annoying work colleagues..
Discussion
There is always someone.
In my present role I have had the misfortune to sit next or close by 3 really annoying people during various moves around the buildings.
1 - A keyboard warrior (you know the type who clatter keys at an alarming rate, hard to talk on the phone with this loony a few feet away)
2- ditto to the above, this time a woman.
3 - a woman who never ever (ever) shuts her gob, always yapping and loud at that, trying to focus on a job is taxing at the best of times with this cow behind me - she has this habbit of dragging her colleagues around her desk and you know how that will end...
anyone else with nightmare stories or do i get off lightly.
In my present role I have had the misfortune to sit next or close by 3 really annoying people during various moves around the buildings.
1 - A keyboard warrior (you know the type who clatter keys at an alarming rate, hard to talk on the phone with this loony a few feet away)
2- ditto to the above, this time a woman.
3 - a woman who never ever (ever) shuts her gob, always yapping and loud at that, trying to focus on a job is taxing at the best of times with this cow behind me - she has this habbit of dragging her colleagues around her desk and you know how that will end...
anyone else with nightmare stories or do i get off lightly.
Had a colleague who was always going on about running and constantly asking to sponsor him for his next 10k, all he could ever talk about was running or making comments about what other had for lunch, usually criticising their choices.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
As a contractor I move around different companies a lot and so get to meet a lot of people, some of whom I am happy never to see again, once I leave.
One particular contract found me at a small company (about 10 people) developing a new product.
In the 6 months I was there I had the dubious pleasure of working with a man who I, and all others working with him at the time, came to regard as the possibly the biggest
of modern times.
The funny thing was, when we used to moan about him, it was very hard to highlight a particular action or character trait that would lead to such an adverse reaction. If you listed his faults individually they didn’t seem so terrible. But there was an accumulative effect.
He was an academically smart guy (Engineering PhD) but lacked social skills. This is OK when this type of person just sits in the corner all day, doing their job and trying to avoid any human interactions. It works less well when they constantly want to tell you how brilliant his life is, how brilliant he is, how brilliant his wife is and how brilliant your life could be if you were like him.
He would tell us about his weekend dancing competitions (where he was the best dancer there) in incredible detail. He would tell us about his holidays (although he would insist on calling them “adventures”) in incredible detail. And he would tell us about his on going home improvement (he was fitting some bi-fold doors to his bungalow so would refer to it as a “Grand Design”) in incredible detail.
In a small team like that, developing a new product, everyone has to go the extra mile occasionally. Not him. He would leave at 16.30 on the dot knowing that the electrical technician was having a few problems with something that he had designed. Staying for 15 minutes extra would have been a massive help but no, he wanted to get home because his wife was cooking his favourite tonight.
He would sometimes ask my advice about mechanical issues and then spend 10 minutes telling me why I was wrong.
He would ask my advice when he was thinking about buying a new motorcycle (I have been riding for around 20 years) and then spend 10 minutes telling me why I was wrong.
He would come up with the lamest excuses to work from home, particularly around school holidays (his wife was a teacher and they had no children). People didn’t mind this though, because it meant he wasn’t in the office and the mood of the whole company would lift.
I have worked with more than my fair share of bell-ends over the years, but he was the one who stood out the most
Ultimately he was a man who never intended to irritate the ever living fk out of everyone he ever came into contact with. He just did.
One particular contract found me at a small company (about 10 people) developing a new product.
In the 6 months I was there I had the dubious pleasure of working with a man who I, and all others working with him at the time, came to regard as the possibly the biggest
of modern times.The funny thing was, when we used to moan about him, it was very hard to highlight a particular action or character trait that would lead to such an adverse reaction. If you listed his faults individually they didn’t seem so terrible. But there was an accumulative effect.
He was an academically smart guy (Engineering PhD) but lacked social skills. This is OK when this type of person just sits in the corner all day, doing their job and trying to avoid any human interactions. It works less well when they constantly want to tell you how brilliant his life is, how brilliant he is, how brilliant his wife is and how brilliant your life could be if you were like him.
He would tell us about his weekend dancing competitions (where he was the best dancer there) in incredible detail. He would tell us about his holidays (although he would insist on calling them “adventures”) in incredible detail. And he would tell us about his on going home improvement (he was fitting some bi-fold doors to his bungalow so would refer to it as a “Grand Design”) in incredible detail.
In a small team like that, developing a new product, everyone has to go the extra mile occasionally. Not him. He would leave at 16.30 on the dot knowing that the electrical technician was having a few problems with something that he had designed. Staying for 15 minutes extra would have been a massive help but no, he wanted to get home because his wife was cooking his favourite tonight.
He would sometimes ask my advice about mechanical issues and then spend 10 minutes telling me why I was wrong.
He would ask my advice when he was thinking about buying a new motorcycle (I have been riding for around 20 years) and then spend 10 minutes telling me why I was wrong.
He would come up with the lamest excuses to work from home, particularly around school holidays (his wife was a teacher and they had no children). People didn’t mind this though, because it meant he wasn’t in the office and the mood of the whole company would lift.
I have worked with more than my fair share of bell-ends over the years, but he was the one who stood out the most
Ultimately he was a man who never intended to irritate the ever living f
k out of everyone he ever came into contact with. He just did.Vandenberg said:
Had a colleague who was always going on about running and constantly asking to sponsor him for his next 10k, all he could ever talk about was running or making comments about what other had for lunch, usually criticising their choices.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
My equivalent in a related department.
If I'm in the office talking to my admin staff or boss (who are shared with him) about something related to my department he'll chip in, despite it not being anything to do with him. Typical middle-aged dad syndrome, thinks he knows everything. Add a dash of tree-hugger for good measure.
The worse thing is we know when it's about to happen as we hear his chair scrape back from round the corner, at which point we all roll our eyes as we know he is about to butt in.
If I'm in the office talking to my admin staff or boss (who are shared with him) about something related to my department he'll chip in, despite it not being anything to do with him. Typical middle-aged dad syndrome, thinks he knows everything. Add a dash of tree-hugger for good measure.
The worse thing is we know when it's about to happen as we hear his chair scrape back from round the corner, at which point we all roll our eyes as we know he is about to butt in.
Blackpuddin said:
Vandenberg said:
Had a colleague who was always going on about running and constantly asking to sponsor him for his next 10k, all he could ever talk about was running or making comments about what other had for lunch, usually criticising their choices.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
We had a new contractor start, a slight woman in her late 30s who was very quiet, he came round asking for sponsorship, and she advised she did a bit of running, Colleague got all excited and asked what her 10k times where, and she replied no idea I only do Ultra Marathons these days and the Marathon de sable every year.
His face dropped and he shuffled off and we never heard him mention running again.
Headphones and Spotify have saved my sanity at my current workplace!
Aphex said:
LosingGrip said:
If you've gone to Tenerife he's gone to elevenerife.
Really what it boils down to is the fact she has a bazillion acquaintances and no proper friends so she craves attention. I bet if she asked any one of those people, myself, or our colleagues, to help her move some furniture they'd all suddenly be busy.
I hope I'm not an annoying person in the office, I feel like I'm very self aware and my hobbies (hockey, paintball and motorsport) are most certainly not everyone's cup of tea so I tend not to talk much about myself or what I've been up to unless directly asked about it. In the usual 'what have you been up to over the weekend' type of chat I keep it brief but open to further questions if they're interested, 'oh I just went to Donington to a race event, It was nice to see some rare cars you don't see every day. How about yourself?'.
Aphex said:
LosingGrip said:
If you've gone to Tenerife he's gone to elevenerife.
The guy sitting opposite me (large low partitioned office) has been getting on my nerves for the past couple of weeks, he seems to be getting periodically pissed off / stressed out by his computer and he vents by hitting what I imagine is the return key very hard in sporadic outbursts of barely contained rage...
clickety click click click click BANG BANG... click click clickety... BANG... click click etc etc. It's happening at some point most hours and for some reason it is really putting me on edge. I want to say something but nobody else in the area has commented yet and I wonder if I'm being overly sensitive.
Tempted to say something sarcy like "Sanjay mate, your keyboard broken?" and seeing if anybody else jumps in on it.
HustleRussell said:
Very good!
The guy sitting opposite me (large low partitioned office) has been getting on my nerves for the past couple of weeks, he seems to be getting periodically pissed off / stressed out by his computer and he vents by hitting what I imagine is the return key very hard in sporadic outbursts of barely contained rage...
clickety click click click click BANG BANG... click click clickety... BANG... click click etc etc. It's happening at some point most hours and for some reason it is really putting me on edge. I want to say something but nobody else in the area has commented yet and I wonder if I'm being overly sensitive.
Tempted to say something sarcy like "Sanjay mate, your keyboard broken?" and seeing if anybody else jumps in on it.
I do that, that feels good, you should try it. The guy sitting opposite me (large low partitioned office) has been getting on my nerves for the past couple of weeks, he seems to be getting periodically pissed off / stressed out by his computer and he vents by hitting what I imagine is the return key very hard in sporadic outbursts of barely contained rage...
clickety click click click click BANG BANG... click click clickety... BANG... click click etc etc. It's happening at some point most hours and for some reason it is really putting me on edge. I want to say something but nobody else in the area has commented yet and I wonder if I'm being overly sensitive.
Tempted to say something sarcy like "Sanjay mate, your keyboard broken?" and seeing if anybody else jumps in on it.
We've moved office recently and instead of having my own individual desk away from people, I'm now on a line of desks. The move was fine and the desk situation was fine too except since the start of the new year we've had a new starter who sits next to me... We both work in Project Management.
He has no concept of personal space. Our desks are pretty generous but he's positioned himself right up to my desk, with nothing to his other side, it's fking weird and feels invasive. He has loads of stuff and he thinks nothing of spreading it all out over mine too... This is starting to drive me over the edge. I've tried moving stuff to block him but he just places his stuff around mine. I guess I need to speak up but I really shouldn't have too.
He constantly interrupts me. He's a new starter and we have a software system with lots of intricate configuration, questions are to be expected. However we have specific training that covers 95% of the configuration and functionality. The other 5% should be found on trial and error. Rather than knuckle down and learn our system via the training, he's trying to take on project workload to look good to our management. The result being I'm CONSTANTLY nagged on how to do this, how can I do that etc. Telling him to look at the training hasn't worked, and the two earphones strategy is not working - he will sit over my shoulder until I acknowledge him. The project he is currently working on is actually me orchestrating it via proxy.
He tries to one up me. He's been here just over a month and is taking every opportunity to administer constructive criticism or trying to assert actions onto me, though he is not my senior in anyway. He tries to take an angle on any situation. I'm trying not to rise to it but it's becoming very hard work...
He's ridiculously loud and obnoxious. I don't care if his kids have st all over the floor at volume 11. When he takes phone calls it's ridiculous...
I'm hoping he will start to settle down and leave me alone in the very near future, otherwise I guess I need to address this head on. It's just very different to just over a month ago... We've hired other Project Managers recently and they just settle in and get on with it so I don't think it's me!
He has no concept of personal space. Our desks are pretty generous but he's positioned himself right up to my desk, with nothing to his other side, it's f
king weird and feels invasive. He has loads of stuff and he thinks nothing of spreading it all out over mine too... This is starting to drive me over the edge. I've tried moving stuff to block him but he just places his stuff around mine. I guess I need to speak up but I really shouldn't have too.He constantly interrupts me. He's a new starter and we have a software system with lots of intricate configuration, questions are to be expected. However we have specific training that covers 95% of the configuration and functionality. The other 5% should be found on trial and error. Rather than knuckle down and learn our system via the training, he's trying to take on project workload to look good to our management. The result being I'm CONSTANTLY nagged on how to do this, how can I do that etc. Telling him to look at the training hasn't worked, and the two earphones strategy is not working - he will sit over my shoulder until I acknowledge him. The project he is currently working on is actually me orchestrating it via proxy.
He tries to one up me. He's been here just over a month and is taking every opportunity to administer constructive criticism or trying to assert actions onto me, though he is not my senior in anyway. He tries to take an angle on any situation. I'm trying not to rise to it but it's becoming very hard work...
He's ridiculously loud and obnoxious. I don't care if his kids have s
t all over the floor at volume 11. When he takes phone calls it's ridiculous...I'm hoping he will start to settle down and leave me alone in the very near future, otherwise I guess I need to address this head on. It's just very different to just over a month ago... We've hired other Project Managers recently and they just settle in and get on with it so I don't think it's me!
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