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Thread: Extremely annoying coworker?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Extremely annoying coworker?

    Okay, I am humbly asking for advice.

    I have an extremely annoying coworker. I may have mentioned her on here before, but her annoyances and irritating tendencies have reached such a fever pitch that I am thinking of ways to deal with her.

    Here is a sample platter of annoyances she serves up daily:
    -Blows her nose and it sounds like a tuba
    -She has literally farted in my cubicle
    -She talks endlessly -- filibusters, really -- about archery
    -Starts out many statements with "It is really funny..." but then it is not funny at all
    -Her work is substandard and apparently my colleagues have to redo it (though I have not experienced this firsthand)
    -She thinks she has mastered her job and that is why she is intellectually bored with her work and she says this often
    -She endlessly complains about her commute to work (which is about an hour) -- the traffic, the accidents, the weather, the time changes, etc.
    -Her laugh is rather Beavis & Butthead-like.
    -She can't read facial expressions or non-verbal cues
    -The level of her negativity is so far out into the stratosphere that even I get bothered by it
    -She thinks most people really like her and enjoy her company but people cringe when she approaches them or put themselves into contortions or self-hypnosis to avoid her and/or cope with listening to her incessant and pointless chatter
    -She repeats the same stories over a zillion times. We can all recite word-for-word her story about how her $60 microwave broke after only two years

    Okay, you get the idea.

    Ideas I suggested to my more influential colleagues:
    1. Create a position for her where she must work almost entirely independently (right now she is paired with the most affable and funniest guy in the department -- he is also incredibly nice and gracious, but I see him being worn down)
    2. Create a position for her that allows her to work from home for most days (usually working from home is a privilege only awarded to very conventionally attractive females, but I think it would serve us all well to give her this privilege).
    3. Un-pair her from the most affable guy in the department and distribute her more equally, that way a great employee does not suffer the massive brunt of her and we all shoulder her annoyance a little bit

    Two of my colleagues have suggested trying to get her fired for her incompetence. I would prefer not to do this because firing can be catching and I don't want to catch it. One colleague, before she got demoted, tried to talk to HR about getting the annoying woman fired. Apparently they were not open to this.

    What can we do? Any other ideas for isolating her or dealing with her otherwise?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Yppej
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    "I would love to talk to you but I am swamped right now."

  3. #3
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    "I would love to talk to you but I am swamped right now."
    This has been attempted. haha
    Sometimes it works but she will literally move on to the next victim.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Simplemind's Avatar
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    Can you have a group meeting addressing how to improve work habits for everyone? If not, be busy. If that goes over her head be direct and discreet.

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplemind View Post
    Can you have a group meeting addressing how to improve work habits for everyone?
    What do you mean? I don't understand. Please tell me more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Simplemind View Post
    If not, be busy. If that goes over her head be direct and discreet.
    There are times where my back is turned to her and I am working but she keeps right on filibustering me (this happens to others too).

  6. #6
    Yppej
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    Our manager put on people's reviews this year to reduce personal conversations. I told the office chatterbox I could only talk with her when the boss's door is closed because I don't want to get in trouble, and this has worked as his door is only closed at lunchtime. Maybe your manager could do something similar?

  7. #7
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    One important life lesson is this: you are not repsponsible for the interactions of other people amoung themselves.

    so, if you deflect her with “i am busy now and cannot talk to you” and she moves on to someone ne else, it is not your responsibility to solve that problem, assuming it is a problem, for that someone else.

    I cannot for the life of me think why this employee shouldn't be fired in yoir moral code IF her mistakes to rise to that level. The boss is lax both innot realizing her mistakes or ignoring them AND ALSO ignoring the time wasting, disruptive nature of her interactions with other employees.

    That’s ok, screw the taxpayers of Ohio. Poor old Alan, taking it on the chin again for the team.

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    Senior Member Simplemind's Avatar
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    If she doesn't pick up on cues how would you expect your turned back to mean anything to her? You would have to turn around, be direct and tell her that you need some uninterrupted time to get your work done.

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    One important life lesson is this: you are not repsponsible for the interactions of other people amoung themselves.

    so, if you deflect her with “i am busy now and cannot talk to you” and she moves on to someone ne else, it is not your responsibility to solve that problem, assuming it is a problem, for that someone else.

    I cannot for the life of me think why this employee shouldn't be fired in yoir moral code IF her mistakes to rise to that level. The boss is lax both innot realizing her mistakes or ignoring them AND ALSO ignoring the time wasting, disruptive nature of her interactions with other employees.

    That’s ok, screw the taxpayers of Ohio. Poor old Alan, taking it on the chin again for the team.
    I know I am not responsible for what she does if I manage to deflect her.

    But a goodly number of us will, when we see she is filibustering someone, swoop in and try to distract her from that person. We do this for each other. So I would be going against this team effort and this unspoken contract we have to try to help each other when he get buried by her chatter.

    If she got fired everyone on the team would feel relieved. But that relief would also be coupled with anxiety in many people. Like: "Who is next?!?!"

    At my work we have "ghost bosses." They don't interact with us much.

    Also, in the 3.5 years I have been there I have had 6 direct supervisors. So it changes often.

    Example: My main boss at work, who is a total ghost, once came to a staff meeting at all of our request to tell us about what he does in his role. He said, half-jokingly, "I go to meetings all day."

    Then he literally read a print-out of his own job description from HR to us. He said: "I thought it would be easiest if I just read to you all my job description from HR."

    To his credit, he highlighted some of the description and then later asked us if we had questions.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplemind View Post
    If she doesn't pick up on cues how would you expect your turned back to mean anything to her? You would have to turn around, be direct and tell her that you need some uninterrupted time to get your work done.
    One of my colleagues (a former boss who got demoted) said: "This is a cutthroat world."
    She was referring to getting her fired.

    But I was thinking maybe it could be just a little cut throat and a good group of us could be direct with her and say: "I don't care about your microwave or your archery. You are annoying."
    But I dunno...

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