We’re all annoying to someone. It’s a fact. I’m annoying, I know it. I have a problem running my mouth. Sometimes I can get catty, snappy, and a little gossipy. Wow I’m making myself sound just lovely. But everyone also has very nice qualities that help redeem them when you are on your last limb ready to claw someone’s eyes for the annoying qualities.
I have always been very irritable when it comes to noises. Especially not loud noises, but the muted kinds of noises that everyone else is seems to be so oblivious to but me! Pen clicking, gum snapping, pencil tapping, nail drumming, you get the point. I’m always told to just ignore it, but at work sometimes it’s really difficult. Then I read this article and it made me feel so much better! I’m not the only one!!! I wanted to jump for joy and scream from the roof tops that I’m not some paranoid schizophrenic about to launch myself over the cubicles at a coffee slurper thinking they have devised some conspiracy to annoy me and only me. (then again…..)
But going back to my first point- I am also annoying. I am making a better attempt to stop some of these bad habits. With just a small change in trying to be a bit more positive, I’m already seeing results.
So if you don’t want to read the full article, here are some highlights from the data poll they conducted-
20% of people say their coworkers have at least one habit that drives them nuts
15% of coworkers hate constant complaining from other coworkers
13% of coworkers are driven nuts by work being passed off to others Other annoying habits include gossip, talking too much, eating smelly food, and coworkers not showering enough (ewwww).
Your best bet is to confront the coworker and ask them nicely to stop. Can be uncomfortable, but could ultimately save your sanity!
Now it’s time for some stories… tell me about the annoying habits of your coworkers that drive you nuts!!
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This was part of my blog today, and it’s not exactly a habit, but several of the computers around me are set up so that whenever their user gets an email, this bizarrely deep robot voice – which sounds *exactly* like an old-school Cylon – rumbles ‘youveGOTamessage’, and it *freaks me the hell out*. Seriously! I keep looking around to check whether I’m about to get *gunned down*.
By Foz Meadows on 07.18.08 12:36 am | Permalink
I work in a very small office. Just 4 of us. I’m the new kid on the block, but I’ve noticed they have this unofficial habit of gathering in one person’s office for a morning chat. Well, 1 person left so it’s now just 3 of us. The morning chat is a little less-regimented, so I wait until I hear voices before I join them. Whenever I do, my boss stops talking. It’s so weird! So I started experimenting and realized she only talks when I am out of the room. Awkward! Oh, and she doesn’t talk to me, she sends me emails.
Other annoyer was my boss who always said “um”. I tallied it in a meeting and she said “um” 23 times in an hour.
By thecoconutdiaries on 07.18.08 9:36 am | Permalink
You must be my subtle annoying noise soul sister. I can’t stand to listen to people eat, sniff their nose, yappy dogs…the list is endless.
By Alice on 07.18.08 10:49 am | Permalink
I was had an Ops Manager that would sneak up behind you and just stand there quietly until you turned around and then just stare at you… it was quite creepy and sometimes he would stand just outside of your office (not really an office, it was a cube with higher walls for supervisors and no door) and peek in at you… WEIRDO. He never really had a purpose .. and his hands freakishly looked like zombie hands!
By Cereal Dieter on 07.18.08 11:40 am | Permalink
doh! I put I was had instead of once had…. Am soooo silly!
By Cereal Dieter on 07.18.08 11:41 am | Permalink
So I work in a research lab in vet. science in a building with a bunch of other research labs on campus. One thing I love about OSU is the diversity, which also translates into the workplace on campus, and I’m telling you some of the foods they eat (well a majority of them) smell! Lunch time is just awful. Oh and there’s one guy in particular that sounds like a cow when he eats, well, probably worse than a cow. The man is eating rice! Come on! It’s worse when he eats soup.
Oh, and cracking knuckles…that’s the worst. Imagine sitting in the same lecture hall in he same chair for eight hours of a day surrounded by the same people. And then you have that one annoying girl behind you that cracks her knuckles every hour on the hour, and sometimes more frequently if there’s an exam coming up. Annoying!
By Miranda on 07.21.08 10:29 am | Permalink
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