Author Topic: Pet Peeves at Work  (Read 4205 times)

RedefinedHappiness

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Pet Peeves at Work
« on: August 29, 2018, 02:42:47 PM »
I think the hottest places in hell are reserved for people that spit their gum in the urinal rather than putting it in the garbage like a decent human being.

ketchup

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2018, 03:20:08 PM »
Right along side them are the ones that pretentiously shake their blender bottle during a meeting like they're jerking off the giant penis that is their ego.

patchyfacialhair

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2018, 03:56:43 PM »
Not washing their hands after using the restroom.

Standing right by my cubicle to have a loud, non-work related conversation which ends up being super distracting. There's a quiet hallway like 20 ft away, and tons of empty conference rooms.

Sending me long-winded IMs about something when they could have picked up the phone and had an answer from me in 10 seconds.

People that send me an IM solely consisting of "Hello Patchy," where they wait for me to respond before they ask me the question they wanted to ask me. Just ask the question!

gooki

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2018, 02:38:06 AM »
Having to swipe to get out the door.

Dave1442397

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2018, 06:36:09 AM »
People that send me an IM solely consisting of "Hello Patchy," where they wait for me to respond before they ask me the question they wanted to ask me. Just ask the question!

I get that all the time! If you IM me and all it says is "Hi", then you won't be getting a response.

RedefinedHappiness

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2018, 06:43:19 AM »
Interesting.  I have typically been one to just blurt out question, but have often felt I was violating an etiquette and too type A/ to the point  Given the common "hi" and wait strategy from so many others, I thought this might be etiquette. As if to say, sorry to bother you, continue what you are doing and let me know when you can engage for a few questions.

Dave1442397

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2018, 07:12:39 AM »
Interesting.  I have typically been one to just blurt out question, but have often felt I was violating an etiquette and too type A/ to the point  Given the common "hi" and wait strategy from so many others, I thought this might be etiquette. As if to say, sorry to bother you, continue what you are doing and let me know when you can engage for a few questions.

I think of an IM as a faster form of email. I wouldn't send an email that just said "Hi" and wait for a response, so if I IM someone, I'll at least type an opening statement to let them know why I'm contacting them.

fat-johnny

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2018, 07:34:09 AM »
There's a special place in hell for anyone who clips their nails at their desk.  Also, Q-tipping your ears is also disgusting.

People who microwave stinky food (seafood, Indian food) are awful, doubly awful if they eat it at their desk and smell up the office workspace.  We HAVE a lunchroom, go smell it up in there.

People who kick off their shoes and work barefoot.  Doubly awful if they have to quickly run and get something from the printer/copier, and do so barefoot.  This is an office, not a beach.

IsThisAGoodUsername

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2018, 08:08:26 AM »
As a dude, colleagues who try to have a conversation in the men's room.  The bathroom is for doing your business and that's all. No chit-chatting! That will lead to the fall of civilization! Watch this informative documentary! https://youtu.be/IzO1mCAVyMw

ketchup

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2018, 08:11:12 AM »
Interesting.  I have typically been one to just blurt out question, but have often felt I was violating an etiquette and too type A/ to the point  Given the common "hi" and wait strategy from so many others, I thought this might be etiquette. As if to say, sorry to bother you, continue what you are doing and let me know when you can engage for a few questions.

I think of an IM as a faster form of email. I wouldn't send an email that just said "Hi" and wait for a response, so if I IM someone, I'll at least type an opening statement to let them know why I'm contacting them.
My own rule of thumb is that if it's someone I'm work-friends with, I'll be as blunt/casual as can be, but otherwise, I'll open with "Hey [coworker], did we ever get [other coworker]'s signoff on those TPS reports?" followed by a second IM with details if necessary.  Being polite, but giving as much information as possible so that a proper answer can be formulated.  The less back-and-forth the better, at least if it's work related.  Each IM is an interruption, and interruptions should be minimized.  If it'll take a bunch of back and forth BS, I'll pick up the phone. 

If it's especially non-urgent, I'll say that in my opening IM, so there's no pressure to drop everything and address my stupid question.

The worst is a guy that'll just open with "[my initials]?" and not say anything at all more unless I respond, and I never know how to respond to that.  "Yes?" or "What's up?" seem to do the trick.  Unfortunately, he's also a part-owner of the company so I can't exactly throw a fit about it.

We can meander and be vague if we're talking about colonizing Mars or what we think Batman eats for breakfast.  But we can also go 20 minutes without responding if we're busy and nobody gets offended.

Also, complete sentences and proper capitalization/punctuation/grammar in IMs, please.  Punctuation at the very least.  We're all adults here.  "hey did u add the new chemist to the instrment comp yet tks" by someone that makes double my salary gets as passive-aggressively formal an answer as possible.

RedefinedHappiness

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2018, 08:18:35 AM »
Perfectly healthy people that take the elevator for one flight of stairs.

Samuel

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2018, 09:05:21 AM »
People who convince their manager to get them a Veridesk (convertible standing desk that sits on top of regular desk) because they see others with them and then never actually use the thing after the first day. Not even one more time. Over multiple years.

patchyfacialhair

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2018, 09:34:54 AM »
Interesting.  I have typically been one to just blurt out question, but have often felt I was violating an etiquette and too type A/ to the point  Given the common "hi" and wait strategy from so many others, I thought this might be etiquette. As if to say, sorry to bother you, continue what you are doing and let me know when you can engage for a few questions.

The way I phrase that when IMing folks I rarely work with: Hello (person)! Hope all has been well. I'm reaching out because I need some insight on XYZ. It's fairly urgent [or] It's not urgent. Thanks in advance!

I always get positive reviews regarding my communication style.

goldensam

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2018, 09:51:23 AM »
Perfectly healthy people that take the elevator for one flight of stairs.

And what criteria do you use to determine if someone is entitled to use the elevator or not? I am 34 and look perfectly healthy, and just looking at me you wouldn't know I've had two knee surgeries in the past 16 months. Some days are more painful than others and even one flight of stairs, whether it is up or down, can be too much for me to handle that day. I take the elevator and I do not feel badly about it.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2018, 10:28:17 AM »
We use "Hi" at our work to make sure you have someone's attention for the IM.
If they don't say hi back- you send an email.

We don't ask the question right off the bat, because if they aren't there to answer right away you might need to ask someone else for a quicker response.

ketchup

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2018, 10:30:51 AM »
People who convince their manager to get them a Veridesk (convertible standing desk that sits on top of regular desk) because they see others with them and then never actually use the thing after the first day. Not even one more time. Over multiple years.
Yes! Fuck.  I'm IT, so I get to set up people's damn computers on those things so the cords work in either standing or sitting position, which is no easy task (especially with two monitors).  Then we get to fiddle with it over the next week while they get used to it.  Seeing them then leave it in "sit" mode 24/7 is very frustrating.  Luckily there's only a few.  I have one at my own desk at work, but I just leave it in "stand" mode 95% of the time so that I don't have to mess with the cords.

jinga nation

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #16 on: August 30, 2018, 11:13:46 AM »
Right along side them are the ones that pretentiously shake their blender bottle during a meeting like they're jerking off the giant penis that is their ego.
Nope. that's just the workplace approved version of the shake weight double-ended dildo they have at home.

TempusFugit

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2018, 11:45:02 AM »
all of these are common in my work environment:

Sleeping at desk
Personal grooming- clipping nails, flossing teeth with those plastic doohickeys
Stinky food at desk (e.g. Brocolli)
Leaving MOBILE phone at desk at loud ring volume and walking away so I get to hear obnoxious ringtone go on and on.

wbranch

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2018, 12:11:07 PM »
As a dude, colleagues who try to have a conversation in the men's room.  The bathroom is for doing your business and that's all. No chit-chatting! That will lead to the fall of civilization! Watch this informative documentary! https://youtu.be/IzO1mCAVyMw

It seems like once men hit mid 40s in age this is common. Once they are closer to 60 they lose all decency and start conversations when they are in the stall and someone else is at a urinal. I also see sales guys at the mega-corp construction company I work at use cell phones while standing at the urinal. What does the person on the other end think when they hear the toilet flush?

Davnasty

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2018, 12:42:16 PM »
As a dude, colleagues who try to have a conversation in the men's room.  The bathroom is for doing your business and that's all. No chit-chatting! That will lead to the fall of civilization! Watch this informative documentary! https://youtu.be/IzO1mCAVyMw

It seems like once men hit mid 40s in age this is common. Once they are closer to 60 they lose all decency and start conversations when they are in the stall and someone else is at a urinal. I also see sales guys at the mega-corp construction company I work at use cell phones while standing at the urinal. What does the person on the other end think when they hear the toilet flush?

One time I heard the crinkling of a wrapper coming from a stall. I thought "that couldn't be a food wrapper, could it?" *crunch crunch* "yep, he's eating cookies."

But it's not that unusual, we share a building with offices that cater to people with various mental disabilities so we see lot's of strange behavior.

Then he starts talking to me. It's my boss. And yes, he's in his 60's.

DS

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2018, 12:43:22 PM »
People that send me an IM solely consisting of "Hello Patchy," where they wait for me to respond before they ask me the question they wanted to ask me. Just ask the question!

I get that all the time! If you IM me and all it says is "Hi", then you won't be getting a response.

Classic. People did this at my old company. Often they would never end up asking the question if I didn't respond to the "Hi" / "Hi DS"

RedefinedHappiness

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #21 on: August 30, 2018, 01:52:31 PM »
Perfectly healthy people that take the elevator for one flight of stairs.

And what criteria do you use to determine if someone is entitled to use the elevator or not? I am 34 and look perfectly healthy, and just looking at me you wouldn't know I've had two knee surgeries in the past 16 months. Some days are more painful than others and even one flight of stairs, whether it is up or down, can be too much for me to handle that day. I take the elevator and I do not feel badly about it.

First, I acknowledge that there are circumstances that require the elevator, so I try to check myself before being too judgmental.   But seeing many people do it time and time again and likely without a limp or slow pace when exiting elevator can be annoying.  I certainly think your situation is in the minoruty  I suspect you would probably love to take the stairs if you could without pain. And for those healthy lucky ones to take the elevator should be more offensive to you than me.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #22 on: August 30, 2018, 02:08:26 PM »
People that send me an IM solely consisting of "Hello Patchy," where they wait for me to respond before they ask me the question they wanted to ask me. Just ask the question!

I get that all the time! If you IM me and all it says is "Hi", then you won't be getting a response.

Classic. People did this at my old company. Often they would never end up asking the question if I didn't respond to the "Hi" / "Hi DS"

I wouldn't have asked the question. I would assume you were unavailable.

goldensam

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #23 on: August 30, 2018, 02:20:41 PM »
Absolutely. Having to take the elevator for one flight is really annoying for me if I would prefer to take the stairs. I just get sensitive to this because my partner gets so frustrated with people who do this, and I have to remind him that even when I'm not visibly in pain, I might be in pain. Most people who meet me for the first time would never know because I don't have much or any of a limp at all. I've definitely gotten some eye rolls and sighs on the elevator. I'm sure I was guilty of doing the same thing prior to my surgeries but now I have a different perspective.

theSlowTurtle

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #24 on: August 30, 2018, 03:08:53 PM »
Y'all are lucky, my secured office you CANT take the stairs up or down (well you can go down, but only can get off at the main floor). It is such a pain, too, because I am on floor three and it's a speed test to scan my data watch card quickly enough to hit 3. Also, only one bathroom on the floor and they get cleaned a lot at the same time so it's a guessing game which floor to go to (having to take the elevator each time). One of these days I'm going to poop my pants!


simonsez

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #25 on: August 31, 2018, 12:19:30 PM »
People that send me an IM solely consisting of "Hello Patchy," where they wait for me to respond before they ask me the question they wanted to ask me. Just ask the question!

I get that all the time! If you IM me and all it says is "Hi", then you won't be getting a response.

Classic. People did this at my old company. Often they would never end up asking the question if I didn't respond to the "Hi" / "Hi DS"

I wouldn't have asked the question. I would assume you were unavailable.
Why though?  If you worked with DS or Patchy and knew they didn't like to communicate that way, why would you treat them based on how you would react?

There is a co-worker who still uses the 'hi' method with me.  I literally respond with '...' instead of waiting for her to get to the point (since she won't) or by obnoxiously typing 'hi' back (which I won't).  It's like an inside joke (and treated as a friendly tease because we've talked about it in person, I work FT remote normally) because we're both recognizing each other's style without fully acquiescing.

Workplace comm is all about the Platinum Rule.  With my boss, she is all about the TL;DR bullet list version while I am the detail-oriented person who wants to know the ins and outs of everything.  I give her the bullet list version because that is what she prefers and vice versa, when she is trying to get my attention - she will put in more details than she would normally.

Parton

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #26 on: October 29, 2018, 04:53:48 PM »
Without home animals, I cannot imagine my life. First I had got a cat, then we got a dog and it started like that. Now we still have a raccoon and a parrot)

Free Spirit

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Re: Pet Peeves at Work
« Reply #27 on: October 29, 2018, 05:16:49 PM »
Without home animals, I cannot imagine my life. First I had got a cat, then we got a dog and it started like that. Now we still have a raccoon and a parrot)

And now I have the sudden urge to obtain a pet and name it Peeve.