You don’t pick people for two things: your family and your job. Coworkers come as part of the package, bottom line.
And although sometimes a workplace is a perfect place to make connections and lasting friendships, other times the people you see 5 days a week can really, I mean, really get on your nerves. Whether your colleagues are always talking, always on their phone, or just always in your way, they can make your workday longer and harder.
We can’t control other people’s behavior, but we can surely vent about it. And since annoying coworkers are basically a universally relatable thing, no wonder the hashtag #ThingsAnnoyingCoworkersDo hit way too close to the bone for many people on Twitter. So pull your seat closer, we’re about to look at the funniest tweets people shared.
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And leaving stinky food in the fridge for so long it's pretty much developed into its own ecosystem, then get mad you threw out their "good tupperware."
Lol I figured from about the first sentence cuz my cat is on my lap
Do you have a coworker who is always talking? Or one who is always asking for favors? Maybe you have a coworker who is always trying to be the boss. Whatever the case may be, we all have that one coworker who is just plain annoying. If you're lucky, you can just avoid that person. But sometimes, you have to work with them on projects or tasks. And that can be torture.
Questions about situations that ONLY pertain to themselves personally.
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Every single Friday. Same guy, same dumb questions (usually about something unrelated) which makes the boss talk for another 20mins about something none of us care, or get paid to care about. Now we send him Skype msgs 5min before meeting time to tell him to shut up and he still does it.
I worked from home (well before Covid) and only went into the office on Mondays, mainly to print checks. I told the owner multiple times that I had to leave by 2:50 to catch my bus. I am so not kidding, that stupid jacka*s would start asking me questions AS I WAS GATHERING MY STUFF TO LEAVE. I was stupid enough to stay and answer whatever inane f*cking bullsh*t he was asking me about. Now - catching the bus was the least of it. The bus took me to the trolley station where I would STILL have to catch 2 more buses to get home. I'm talking 2+ hours. I finally snapped. "Hey, Jon? Here's an idea. Why don't you figure this sh*t out BEFORE I have to leave to catch the bus?" He started sputtering as I'm grabbing my bag & I just said, "Send me an email. I'll look at it in the morning. FYI - we're not curing cancer".
And it's usually a question they've already asked three times and others have already asked three times. Then they argue with the supervisor. Next meeting, they ask the same question.
Oh see you're someone who actually likes your job. For the rest of us, we do this purposely sometimes to stretch out the meetings. Honestly I'd rather have a meeting than be back on phones talking to stupid people. Trust me those people know exactly what they're doing and DO NOT CARE if you don't like it. Be mad, but be mad while I get an extra 20 minutes off the floor.
A guy just got demoted into my department (rather than paying him severance) and he was dumber than i thought. His questions in our meetings are something else.
And that question, no doubt added at least another 30 minutes to the meeting
I know my coworkers well enough that before the meeting starts I address the group and say if you have any questions ask them after the meeting on their time so the rest of us can get back to our time.
But if you happen to already be in that situation where a colleague is getting on your nerves, you may want to think about a couple of things. First, it’s important to stay polite, whatever happens. Even if they are driving you crazy, it's important to be polite. Just bite your tongue and try to get through the interaction. In this way, you’ll make sure they don’t ruin your reputation.
A second useful tip is not getting drawn into their drama. If they are always complaining or starting arguments, just walk away. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Oh yes when this happens you should say "maybe you should act your wage Karen"
Setting boundaries is also crucial when dealing with annoying coworkers. If they are always asking for favors, make it clear that you're not going to do everything they ask. Set some limits so that you don't end up doing all the work. You may also want to make sure you keep your distance. Remember that you don't have to be best friends with this person. Just keep your interactions to a minimum and whenever they’re needed.
Ah.. this one would be brought up with HR immediately. I'm crazy, but I value being able to breathe very highly. Cologne etc sets of my asthma, and it is not fun.
If you feel like you're stuck in the corner and there’s not much to be done, the only option may be to talk to your boss or manager. They may be able to help you resolve the issue.
And after all, every workplace has its quirks: whether it’s the workings of the company, the flawed management or the people you have to work with, no work is perfect. Dealing with annoying coworkers may be tiring, to say the least, but in the end, it’s part of life.
Meanwhile, according to Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach and serial entrepreneur, “it’s important that you stand your ground and don’t let yourself be intimidated by difficult coworkers, whether they’re negative, talking down to you, or making your work difficult in any other way.”
“Of course, you can try to interact as little as possible with the coworker, but that isn’t always possible,” the career coach added. Moreover, a great skill to practice is becoming better at having difficult conversations, she told us in an earlier interview.
... specially when I had my headphones off. CAN'T YOU TAKE A HINT???
“Stick to negative behavior as that’s more objective and can more easily be verified by everyone involved. Practice exactly what you want to say beforehand, and consider getting other allies on board as well. Sometimes it is necessary to involve management, but it’s often better to only do this once you can demonstrate to the manager what you yourself have attempted to tackle the issue,” the career coach explained.
God, the f*****g forward to all s**t. If it doesn’t concern me, do NOT junk up my inbox with your b******t.
THIS ^ I once had a cubicle neighbor who was in sales. He was on the phone ALL THE TIME, and had an extremely loud voice. I got over-ear headphones. They barely helped.
Then sing along with it out loud when they can’t carry a tune if it had a handle.
Savages. Although if you don’t know you may get a placebo caffeine effect 🤷🏽♀️ 🤞
We had manuals (publications) that covered every thing you could conceivably have happen in my job in the military. If you were a good worker and tried hard as a new guy/gal, I’d show you how to do something. If you were lazy, I’d just tell you which publication it was in and ignore further questions. If you were REALLY lazy, and I didn’t like you, I’d tell you to “look in the pub” but not say which of the hundreds we had.
UGH, it is so annoying when someone does this!!! As if everyone else is helpless and everything comes grinding to a halt when they're not there. Some people seem like they have some sort of martyr complex about it, I swear 🙄
Or go get another roll, but leave the empty on the roller and just put the new roll on top of it instead of putting it in the roller. WTF? It ain’t rocket science.
A coworker showed me his kids baby photos and ASKED what I thought. The answer was 'just as ugly as her dad'.
I was usually the one who didn’t mind making some overtime, so would stay late. But once, just once, I decided it’d be nice to go home early, so declined when one of my coworkers with kids—-who f*****g NEVER stayed late and ALWAYS went home early, you know, pulling that “but you don’t have kids” entitlement s**t—-asked if I’d stay. When I said no, that just once I would like to be the one to go home early, she got all huffy and pissed off and asked me why I wouldn’t stay and let her go home to watch her kids go to sleep (s**t lady, they went to sleep the night before and will do it again the next night, so you can see them do another performance of the going to sleep play any night). Anyway, right before we got busy with a rush of customers, she disappeared. When we set up to clear the rush, I asked the manager where she was. He said she told him she was sick and had to go home, so I let her. When I told him of my conversation with her and her anger at my saying no right before she told him she was sick and left, he was PISSED OFF at her having played him like that, and told me he would make goddamn sure next time there was a chance to go home early, he’d offer it to me in private first before announcing it, so no one else could play childish spiteful games like that again. He said it was because he knew I never abused the privilege and generally would stay late, so deserved to go home early once in the great while when I wanted to. That next opportunity just happened to come up the very next time I was on the schedule with her, and you should’ve seen the look on her face as I packed up to leave early. The next day the manager told me she came into his office crying like she was sick again, and he told her he k ew what she had done to me, and that she was going to get a written warning if she lied to him about being sick so she could get out of work again. She never tried it again with me, it did try it with other coworkers. She didn’t last long.
Not as bad as a Walmart Cheer. Worked over 12 years, refused to ever do one, ever.
Putting their dirty dishes in the sink and just leaving them there. I. Am. NOT. Your. Maid.
Usually the very first thing in the morning too. Like, FFS. You couldn’t have done that at home BEFORE you got here?
Then never ever take it out. Especially if the company penny pinches and won’t hire cleaners, or only has them come in once a month.
I add them, and promptly add them to the "Share with everyone but...." list. So they see nothing. They're basically staring at a year old FB page.
*Boss appears out of the wall* "Hey buddy, still got 4 seconds left." Yes the time to walk to and from my vehicle counts as me being at work so GTFO!
Unless it's ice cream that's been forgotten in the freezer for a couple of weeks.
Going forward I'm just going to post D because Denise is just too many of these things
That's a nasty looking haemorrhoid, I'd get that seen to if I were you.
I always bought/brought (from home) my own office supplies, which I would not only label but also put in that one drawer every office desk has that I could lock when I left for the day. The manager knew I bought my own stuff, and had the same problem I had with coworkers who had a tendency to “borrow” but never return, thereby forcing you to go on a hunt for your stuff every morning (he also started locking his stuff up every day before he left). Anyway, there was that one clique of women in my department, who were always in and out of each other’s desk drawers getting pens and such, and didn’t mind it. I was not part of the clique, wasn’t part of that agreement, and minded it very much. One day, one of them came to my desk to ask me something, and suddenly, without asking, she’s opening my desk drawer to get a pen! I caught her at it and slammed the drawer shut, just narrowly missing her fingers. She got all pissy about it and reported it to the manager. Remember, the manager knew I bought and locked up my own supplies. When she went crying to him, the first question he asked her was, “did you ask her if you could open her desk drawer and borrow something BEFORE, or did you assume and just do it?” She tried to tell him she and her friends do it all the time. He said for her and her friends to continue doing it with each other, but to ASK everyone else FIRST. When she tried to complain about me slamming the drawer and almost crushing her fingers, he said her fingers had no reason to be in there in the first place, and that I was completely in the right. She tried to plea her case again with him, and he told her that I spend my OWN money buying my own supplies, and that if she took any of them from me, it would be theft and she, as well as anyone else, would be written up for it if they ever took any of my stuff without getting my explicit permission first. That shut her and her friends up, but good. I adored that manager for being so reasonable, understanding, and having my back like that.
And are thoroughly convinced no one can tell they smoked inside (smoking dulls your sense of smell—-as well as taste—-so they truly cannot smell it, while non-smokers can detect it instantly).
Or decide THAT’S the day they want to clean up their desk that they haven’t touched since they were hired. Anything to get out of doing any real work.
Now you're annoying us about them annoying you about things their coworkers annoy them with.
Steal it when you’re not around, more like. I swear you have to lock up and duct tape all your stuff when you leave your desk, or the f*****g vultures will pick it clean before you get back.
Well, if it's one of those passive-aggressive "wishing some people wouldn't act so fake..." or like "why can't certain people stay out of my business..." or some other typically attention-seeking status...🤷♀️
This is my boss and his minion... will complain about the smallest of things (fixing it would have taken less time than their little fit) but...leaves the toilet seat up, leaves dirty dishes, don't tidy up their area, dumps their stuff on everyone's desks, steals HDMI cables, hogs the kitchen for 2 hours chatting....and no one is allowed to say anything about it.
My friends work place: all male. So the boss thinks he can fart all through the day. If anyone complains, the boss showers you with unkind names, then farts some more. He reasoning is there are no "chicks" so it doesn't matter. Apparently he's still in business.
I used to work at a Goodwill back room and I was part of a four-person team at the clothing/linen sorting table. Two sorters, two hangers. I was always one of the hangers and we often had to hang a minimum of at least 1,600 pieces each day. The other girl who hung clothing hooked up with another coworker who worked in the donation receiving area. It got to the point when he had a day off, she would call in because she didn't trust him alone with the rest of us females. She literally left me hanging several days a week by myself. 1,600 pieces a day by myself. Thankfully, management was on my side and tried to help me out whenever they could and were soon looking for a reason to fire this girl.
Thrusts photos of their kids in your face every. Single. Morning. Granted it’s not as common but the ‘come on, tell me that they’re cute’ stuff makes me wanna dredge up Klingon swear words.
"I can't wait till Friday." Monday Morning. 8AM. Every week. It was funny once. Then it became annoying, like, I get it, you hate work. He eventually flipped out and walked.
The excessive explainer type. You ask a colleague what needs to be entered here or there (SAP) and expect a short and concise answer. Instead, the excessive explainer colleague not only says what you have to type, but also why and what effects it has. In the hope that the "system" behind it will be understood. And then you nod politely and say OK. And just thinks "just shut up". That excessive explainer college? Unfortunately that's me.
Pop and smack their gum. Come over to your desk and say "I know you're really busy but" and then proceed to talk endlessly.
The gum please don’t. I can hear it. We can all hear it. it annoys other people. Only excusable use for gum is nicotine gum, and they don’t snap at her poppet or two it or do any other disgusting noises with their mouth. They just hold it against the Cheek
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One of my classmates has a really annoying alarm sound. When we had a sleepover, I woke up to the sound of basically finger nails scratching on a board *shiver*
My coworker has a habit of loudly licking his penis during meetings. It's my dog, I still work from home 🤣
I have one that sits on desks...she came up to ask me a question and plopped her a*s on my workspace...I looked at her like she lost her damn mind and had to nip that in the bud
I read that last line as "... and had to nip her in the butt"
Load More Replies... The "anything you can do/did I can do/did better" person. If you caught a fish the size of a banana, they for dang sure caught one the size of two bananas. Anything going on in your life? Theirs is better/worse.
Get offended when you don't share your personal business with them. When you know they're just gonna spread it around 5 minutes after you tell them.
1. Talked so loud and told you their life story, multiple times. 2. Sang along to radio on their phone. Tone deaf. 3. Tapped table and rattled desk in open office plan. Hummed occasionally and tapped all the time. 4. Micromanaged. 5. Gossiped constantly. 6. Left the seat up in the womens toilet... huh? I could go on.. This was all in one workplace.
May I add clicking your pen during meetings oh my goodness . If you’re doing, that have no illusions that I don’t wanna choke you
Load More Replies... My friends work place: all male. So the boss thinks he can fart all through the day. If anyone complains, the boss showers you with unkind names, then farts some more. He reasoning is there are no "chicks" so it doesn't matter. Apparently he's still in business.
I used to work at a Goodwill back room and I was part of a four-person team at the clothing/linen sorting table. Two sorters, two hangers. I was always one of the hangers and we often had to hang a minimum of at least 1,600 pieces each day. The other girl who hung clothing hooked up with another coworker who worked in the donation receiving area. It got to the point when he had a day off, she would call in because she didn't trust him alone with the rest of us females. She literally left me hanging several days a week by myself. 1,600 pieces a day by myself. Thankfully, management was on my side and tried to help me out whenever they could and were soon looking for a reason to fire this girl.
Thrusts photos of their kids in your face every. Single. Morning. Granted it’s not as common but the ‘come on, tell me that they’re cute’ stuff makes me wanna dredge up Klingon swear words.
"I can't wait till Friday." Monday Morning. 8AM. Every week. It was funny once. Then it became annoying, like, I get it, you hate work. He eventually flipped out and walked.
The excessive explainer type. You ask a colleague what needs to be entered here or there (SAP) and expect a short and concise answer. Instead, the excessive explainer colleague not only says what you have to type, but also why and what effects it has. In the hope that the "system" behind it will be understood. And then you nod politely and say OK. And just thinks "just shut up". That excessive explainer college? Unfortunately that's me.
Pop and smack their gum. Come over to your desk and say "I know you're really busy but" and then proceed to talk endlessly.
The gum please don’t. I can hear it. We can all hear it. it annoys other people. Only excusable use for gum is nicotine gum, and they don’t snap at her poppet or two it or do any other disgusting noises with their mouth. They just hold it against the Cheek
Load More Replies... One of my classmates has a really annoying alarm sound. When we had a sleepover, I woke up to the sound of basically finger nails scratching on a board *shiver*
My coworker has a habit of loudly licking his penis during meetings. It's my dog, I still work from home 🤣
I have one that sits on desks...she came up to ask me a question and plopped her a*s on my workspace...I looked at her like she lost her damn mind and had to nip that in the bud
I read that last line as "... and had to nip her in the butt"
Load More Replies... The "anything you can do/did I can do/did better" person. If you caught a fish the size of a banana, they for dang sure caught one the size of two bananas. Anything going on in your life? Theirs is better/worse.
Get offended when you don't share your personal business with them. When you know they're just gonna spread it around 5 minutes after you tell them.
1. Talked so loud and told you their life story, multiple times. 2. Sang along to radio on their phone. Tone deaf. 3. Tapped table and rattled desk in open office plan. Hummed occasionally and tapped all the time. 4. Micromanaged. 5. Gossiped constantly. 6. Left the seat up in the womens toilet... huh? I could go on.. This was all in one workplace.
May I add clicking your pen during meetings oh my goodness . If you’re doing, that have no illusions that I don’t wanna choke you
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