Don’t Be – THAT – Annoying Co-Worker
Let's face it...most of us spend MUCH more time with our co-workers than we do with our spouses and children.
So, it might be in your best interest not to be "that guy" or "that gal" and irritate your co-workers without even realizing what you're doing.
Here's some helpful tips...Do NOT:
*Ask too many questions. Asking questions is fine. Just try not to ask too many work-related questions, or you'll look dumb or like you can't figure stuff out on your own. And asking a lot of PERSONAL questions is risky for other reasons. Remember, this is "P.C. world" we're living in, you might offend someone and you could end up in the H.R. office!
*Be a slob. A messy desk is one thing.(I plead "guilty"!) Just don't be a slob in common areas, like the kitchen. The funny thing is, in our office, we have a sign in the kitchen that reads "Please clean up after yourself, your mother does not work here". The ironic thing is, we actually have a mother/daughter duo working here, so in this case, her mother DOES work here!
*Talk to people in the bathroom, while they're in one of the stalls. At the sink is fine. But if they're in a stall, leave them alone. It just feels awkward, besides you're probably interrupting them on their smart-phone and ruining their "me time".
*Be distracted during meetings, you know who you are! Yes you! The one that always forgets to put their phone on "silent", or you have your head buried in your phone. pretending to be "looking up something for work", but you're really playing a game...or this is very "gutsy", you actually *answer* a phone call during a meeting!
*Eat smelly food at your desk...or even worse...heat up food like last night's fish in the microwave. The whole office will smell for the rest of the week! Some of the stinkiest foods are: hard-boiled eggs, broccoli, tuna, garlic, onions and fish/seafood in general.
And finally, speaking of smelling, if you do insist on re-heating that left-over chili, do not, I repeat DO NOT go "crop-dusting" through a co-worker's office, unless of course, they annoy you...then by all means, it's a sneaky, yet efficient way of getting back at them!
So, try to clean up your bad work habits, like what you're probably doing right now, killing time reading articles on radio station's websites. Keep all these helpful tips in mind, and you never know, you might just win that "Employee of the Month" award!