Things we hate about our co-workers, by young whipper-snapper Bernard Marr, a “keynote speaker and leading business and data expert.” We can’t choose our families, and in most cases we don’t get to choose our work colleagues either – and many of us spend more time with co-workers than we do our families.
A study shows one in five office employees say they hate one or more of their coworkers. A third dislike their colleagues so much they would never even consider socializing with them outside of work
ME: as I do with all these work-related lists, I re-type and post in an effort to learn and internalize, as I can be just as guilty as anyone.
The study showed the most vicious fields to work in were media, accounting, IT, and sales. Here are some reasons why:
Disregard for shared spaces. Every office has the office slob. Their messy desk could offend others, especially when they can’t find what they need when they need it.
Lack of email etiquette: employees should not only not send cat videos to office mates, but also should not habitually hit “reply all” on emails where everyone does not need the reply, or uses all caps or no punctuation at all, or habitually sends novels when a single sentence or two will do (I may be guilty of that last one, though I’m careful to state the problem/question in the first sentence for those with short attention spans. My pet peeve: using a long email trail but changing the subject – without changing the subject line).
Know-it-all. Clearly there are some people who are simply the smartest person in any room, but no one else wants to be reminded of that (or how many hours they’re working a day). Some have been so busy being right that they fail to notice they’ve completely alienated the entire team, and no one wants to implement their ideas just to spite them. Rather than having the answer for everything, why not let someone else have a go (or get a word in edgewise)?
TMI: sharing too much is a tricky line to walk. Many share personal information about family, kids, hobbies, pets, etc., which is great and adds to a positive work environment. But it may cross the line to discuss embarrassing medical problems, sharing photos and stories of drunken weekend debauchery, or kiss and tell. And this doesn’t include the things people tell their co-workers directly, but also the things others can easily overhear from the private phone calls of others (not to mention vulgar language, politics, and religion – people often forget that everyone may not agree with their viewpoint. Or want to hear your life history on every subject everyone happens to tell a story about – just listen sometime, for goodness sakes!).
Laziness: no one likes people who don’t the guy not pulling his weight – not finishing projects, taking long lunches, napping at their desk, doing the bare minimum to get by – especially those who constantly must pick up their slack. People also get tired of co-workers being constantly late – to work, to meetings, etc. (I couldn’t have said this better myself).
Complaining: if someone is constantly moaning about work load, the hours, management, the customer, you can bet their co-workers are tired of hearing it. Make a formal complaint to someone who do can something about it. Otherwise, no one wants to hear about it every day (everyone else has too much to do as well, including management. Most just shut up and work. Makes the day go by quicker).
Gossip: someone always takes it too far. Best to remember to mind your own business and let everyone else get on with theirs.
Too competitive: competition can be healthy, motivating, and fun. But when someone acts as if work is a war and there can only be one victor, they’re probably taking things too seriously and almost certainly making enemies.
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