Some coworkers are just God sent. You make best friends, you fall in love, you meet your idols, you find your team players to climb up that long career ladder with. They make your lunch breaks less lonely, meetings funnier and deadlines… well, the deadlines are the same no matter what.
But sometimes your coworkers are just the opposite. They make doing your job harder than it already is, and everything in between way less enjoyable. If you are dealing with a coworker like that, let me tell you, you are not the only one. There are millions of people out there handling the most annoying, irrational, or even plain evil colleagues because… well, because it's what you’re supposed to do, right?
So if you're too tired to deal with this on your own, this post compiled by Bored Panda is a safe place to vent and talk about hard things. Pull your seat closer and scroll through the stories about coworkers from hell by sharing your own experiences in the comments below!
And when you're done, more stories about difficult coworkers await in our previous features here and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
All Of My Coworkers Agreed To Dress Up As Smurfs For Halloween. I'm The Only One To Go Through With It
My Coworker Told Me That Everyone Dressed Up At My Office. Now I’m The Only Person Dressed Like Captain Kirk Amongst Khakis And Polo Shirts
Yesterday This Guy Put Ghost Pepper Popcorn In Our Industrial Microwave At Work For Over 5 Minutes. The Office Was Filled With Black Smoke Burning People's Eyes
No one could breathe. He basically maced the building. We were moved to the other end so we could keep working.
Bored Panda spoke with Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach and serial entrepreneur who shared some great insights on dealing with difficult coworkers. So pull your seat closer.
Mitterbauer said that “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 said.
As A Practical Joke, Some Co-Workers Wrapped My Office In Foil. In The Process, My 30" LCD Monitor Was Accidentally Turned On, And It Boiled Itself
Here's what it looked like when I unwrapped it
I really hate such blatant waste of resources. The monitor, the tin foil
My Coworkers Have A Sick Sense Of Humor
My Coworker Lied To My Boss That I Could Cover His Shift
When dealing with difficult coworkers, always focus on the behavior you would like to address and which is bothering you, and never go down the road of stating negative traits or characteristics about that person, Mitterbauer argues.
“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,” she explained.
I Work At A Place Where At The End Of Shifts We Split The Tips Evenly Between The 2-3 People That Work
We had more than 50$ of tips today and my coworker had to leave about 10 minutes early. She ended up taking all but ~2.50$ and management won't do anything about it.
Someone Brought This To The Office Potluck
It's Always A Pleasure To Realize That Your Coworkers Don't Know How To Close A Box Properly... Right When You're Ready To Go Home
Most people have had coworkers they don’t get along with, Mitterbauer continues, but she says there’s a difference between not being great friends and them making your working life miserable. “When their behavior starts affecting your work and/or you are thinking about this issue in your free time, possibly dreading going to work the next day, that’s when it becomes an issue.”
Coworker Announced That She And Her SO Are Finally Pregnant, I Got Her A Box Of Pastries To Celebrate And When I The Party Was About To Start I Open The Fridge At Work And See This
My Coworker Put Straight Printer Ink In One Of My Gloves At Work. This Will Take A Week Or Two Minimum To Come Off
Apparently Someone Has Been Munching My Donuts And It Was Supposed To Be For My Kids After Work
Came Back To Work So See This Prominently Displayed In A Coworker’s Cube
Coworkers Not Cleaning Their Hands Before Using The Oven Mitts
This Is How My Coworker Avoids Taking Out His Garbage
I Won A $5 Bet Against My Coworker. I Came Into The Work This Morning To Find This On My Desk. Thanks, Brad
My Colleague Drove With Me In My Company Vehicle. She Left This Piece Of Gum On The Door
Tell her she left something in the car or return it by smashing it in the middle of her forehead, but then you'd have to find a way to extract it.
Coworker Didn't Know How To Take A Screenshot And Decided To Photocopy The Phone
My Colleague's Desktop
And then they complain to the IT staff about how slow their computer is.
I used to work for a customer service contractor for a world wide bank. We had a rule that if you didn't lock your desktop before you left (bathroom, break, etc), your supervisor would rotate your desktop screen 180 degrees, so it was upside down. Not physically, but in the commands. Its easy enough to do. But the one time I forgot to lock before I walked, when I came back and found my screen rotated, it sat down and kept working. I can read upside down just as easily as I can normally. Almost got written up because my manager didn't think I knew what I was doing. Did 3 calls with him watching. And he was chill to leave me be.
It's not that much stuff. Just weird seeing the icons so large. That would definitely fit on 1 monitor if they had them normal sized. On second thought, maybe that actually isn't normal for other people ... I just put everything that's short term on the desktop like this person is
My husband hates cluttered desktops, this would probly give him a heart attack, heh. My desktop can be cluttered at times, but that makes even me a little dizzy...heh
had a co-worker who did this. We practical-joked her by making a single folder and moving all her desktop icons into it. Then we made about 50 empty folders and named everything "Icon folder 1, Icon folder 2, and so on.
Jeez, it must be a real pain in the *** to find anything on that thing.
This would be a friend of mine screen also. His phone screen is like this.
OMG!!! how could you EVER find ANYTHING?!?? What I'm looking at is equal parts impressive and disturbing.
I had a job where this was normal for everyone due to the numbers of programs we had to run.
"I'm out of space for icons, what can I do? Oh, I know! Second monitor!"
Hopefully they have a method to this madness! How on earth can they find anything on that??
My Coworker Never Shuts Sharpies All The Way And Wonders Why They Dry Out
My Coworker Hasn’t Washed Their Coffee Mug In Years
So Remember My Coworker's Coffee Mug From A Few Weeks Back. Here's The Keyboard
My Coworker Decided To Put Two Kinds Of Candies Together
Coworkers Keep Stealing My Stapler At Work. I've Made It Clear It's Not To Leave My Desk
Coworker Hit My Car And Acted As If She Didn't Know Who Hit It
I Think My Coworker Doesn't Like Sharing Anymore
maybe YOU'RE the a*****e coworker if you think you can just go through your coworker's snacks to the point where they have to write notes to keep you out.
My Colleagues, Everyone
While Looking For A File In My Coworker's Drawer, I Found This. Thing
My New Coworker's Company Rental Car
Coworkers Replacing The Paper Towel Roll
Found At The Communal Coffee Pot At My Corporate Office
This Is At My Work. She Does This Every Single Day
Coworker Walks Around The Office Barefoot
Coworker Forgot Something In His Work Truck
My Coworker Eats His Pickles Like A Psychopath
A Coffee Pot That I Discovered In A Coworker's Office. Wonder What The Inside Is Like At This Point
AURGH!!!!! Please tell me this was a lockdown-related accident...
My Coworker Has Been Complaining About Lack Of Available Space On Her Work Computer
The Side Of My Coworkers Desk Where They Leave Dead Skin And Nail Clippings
The Way My Coworkers Cut This Cake
My Coworker Stocks The Coolers At My Work, And His Dandruff Is On Every Single Can
Someone Cut The Tops Off The Cinnamon Crunch Bagels At The Office
When You Are Off For Christmas But Your Colleagues Have To “Work”
My Colleagues Marked My Lost Safety Goggles With Permanent Marker
Just go over the writing with a dry wipe marker and then wipe with a paper towel. Comes straight off
When Your Coworker Tries To Take Two Pallets Down At A Time With A Forklift
Someone broke one box of beer. It smelled awful. I can't even begin to imagine how terrible it must smell here
A Coworker Tried To Sharpen My Good Kitchen Knifes With An Angle Grinder
My Coworker Made Sour Cream And Onion Pringles Cake. Oh God Why
The Interior Of A Coworker's Truck. Just The Tip Of The Iceberg With This Gentleman
Office Mates Chair
My Coworker Needs Her Office Grocery Privileges Taken Away
The Way My Coworker Eats Sushi
Note: this post originally had 113 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
The straight up theft irritates me. If you didn't pay for it then you can't have it unless someone says you can have it. You're actually making it harder for people to pay their bills.
So many of these hurtful "pranks" indicate an extremely unhealthy work environment, with people taking out their despair and hatefulness on their colleagues. Management should take this very seriously and remove these people from the workplace. The human capacity for revenge and retribution is unlimited...these behaviors will spread.
Then again, it may be one of the ways these people choose to lighten up the atmosphere in their stressful work environments. I've found it helpful to avoid assuming the worst of a situation.
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Yup. This list made me mad. That many people sucking is kinda depressing.. considering it's just a drop in the bucket.
The only good thing that came with pandemics was the privilege to work from home. People sucks. Passive-agressive children and pigs like these ones, specially.
The gross cars and personal hygiene issues almost made me puke.... I'm not super a**l about cleanliness, but COME ON
There should be a special place in Hell for some of these people!
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thank you so much! I didn't realise there were usernames and so now I will reread this post and others from now on! again, thanks!!
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there was once at work someone in the UK didnt want a B day party due to panic attacks when surprise, they did anyways the worker sued them for almost half a million and won.
There was this time I was working in an office and they did a practical joke, covering all my stuff in plastic wrap and tape. When I arrived I just sat there, doing nothing. They were laughing their asses off, but I was just there sitting on my plastic-wrapped chair. Then the manager comes in, laughs for a while, looks at me and says "aren't you gonna take the plastic off?" And I said "are you gonna pay me for the extra task not described in my contract?" Everyone got quiet, then he ordered my coworkers to clean the mess and apologize. I left the job the next day.
Just wait until Generation Z and Alpha take over....total stupid chaos
Or all the kids who were homeschooled by day drinkers--
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The first one reminds me of n incident that happened to a friend of mine. It's near Halloween and she was told to come in to work in costume. She was the only one who came in costume, a popular and cute anime character, she was given an exemplary award while in costume, also got a best in costume award because the boss was actually serious about how everyone should have came in costume.
Some of it is stupid, etc., but when you have a co-worker who does something like some of these CONSTANTLY, every damned day, even after being told not to - yeah, people have a right to be "affronted".
Load More Replies... The straight up theft irritates me. If you didn't pay for it then you can't have it unless someone says you can have it. You're actually making it harder for people to pay their bills.
So many of these hurtful "pranks" indicate an extremely unhealthy work environment, with people taking out their despair and hatefulness on their colleagues. Management should take this very seriously and remove these people from the workplace. The human capacity for revenge and retribution is unlimited...these behaviors will spread.
Then again, it may be one of the ways these people choose to lighten up the atmosphere in their stressful work environments. I've found it helpful to avoid assuming the worst of a situation.
Load More Replies... Yup. This list made me mad. That many people sucking is kinda depressing.. considering it's just a drop in the bucket.
The only good thing that came with pandemics was the privilege to work from home. People sucks. Passive-agressive children and pigs like these ones, specially.
The gross cars and personal hygiene issues almost made me puke.... I'm not super a**l about cleanliness, but COME ON
There should be a special place in Hell for some of these people!
Load More Replies... thank you so much! I didn't realise there were usernames and so now I will reread this post and others from now on! again, thanks!!
Load More Replies... there was once at work someone in the UK didnt want a B day party due to panic attacks when surprise, they did anyways the worker sued them for almost half a million and won.
There was this time I was working in an office and they did a practical joke, covering all my stuff in plastic wrap and tape. When I arrived I just sat there, doing nothing. They were laughing their asses off, but I was just there sitting on my plastic-wrapped chair. Then the manager comes in, laughs for a while, looks at me and says "aren't you gonna take the plastic off?" And I said "are you gonna pay me for the extra task not described in my contract?" Everyone got quiet, then he ordered my coworkers to clean the mess and apologize. I left the job the next day.
Just wait until Generation Z and Alpha take over....total stupid chaos
Or all the kids who were homeschooled by day drinkers--
Load More Replies... The first one reminds me of n incident that happened to a friend of mine. It's near Halloween and she was told to come in to work in costume. She was the only one who came in costume, a popular and cute anime character, she was given an exemplary award while in costume, also got a best in costume award because the boss was actually serious about how everyone should have came in costume.
Some of it is stupid, etc., but when you have a co-worker who does something like some of these CONSTANTLY, every damned day, even after being told not to - yeah, people have a right to be "affronted".
Load More Replies...