Your annoying co-worker

[charlottej]

My annoying coworker is unfortunately my boss. We work in accounting, and I have learned from experience that:
1. no one likes the people in accounting- they are always the ones sitting by themselves at the Christmas party,

and

2. people who work in accounting are unequivocally high strung- sometimes justified, though because we are the only ones who see what money is coming in and going out.

I digress.....anal, nit-picky, and pretentious are just the tip of the iceburg when describing her. For example, I was on maternity leave from the end of April to the end of June. One of my main responsibilities is paying all incoming invoices, and while I was gone, she took over this duty for me. She is the Senior Accountant and trained me on accounts payable, so she is well aware of what the job entails. When I got back from ML, I started getting all these invoices in with late fees assessed for the previous month. After I voucher the invoice for payment, she then approves it before I cut the check. She questioned me as to why there were late fees, and told me to pull the previous month's invoice. She then berated me for not processing the payment in time, but I WAS ON MATERNITY LEAVE!! She went on for 10 minutes about how we just cannot sit on invoices like that....UM, I DIDN'T, YOU DID YOU BI**H!! She made so many mistakes while I was gone, and she loves to make me feel as though I have done something wrong. However, upon pointing out the dates and telling her I wasn't there, so I couldn't possibly have been the one to screw up, it turns into a lesson for me, like "In the future, we don't need to ......" so on and so forth. It is beyond her realm of comprehension that she could possibly have made a mistake.

Thanks for letting me vent. I need a beer (or 5)!

[Google]

 

[applesauce]

I don't have an annoying coworker now but several years ago, I had a few. The worst was actually my boss for a while, an executive in the company where I worked...then he annoyed the CEO one too many times, who then fired him and gave me his position.

He would get so hyper over everything. He would talk down to people, scream, yell, leave the longest, meanest, most demeaning voice messages. He had half our office and employees shaking everytime he walked by.

One day he started in on me and I told him if he ever...EVER speaks to me or any of my employees again in a disrespectful tone, I would pick up my bag, walk over to HR, file a report, demand my contract be paid out and leave.

Whenever he would leave a long winded voicemail (I'm talking 5 minute messages) I would forward the message back to him and ask him to cut the message down to 30 seconds and be very specific about what he wants me to know.

The worst was when he would yell (scream) my name from his office to mine so that I would come over there. Whenever he would "yell" my name, I would just ignore it. He would get louder and louder and louder, then finally curse and come storming to my office. He would ask, "didn't you here me calling you?!!" I would tell him the whole building heard him and I don't respond to tone of voice or behavior.

He never fired me because I was the one doing ALL the work making him look good. He had a lot of talent but unfortunately, his business demeanor and manners were sorely lacking.

[hepcat]

Oh Charlotte, that kind of thing drives me absolutely nuts. Some people seem unable to admit they are wrong, no matter what.

I've had so many...the guy who talked non-stop about swing dancing - even when I turned my back and told him I was busy he would continue to blather on and on. There was a girl we called "mensita" because she was dumb and mean to her kid and her parents brought her lunch every day, even though she was in her late thirties.

Then there was the cute little blond that my boss hired to be the department secretary because she went to his church. She turned out to be on some hefty medications and had screaming fits if something didn't go exactly her way. She was the kind of person who you would have to deal with to do your job, but if you gave her the slightest opening you were sorry. I remember once putting something in her inbox, and saying "how's it going." She replied that she was in a bad mood because her boyfriend made her wear a red wig the night before and beat her but she didn't want to break up with him because he paid her rent. The conversational equivalent of zero to sixty in nothing flat.

[hepcat]

"APPLESAUCE!!" I'm sorry, that mental image is cracking me up.

Seriously though, what a jerk. I'm amazed at what you could get away with, though. I've never had the nerve to tell off a boss.

[Dinahann]

Originally Posted by hepcat

I remember once putting something in her inbox, and saying "how's it going." She replied that she was in a bad mood because her boyfriend made her wear a red wig the night before and beat her but she didn't want to break up with him because he paid her rent. The conversational equivalent of zero to sixty in nothing flat.

Seriously, what would you say to something like that?

I'm very fortunate. I get along with all my co workers, but like JD I'm probably the annoying one. I'm an opinionated know-it-all but I'm always right.

[gagi]

I'm probably the annoying one in my area of the office. I work for a software development company. I test the code we develop and try to break it before the client does. That means I could spend days on the phone saying pithy things like "account balance" "no, I SAID account balance" "balance" "BALANCE!" The last was probably screamed.

I used to work with a beautiful girl who was right out of college. She was very sheltered and her parents did everything for her. They even arranged her marriage. (She brought in the 15 scrapbooks of her wedding which took place in India.) It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. What a great way to start a marriage! The celebration lasted two weeks.

She had beautiful long curly dark hair. She also had very long fingernails. She apparently had some itching (could be dandruff?). She spent hours scratching her head, examining her nails, and flicking whatever was trapped under there into the air.

I (and about a dozen others) spent four very long hours in a conference room with her. For four solid hours she scratched her head and flicked. It was so bad that we couldn't even look at her. No one wanted to sit next to her. It was just horrible. Her desk was right across from mine, and I actually had to turn my computer to face the other direction because I could see her out of the corner of my eye. It just about drove me nuts.

Her husband got transferred and she left the company. She was a sweet girl, but I still have nightmares about her. Once in awhile, a friend who thinks he's REALLY funny, will sit across from me in a meeting and pretend to pick his scalp and flick it in the air. Haha. Very funny.

[dvm]

Originally Posted by phat32

You've read and posted to Where do you work? and What is your job? so why not supplement that thread with this one: Annoying co-workers. We all have them. So come on. Share. You'll feel better. I'll prime the pump:

"Scott" (not his real name) has the office across from mine. For starters, he's obsessive-compulsive about his office. The fact he keeps his office neat doesn't bother me. The fact that he likes to come into mine and straighten the stapler or tape dispenser does.

-Scott takes two or two-and-a-half hours for lunch.

-When his wife calls his cell phone, he greets her with an Elvis impersonation ("Hey, bay-be.").

-Scott takes complaining and whining to world-class levels. If he gets a new assignment, he'll spend at least half an hour whining to us about why it's unfair and why he shouldn't have to take on new work.

-He always forgets his security pass, so if he steps out of our area, someone needs to get up and let him in.

-Always short of change/cash. If this were you or me, we would grin and bear it, but he doesn't hesitate to hit you up for a quarter here, 50 cents there, for the vending machine. Once or twice is okay. Two or three times a week is annoying (and adds up quickly).

-Likes to talk/think out loud often and to anyone within earshot about where he's taking his next vacation, what he's buying to decorate his house, his latest get-rich-quick scheme, etc.

You might work with someone who would make Scott look like a dream co-worker. And even as we all know a Scott, we just may be someone else's Scott. Nonetheless, I think more than a few people would get a chuckle out of any stories you may have.

[Edited: For thread title]

I'm sorry, but this made me laugh out loud. How do you really feel?

[applesauce]

Originally Posted by hepcat

"APPLESAUCE!!" I'm sorry, that mental image is cracking me up.

Seriously though, what a jerk. I'm amazed at what you could get away with, though. I've never had the nerve to tell off a boss.

Whenever I had to "reprimand" him, I would do so in a very calm and repectful tone. I think he was more afraid of me for the simple fact that I wasn't afraid of him. Whenever anyone from other divisions in the company needed to tell/ask him something, they would come to me and ask me to do it. The truth is, I always felt a bit sorry for him. I think he had a really bad childhood and he tried to overcompensate as an adult.

[charlottej]

Originally Posted by hepcat

Oh Charlotte, that kind of thing drives me absolutely nuts. Some people seem unable to admit they are wrong, no matter what.

I've had so many...the guy who talked non-stop about swing dancing - even when I turned my back and told him I was busy he would continue to blather on and on. There was a girl we called "mensita" because she was dumb and mean to her kid and her parents brought her lunch every day, even though she was in her late thirties.

Then there was the cute little blond that my boss hired to be the department secretary because she went to his church. She turned out to be on some hefty medications and had screaming fits if something didn't go exactly her way. She was the kind of person who you would have to deal with to do your job, but if you gave her the slightest opening you were sorry. I remember once putting something in her inbox, and saying "how's it going." She replied that she was in a bad mood because her boyfriend made her wear a red wig the night before and beat her but she didn't want to break up with him because he paid her rent. The conversational equivalent of zero to sixty in nothing flat.

And I forgot the best part....my 4 month old baby is having surgery on the 30th to remove an extra thumb he was born with. The surgery is outpatient and is at 7:30 am. She had the nerve to ask me if I would be coming in to work afterwards!! Uh....NO!!!!

[nlmcp]

I work with a nun. You would think a nun would be a nice calm sweet person.

This chick is a rip roaring b*tch from h*ll. I hate her. Anytime you talk to her she is complaining. If she needs something from you she stands there craping and complaining until you put down the more important thing you were working on to get her what she wants. In meetings she is always b*tching about her issues. She refused to learn how to use the computer or the new paper work and always seems to ask me for help. She is chronically unhappy. I would say she needed to get laid but if I say that about a nun I might end up going to h*ll.

geez, can you tell I don't like her at all.