtf

I'm sorry. That has to be super frustrating.
A friend of mine worked where I used to work, in the same department (we became friends later on and didn't work the same shift). She had been "temporarily" working in the department until approval was given to open up the position for a direct hire. When it finally did and she applied, she too was passed over. To make it worse, the manager required her to train the person they'd hired. She asked "if I'm good enough to train the person you hired, why wasn't I good enough to hire?" I was furious on her behalf.

 

[Norfolking Good]

Apologies in advance if this offends anyone but I’ve just had to sit through a 2hr meeting with a guy in his fifties using a massive 6” long frigging fidget spinner incredibly loudly the whole way though. I cannot believe how loud and frankly distracting this thing is but of course you can’t say anything out loud as he has ADHD. Sorry rant over

 

[ahkrin]

Have to say when I started in the world of work it was always women in their 40s who took me under their wing and helped me navigate whose seat was whose and which of them would shank you over it.

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

They do that in my job. They do it to show they are so dainty they can only eat half of something.
I hate it because no one else can eat the bit left because your hands have been all over it.

I worked in one place where the bits taken from doughnuts competitively decreased until there were 25 out of 30 of the fucking things with a 2cm sliver taken out of each one with filling mostly all over the boxes or plates. And fingerprints/nail impressions on the top of each, so nobody else was ever going to touch them but everybody could see that the group of teeny tinies all couldn't possibly manage more than a scrap of a fresh doughnut.

It would have been wasteful but fine had they taken an entire one each and thrown away the extra or shared amongst themselves, but no, it had to be seen.

 

[MediumLoad]

We had a cyber attack attempt last week and a guide on how to avoid this in future was sent out. Management sent out then an (I think) obvious test of a "there has been a failed log in attempt, please access the link to confirm this" and one of our secretaries received this. She then got an email this morning to say that another secretary had received the same email, and that she'd sent it to all of the secretaries to tell everyone to "watch out for it". Surely that beats the objective of a phising email test? Silly people

One of our "So obviously a fake Phising attempt created by IT to make sure they are compliant" emails fooled hardly anyone. Err, apart from half the IT Department who clicked on it to see what it was.

Not that we were surprised, as our IT Department consistently scores highest on any "What don't you like about working here?" surveys.

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

I have a dilemma; my line manager is a rude bully and has consistently picked on someone/anyone in her own team (me included) all the time I've known her, for several years.
Her latest 2x victims have taken out a grievance and I've been asked to go and meet with the manager who is investigating the situation.

My dilemma is that I want to talk but I don't want anything I say to get back to my line manager - she's going to know that anything from years ago can only have come from me as I'm the only long standing member of staff.

She's snappy and sarcastic - all her previous victims have moved on to new jobs - but she's actually ok-ish with me cos I won't play her games, I've previously told 3x managers exactly what she is like.

I just feel like I'm in a really vulnerable position - I could speak out and say all the things she's done over the years, but I feel it's likely to blow up in my face. Obviously I don't want her relentlessly bullying colleagues, but she's ok with me - it's just so awkward

If you tell them that you are in a really vulnerable position and concerned about repercussions, that pretty much confirms it. Normal procedure is to not tell the subject of the grievance full details of the investigation meetings, as it puts pressure on people to deny everything for fear of being made to pay for it later. And if it's in relation to any Protected Characteristic, it's actually a further issue for the bully if they do because it counts as victimisation - that applies to both a person with or perceived to have a PC, but anybody connected to that in the course of the investigation.

 

[katz2022]

So many of my colleagues listen to music or podcasts on their headphones, so if you want to ask them a question from your desk, they’re oblivious.

I have to listen to music to drown out the people who sit on Teams calls all day speaking at FULL VOLUME. I walk out of the office with a fucking headache.

 

[BoogleC]

When I returned from leave a colleague had put a meeting in with me when I was away and sent me messages on Teams asking if I was coming to the meeting despite it being very obvious I wasn’t online. I had an out of office on and my calendar was blocked out. The mind honestly boggles

 

[Samf2020]

A team member decided that the team were buying a painting or something for someone and they all needed to give 50 quid. There was no choice in it, that is way too much.
Now the company just give us a card to sign and they take care of the gift voucher.
I have refused to sign a card before as the person leaving made my life a misery.

 

[TheDragonWithAFlagon]

Me: What's happened here? Oh, you've changed the methodology and tariffs without warning or approval. You know that'll render any data points impossible to compare and that if it's attempted, it'll make everybody look like they're doing a shit job?

Them: I don't care, it's easier this way.

Me: Okaaayyyyy. <sends off email to manager making sure they're aware of the consequences> <manager confirms they are aware of this, as is executive level, who have decided it's totally unimportant and won't make any difference at all>

Me: Here's the most recent data. As I previously said, it's not possible to compare to the previous data point due to the change in methodology and tariffs. And that's why it appears that performance has plummeted.

Radio silence.




Other person: <knocks on door> Can you help me with this? <forwards email from executive level>

Me: So they're wanting you to 'explain yourself' because the comparison between the two data points makes it look as though you are doing a shit job? With zero notice or an actual copy of the datasets for you to refer to or show that the original information is now utter junk?

Other person: Yep.

Me: Conveniently enough, I can replicate the analysis using only the current methodology to provide a direct comparison between the two dates. Would you like me to provide that information to you?

Other person: Oh, yes please.

Me: I take payment in plants, posh coffee and snacks. Tuesday morning at 10am alright for you to go through it?

Other person: Just how big a plant, coffee and snacks are we thinking of?

 

[ChastityDingle]

And I'm guessing that while your every move is being watched - a meeting FFS - others are suiting themselves. I know that type of team leader/ manager.
I asked one time if it was okay to start and finish a bit earlier than normal because there was a bus strike threatening, and a friend had kindly offered me a lift as they were going to be driving to their (nearby) workplace.

Well the hemming and hawing that went on. In the event, the strike didn't happen, but anyway.

 

[EleanorRigby]

People just don't like calling anyone anymore, I quite often have to say "call the haulier and ask about xyz" and the next thing you hear is tapping on the keyboard because their emailing! Just pick up the phone and ask the question!

Especially if it's urgent. Emails can be easily ignored. Phone calls can be much more effective, if you can get hold of the right person.

 

[DA Stella]

Customer service rep who wants me to take over some of the duties of actually servicing THEIR customers because I guess they don't want to?
Kick down some of that salary, which is tens of thousands higher than mine, if I am going to have to do a portion of their work.

 

[EvilJigglypuff]

Someone asked me for ibuprofen the other day and took three out of the packet. TAKE TWO LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN, you’ve left me with one now

 

[Norfolking Good]

I’d not seen the type of spinner he had before but it was so loud and the constant hand movements and noise was incredibly distracting. Unfortunately that combined with constantly interrupting me made for a very long and tedious meeting. I’ll try and miss the next one or he will end up with it inserted sideways into the nearest orafice