Friday OT #2 - The Water Cooler

Angie

Tugboats and arson.
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Mar 27, 2006
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What are things that people do in the workplace that just drive you insane? I have a coworker who clears her throat every 35 seconds and also regularly clips her fingernails at her desk. What are yours?
 
I have 1 coworker who some days probably watches more YouTube than he does work. Our manager works from home and my my team is spread out across multiple buildings in town so when we have coworkers who slack off it doesn't always get noticed unless they get caught or their productivity metrics look bad. The other year our manager dropped by his building unannounced and apparently stood across from his desk for about 5 to 10 minutes watching him zoned into YouTube before he even realized he was being watched. One of my coworkers who witnessed it said it was hilarious the moment he looked over and saw our manager just standing there.
 
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People who would call in sick on days when they were supposed to present or attend a very important meeting.

I get that sometimes you are sick and incapacitated. But some people developed the pattern where it was almost predictable they would not be there when the pressure might be applied or there might be some push back on what they were doing (or NOT doing.)
 
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I know it happens everywhere and isn’t just limited to the workplace but I absolutely can’t stand gossip and talking bad about others/coworkers when they aren’t around. One of the (minor) reasons I left my last job cause a couple ladies were just terrible. So far not bad at all at new job
 
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While I was in Chicago, we worked in a very open space cubicle environment. There was one guy would would sigh so loud the entire room could hear it. There was a inter-company messaging between workers and a few of my closer co-workers and I would start counting the number of sighs each day.
 
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Rambling personal story lady. I'm all for a little office chit-chat, but this woman's stories routinely take 30 minutes and they all suck. Complete inability to read non-verbal cues as well. I've tried everything I can to put off the "I'm not listening..." vibe without actually saying it. Looking at my phone. Responding to e-mails. Opening up files and looking at them. But I'm afraid I'm not far from having to move from non-verbal to verbal cues.
 
Clip fingernails
Eat at their desk. We all sit close to each other while we work, there is a place to sit down and eat within 10 seconds of our work area.
 
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People who would call in sick on days when they were supposed to present or attend a very important meeting.

I get that sometimes you are sick and incapacitated. But some people developed the pattern where it was almost predictable they would not be there when the pressure might be applied or there might be some push back on what the were doing (or NOT doing.)

Got a couple guys who do this to us all the time too. Will call in sick when we are busy and they are avoiding something they dont want to do or they take some last minute PTO too. Funny thing is most of us have got to the point with those guys if we can we just make sure that work is still waiting for them when they get back so they know we aren't going to bail them out whenever they pull that stunt.
 
My old boss, had the worst breath ever!! Someone else in the office mentioned it also. We all got some change together and I went out and bought a pack of breath mints for him. We did this for about 4 months. He finally came and asked my were the mints were coming from. I finally caved and told his breath could peel paint. He was pretty self conscious about from then on out and every once in a while I would slip him a mint or to and said, " Dude, who did you have last night?" He was grateful that I spoke up about it though.
 
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Drives me crazy when people's heads are buried in their phones. There was a women standing by an elevator one morning, just into her phone. I asked her if she could hit the up button so we could use the elevator. She hit it, but not hard enough and went back to her phone. I told her the button has to turn red after you hit it. That shows that it is in service. She wasn't super happy about Captain Obvious, but come on dingus!
 
Repetitive noise gets to me, so pen-clickers and foot tappers set me on edge. I also have a throat-clearer that drives me nuts.

Also, if you have rank smelling food (hard-boiled eggs, broccoli, bananas, tuna salad, etc) don't eat at your desk. And if you eat at your desk, don't throw the containers in your garbage and let that **** linger. Walk to the break room.
 
1. Rambling coworker who takes three times the amount of time that should be required to explain their situation and what they need.
2. Coworker who asks you the same question repeatedly and never remembers the answer.
3. Coworker who cannot read obvious body language saying that you're busy and need to wrap it up and get back to what you are doing.

In my office, all three of those are combined into one person.
 
1. Rambling coworker who takes three times the amount of time that should be required to explain their situation and what they need.
2. Coworker who asks you the same question repeatedly and never remembers the answer.
3. Coworker who cannot read obvious body language saying that you're busy and need to wrap it up and get back to what you are doing.

In my office, all three of those are combined into one person.

Sounds like a recipe for "former coworker" to me.
 
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Rambling personal story lady. I'm all for a little office chit-chat, but this woman's stories routinely take 30 minutes and they all suck. Complete inability to read non-verbal cues as well. I've tried everything I can to put off the "I'm not listening..." vibe without actually saying it. Looking at my phone. Responding to e-mails. Opening up files and looking at them. But I'm afraid I'm not far from having to move from non-verbal to verbal cues.

I've heard the best way to handle people like this is to not respond at all, verbally or non-verbally. Just look at them and never say, "Uh huh", "Really?", or "Oh yeah?". Just look at them silently with no reaction. Evidently, it makes the talker very uncomfortable.
 

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