13 Sources of Workplace Irritation
December 4, 2007 by David Zinger
Filed under Business
Who gets to you at work? What gets to you at work? What are those things that irritate you the most?
Here are 13 sources of workplace irritation:
The Enemy: People who are employed by the organization but only see the organization as the enemy.
Slide junkies: Their 30 minute presentation consist of 129 PowerPoint slides as they stand in the dark reading what you see on the screen.
Gripers without Gumption: People who gripe yet lack the gumption to do anything about it.
Look at me: Being copied on emails that have nothing to do with my work.
Just Make it Happen: Being told by someone you report to: I don’t care how you do it, just make it happen.
What time zone are you in: People who attend meetings but who constantly arrive 10 to 15 minutes late.
Screen suckers: People in meetings who cannot sustain contact with the agenda and drift away into a blackberry screen sucking stupor.
It is that time of year again: Getting feedback only once a year as the person struggles to remember anything you did.
Bologne feedback: Getting formula feedback as the person says one nice thing, one thing to improve, and another nice thing – it makes me feel like a brainless Oreo cookie or a slice of bologne being sandwiched by management.
Fault without fix: People who constantly find fault without offering fixes.
Paperless cuts: Getting paper cuts in this paperless society.
Energy suckers: Those people who suck the energy out of a group creating an empty vacuum of effort.
Theoretical managers: The cerebral person who can spout the theory and outline organizational behaviour dynamics in project meetings but has not actually done anything for over 11 years.
What are your sources of workplace irritation?
Photo Credit: facial irritations by http://flickr.com/photos/charleskremenak/2009695110/
I have a person who I would say is an emailer, not an enactor. He emails all his issues, en masse, in separate emails. I usually get approx. 40 emails within a span of 2 hours from him, and he expects me to react to every..single..one.. He then wonders why I don’t respond to each one.
I should also add that he is the plant manager, and should be actually managing the plant, not managing his computer. He doesn’t know anything that goes on in the plant because he won’t get off his @ss to walk around.
Great post. When I worked out in the real world I had one co-worker who told me I was going to hell — often, mainly for things like enjoying Bob Marley and having a child out of wedlock.
He liked to say things like, “You know, all you need for that cold is some oranges, oranges and prayer” He started each sentence with the phrase, “No offense but…” which of course meant he would pretty soon be offending you. He also liked to give lectures on why god says women need to serve men. He was your basic nightmare. So much so that he overwrites all other workplace irritations.
“I don’t or won’t adapt to this change so no one in my generation won’t so we should not even think of implementing this sort of change.”
This is what I run into, where others can only see how they use technology, a product, or a service and will not stretch to see that there are a variety of users, who live, work, and relate technology in different ways. So instead of adapting a broader concept of service, we limit what we do to the confines of what a specific generation finds desirable.
Jill: I love how we email when we could be connecting. I have not seen the term @ss but it sums it up perfectly. Thank you.
Jennifer: “no offense but…I love Bob Marley…so much for One Love at work it is time to GET UP STAND UP…Thanks.
Billie: Now that is not generating at full power and I would be peeved and irritated by it.
David
@Jennifer. I have a coworker who does the same thing except they demean you. Starting with the phrase, “Just so you know…. OR You should….” Makes me twitch just hearing those words.