If you do any of these things below, you need to step back and reevaluate your situation.  You may be the office ugly duckling.  Lucky for you, there is still time to be a swan.

1.    Your first name is Debbie.  Last name, Downer.

It should be a crime to be a Debbie Downer.  I have a friend that often turns to the darkside and rationalizes that it’s not so much about thinking negatively, but more so about being true to yourself.  Wow.  Just wow.

Negative people tend to halt progression, do not think outside the box, often play the safe bet, and simply don’t bring anything to the table.  Plus, they are taxing physically and emotionally to be around.

2.    Complain about a co-worker without dealing with the co-worker directly

When you do this, the problem escalates and becomes more out of control. Issues between employees often translate into a loss of productivity, shorter attention spans, trust problems, and unnecessary stress with future interactions.

3.    Dump work on another person last minute

Projects come up all the time. It’s unreasonable to dump time-sensitive work on another person last minute.  You often come off as unorganized and inconsiderate.

4.    Do not contribute to your fair share of productivity

We have all experienced this whether in a workplace or school environment. You’re in a group and share all of the responsibility with each other, however, there is someone that isn’t pulling his/her weight. So the other members have to pick up the extra slack that is being left behind.  Don’t ever be that slacker. It will leave a bad taste in the mouths of everyone you deal with moving forward.

5.    You have not updated your skill sets to today’s standards

I had this coworker that did everything manually.  When she dealt with spreadsheets and moved data from one cell to another, she moused on over to the edit menu and manually selected copy & paste for every data point.  No keyboard shortcuts, no command C’s & command V’s, and no extra time to spare after she was done with the project.

6.    Are a “Silent Susan”

They keep their mouth quiet when they feel strongly against something or see something wrong/flawed.  So when the project comes to completion, they end up blurting out, “I knew that was going to happen” but hadn’t said anything beforehand to bring up the issue into light.

7.    Mix your personal life with business life

It’s okay to talk about your personal life in the workplace because casual conversation is natural.  But conducting your personal life within the workplace is something else.  Having full-fledged personal conversations about dinner plans, gossip from friends, arguments with significant others, etc is really inappropriate especially within hearing distance of coworkers.  Bring it outside, the hallway, or even the copy room.

8.    Eat smelly foods at your desk

To name a few: curry, eggs, and tuna.  Don’t get me wrong, I love all that stuff, but it stinks up the office.  And if you’re going to toss it in the trash, make sure the trashcan is far from everyone.  Bring it to another room if you have to.

9.    TMIer

I had a coworker that used to announce he was going to #2 (poop) everytime he had to.  Not only is that gross, he was the touchy type and put his hands in other peoples belongings.  He’s the type of person that eats the shared peanuts at the bar.  That’s why you don’t touch them!

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What are your experiences with annoying coworkers?  I would love to hear your comments.

Photo Credit: Ville Miettinen

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