Your annoying co-worker

[cricketeen]

I had a co-worker similar to that once. He kept asking the same questions over and over. I finally got fed up and told him if he had a question for me I'd be glad to answer it, but only if he had a notepad and pen ready to write it all down. Funny, he left me alone after that.

[Newfherder]

I had a co-worker once (my superior in name only ) who would ask me to repeat myself every time he asked me a question. A typical exchange would be:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: What?

He wasn't hard of hearing, and I'm not soft-spoken. I got to the point where I was automatically repeating myself, and the conversations went like this:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: What?

I got tired of it, and one day flat out told him that unless he was willing to listen to my answer, there was no reason to ask me the question, and I was through repeating myself. He threatened to tell the real boss about my insubordination, and I told him to go ahead. Thereafter, the conversation went:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: Thank you

All of which is a long way of saying I've been there, nlmcp. If it's an option, politely but firmly tell him you've already shown him how to fill out the form, and that he is on his own.

[MRD]

I had a co-worker once (my superior in name only ) who would ask me to repeat myself every time he asked me a question. A typical exchange would be:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: What?

He wasn't hard of hearing, and I'm not soft-spoken. I got to the point where I was automatically repeating myself, and the conversations went like this:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: What?

I got tired of it, and one day flat out told him that unless he was willing to listen to my answer, there was no reason to ask me the question, and I was through repeating myself. He threatened to tell the real boss about my insubordination, and I told him to go ahead. Thereafter, the conversation went:

him: What did you find at the southeast corner?
me: A #4 rebar with a Baughman cap
him: Thank you

All of which is a long way of saying I've been there, nlmcp. If it's an option, politely but firmly tell him you've already shown him how to fill out the form, and that he is on his own.

I've always had this neurosis that I would forget things on my new job, so anytime I started one, I carried a notebook and continually took notes while being trained. I referred back to them a lot without having to keep asking questions of my supervisors unless it was not something that had been covered.
My last job, when I did this, after they hired people after me, they gave them a notebook and told them to write this stuff down and to refer back to it before asking questions. So what did they do? They asked me instead of looking at their notes. I got to where I made it a point to pull out MY notebook and refer to those particular notes and SHOWED it to them. They finally got the point.

I also got tired of being asked what color tubes were to be used for which blood draws we did. I made a list and posted it over the area we kept the phlebotomy supplies. Don't you know I still got asked "do we use purple for CBC's?" LOOK AT THE LIST!!!!!

[cricketeen]

I've always had this neurosis that I would forget things on my new job, so anytime I started one, I carried a notebook and continually took notes while being trained. I referred back to them a lot without having to keep asking questions of my supervisors unless it was not something that had been covered.

That's not neurosis, that's a good employee.

[FORTFanGirl]

My MOST annoying co-irker (there are a couple) is one of those people that either asks a question that's already been answered (she doesn't listen in meetings) or repeats everything that was just said ("OK, so 2+2=4"). I'm known as the mean one around here, because I'll call her out & say "That question was already answered" or "Yeah, that's what I just said. Is there a reason you are repeating it?"

She really thinks she's impressing everyone, but when I've talked to other co-workers/departments, they are just as frusterated with her. Unfortunately, my boss loves her, because she (co-irker) pours out her life story to her (my boss) & I don't think my life is anyone's business.

[MRD]

It's been my experience that if you share too much about your life with co-workers, they can use it against you. Other than "what did you do this weekend?" or "did you see that show on tv?", they don't need to know a lot of my personal stuff. I agree with you on that one FortFanGirl.

Heck, even friends can use that stuff against you sometimes.

I intend to be a "woman of mystery" from now on.

[Rattus]

I have a co-worker who pulled me aside yesterday and told me a really, truly, graphically, totally detailed sex story which ended with her explaining why she couldn't comfortably sit in the pew at church on Sunday. The upside to this (I always try to find one) is that I got to reciprocate with a less graphically detailed but funny/cute story that I can't bring out in general conversation with anyone.

[MRD]

Rattus, it never ceases to amaze me why people want to share this information. I certainly don't ever want to hear it. My problem is that when someone tells me something like that, then that's all I can think about when I see that person and honestly, THAT is not what I want to be thinking about.
I recently had a friend share something with me about her boyfriend in that dept. and now when I do occasionally see him, that's what comes to mind and believe me, I don't want it too. But as I don't really know him at all, this is pretty much all I know about him, its just disturbing.

[Rattus]

Rattus, it never ceases to amaze me why people want to share this information. I certainly don't ever want to hear it. My problem is that when someone tells me something like that, then that's all I can think about when I see that person and honestly, THAT is not what I want to be thinking about.

Fortunately, though I actually really like her (one of only three on my floor that I do like) and will miss her, she gave her notice last week and her last day is Friday. But yeah, every time I've seen her since yesterday I get an unfortunate graphic image flashing through my head.

[hepcat]

I have a co-worker who pulled me aside yesterday and told me a really, truly, graphically, totally detailed sex story which ended with her explaining why she couldn't comfortably sit in the pew at church on Sunday. The upside to this (I always try to find one) is that I got to reciprocate with a less graphically detailed but funny/cute story that I can't bring out in general conversation with anyone.

I had a coworker like that. She was a new hire and I didn't know her at all, but she seemed to have absolutely no filter on her mouth. One Halloween, I was going over something with her and I called over another coworker to clarify something. This other coworker had on a costume that included a long wig. The new girl popped out with a story about how much her boyfriend liked wigs because he could pretend she was someone else, and went on to tell us that he liked to slap her around when she was a "blonde". After picking our jaws up off the floor, we asked her why she would be with someone like that, and her response was that she had to stay with him because he paid her rent. She was completely cheerful and matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

She had a toddler at home, too. The whole thing was very depressing. That's pretty much the only tale of hers I can repeat on this message board. I eventually started walking away from her when she started talking. She never seemed offended, and I got tired of the constant sex talk.