People To Avoid at Work

I'm retired, but I've worked a lot of different jobs. And there are people in any workplace you need to avoid at all costs. Some of these troublemakers may even appear helpful and concerned - but beware. There is even more manipulation and allegiance to shadowy Agendas today. And I feel sorry for young people starting out in jobs to build careers, since even your parents may not have ever experienced this level of maliciousness in the workplace. So here's a short and informative list of the kinds of people to avoid at work:

career-advice.monster.com...
DO NOT GET CLOSE TO THESE PEOPLE AT WORK
The Gossip
The Party Animal
The Ego Booster
The Downer
The Backstabber
The Complainer

a reply to: MKMoniker

You've just described everyone that anyone will ever work with.
This is why I don't like people. They are nothing but self serving jerks, that don't care who they step on or what they ruin, as long as they get what they want. Notice all those people in traffic? The ones who will drive 90 mph, swerve thru lanes, cut you off and cause accidents? All to get where they want to go, as fast as possible, no matter who they endanger. Now, apply that to all people, in all aspects of life. They'll run right over you to get where they want to go.

Avoiding the boss would be my top priority.

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: MKMoniker

You've just described everyone that anyone will ever work with.
This is why I don't like people. They are nothing but self serving jerks, that don't care who they step on or what they ruin, as long as they get what they want. Notice all those people in traffic? The ones who will drive 90 mph, swerve thru lanes, cut you off and cause accidents? All to get where they want to go, as fast as possible, no matter who they endanger. Now, apply that to all people, in all aspects of life. They'll run right over you to get where they want to go.

Yes. It's like the driver who tail-gates your car in the fog on the freeway when it is empty, flashing his headlights, and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. You are just puttering down the lane to be cautious. So you move to the hard shoulder, just to get him off your tail. Then as you travel along, several miles down the road, you see his car pranged against an obstacle.

a reply to: stormcell

I have a special surprise for tailgaters. Really Good Brakes.

Hey, I was a party animal. I was a very good foreman, very fair and very concerned that everyone worked safely. I required good quality work from my employees and wasn't that concerned about the time it took to complete the job as long as it was reasonable and everyone produced well. I owned my own company for over twenty five years and the same rules applied. I was still working for the people who hired me to do their work though, even bosses always have bosses.

If you stay away from all the examples you gave, you might as well work on your own because I have never had a crew without someone that fit the list in the crew. I really didn't like the constant complainers though, I tried not to hire these kind of people. Their negativity really spread within the crew. Gossip always happens on the job, sometimes it is bad but most time it is harmless. Some work places are full of gossip people talking behind others backs.

Everyone is a walking self contradicting conspiracy, that's what makes life fun!

Thanks for all your posts. And I agree, the nastiest, most malicious people will reveal their true inner selves behind the wheel. Where we live now, it's semi-rural. So we don't see so much Road Rage as the Harrassers and Intimidators. The vehicles waiting to get on the road you are safely driving on, and suddenly jerk out a foot as you approach - so you flinch and/or hit the brakes. Or the slooooooow car in front of you - who suddenly bolts as the light starts to turn orange, and leaves you screeching to a halt at a red light.

I would guess that these malicious drivers are the same on the job. The Lazy who'd rather backstab others to get promoted, than put out the honest effort and learn the skills. Or the Corrupt who are quick to cut corners or take bribes, 'cause they just KNOW they are better than they're being treated, even if it requires compensating themselves illegally.

Besides avoiding these people on the job, try to find a few people for genuine friends - whether you see them outside of work or not. And start a Joke File on your computer. Laughter can defuse tension and stress, and you may make some non-malicious work-friends who laugh at the same silly things you do.

a reply to: rickymouse

What a great post! Thanks! Wish I'd had you for a boss, than some of the people I've had to work for over the years.

I think the item about avoiding the Party Animal is for younger people who haven't yet learned to separate professional from private (off-time) behavior - which you can successfully do. And kids right out of college, especially, still have fond memories of college beer-bashes, and like being around these "too much fun" slackers.

And you're right, seems most Big Box stores I go into anymore have negative employees who are Complainers and Gossips - and never in their departments when you need help. That's why I'm all for these high school Work/Study programs that teach kids how to act professionally on a job - ANY job. (And Yes, I've cleaned toilets and mopped up broken pickle bottles. But my father always said, "Any job worth doing, is worth doing well.")

a reply to: MKMoniker
I'm the downer and The Complainer because I'm forced to work My Life away.

a reply to: MKMoniker

I actually liked doing janitor work. I did that for about two years total over the years. The job was not stressful at all, you did your work and went home. If I were to own a big company, I would be the janitor for the company not letting anyone know who I was except the person I had as a top executive running things. I could keep an eye on the employees that way and make sure good workers got compensated for their work.

I would bet there are a few people doing that in the world right now. Janitor for five hours a day and watch over things from the bottom. I would rather hang around with those kinds of people anyway instead of salesmen and socialites.

a reply to: DAVID64

These are the people who annoy me the most in traffic:

1). The guy who cuts out in front of you in traffic just to go 10mph under the speed limit.
2). The guy who changes lanes into the righthand lane as you are trying to come onto the freeway for no good reason.
3). The guy who tries to block you from exiting a freeway because their lanes of traffic are blocked up, while the exit ramp is clear.
4). The guy who likes to come to a complete stop to turn.
5). The guy who likes to ride outside of his lane.
6). The guy who likes to cut out of his lane when going around corners.
7). The guy who likes to ride with brights on at night.
8). The guys who don't understand how to merge during a lane closure.

The lane weavers, speeders and tailgaters absolutely do not bother me at all because none of them impede my ability to get to where I'm going. The above people are the types that clog up the system. It isn't truly selfishness that bottlenecks things, but spite. The guy who is too cowardly to speed and not skilled enough to change lanes who decides to be a passive aggressive nightmare to everyone else around him is going to be the one to actually cause an accident, by brake checking people or by cutting them off in traffic, not the speeder.

Honestly, I think the speed limits in the US are universally slow almost to a nightmarish degree. Highways in California have an average speed of 110mph sometimes and we are struggling to keep everyone going 55mph on roadways here in Pennsylvania. I look forward to the day when all cars everywhere are totally automated, when you just plug in your destination and go and no drivers have any control whatsoever over the trajectory or speed of their own private cars. That way when someone wants to throw a pity party for themselves because some other driver got ten feet ahead of them, they just have to rage it out on their own time and leave the rest of us alone.

a reply to: MKMoniker

Very illustrative. I think this is true of real life as well, not just workplace drama.

a reply to: ugmold

"I'm the downer and The Complainer because I'm forced to work My Life away."

You obviously have a job and not a career. So what do you do on your own time? Charity/volunteer work? Videogames? Political involvement? Engrossing hobbies? Sports?

I read an article one time that said people who are passionate about following a sports team are generally happier overall about Life.

a reply to: rickymouse

Working in Maintenance wasn't my first choice, but after the GM's secret-squeeze messed up my Cashier drawer bad enough, it was Maintenance or nothing.

And I wouldn't have minded if all those co-workers in my OP (on steroids) hadn't decided to sabotage my every effort, every day. They deliberately hid my broom (or caked it with old grease), hammered nails into the wheels of my garbage cart, or deliberately walked past me smirking when I first arrived,meaning I was locked out of the room to get a radio/walkie.

And STILL I did the best job I could. When I got a tiny $.10/hour Merit Raise, you'd think I'd nailed a saint to a cross! The sabotage got worse, and the gutless managers protected me even less than before.

So Yes, I've worked "good jobs" with "horrible people." And I hope this discussion can help some young people especially.

a reply to: Nechash

Reminds me of the article I read about toxic-trolls on the Internet and in chatrooms,where their viciousness and spite serve only their own egos. They were diagnosed as just "everyday" Psychotic Sadists.

And those same anonymous Psychotic Sadists also work in your companies, and drive our same roads and freeways. (Is it time to ask for a Maturity test hidden in our Driving License tests? Maybe just a Mental Stability test?)

Truly scarey ...

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: MKMoniker

You've just described everyone that anyone will ever work with.
This is why I don't like people. They are nothing but self serving jerks, that don't care who they step on or what they ruin, as long as they get what they want. Notice all those people in traffic? The ones who will drive 90 mph, swerve thru lanes, cut you off and cause accidents? All to get where they want to go, as fast as possible, no matter who they endanger. Now, apply that to all people, in all aspects of life. They'll run right over you to get where they want to go.

lol exactly my thoughts, I wish I had more than a star to grant you for this comment.

a reply to: Shuye

That's the trick, isn't it? Holding fast to your morals and ethics and dreams, while it seems everyone around us are jealous haters at the very least - murderous Psycho-Sadists at the worst.

But unless you are independently wealthy, we all have to interact with others in some form or fashion. Polite-but-remote works pretty good. And avoiding the negative parasitic co-workers works too. And you CAN learn some pretty good non-violent Troubleshooting Skills working around haters and psychos.

In that Maintenance job, I made friends with the guys in Tire& Battery, who were always helpful when my garbage cart got sabotaged. All the brooms had been hidden or caked with grease when I arrived? No problem,I got a new broom off the shelf and left the bar code to be paid by the company.

No radios? No problem,I just went to work without one. When some sputtering supervisor would find me about a spill I hadn't responded to, I'd just smile and say "There were no radios available when I arrived, so I just went to work." (Really, what were they going to say? I should have sat down and just cried until a radio became available?)

originally posted by: MKMoniker
a reply to: ugmold

"I'm the downer and The Complainer because I'm forced to work My Life away."

You obviously have a job and not a career. So what do you do on your own time? Charity/volunteer work? Videogames? Political involvement? Engrossing hobbies? Sports?

I read an article one time that said people who are passionate about following a sports team are generally happier overall about Life.

Don't assume. first off. I was recently laid off from my Career in Graphic Design. I give to Charity, I play Music, Surf and rebuild old Motorcycles. I am also a Big Time Bruins and Patriots fan, rarely miss a game.

a reply to: MKMoniker

I think we throw the word Sadist around too much these days. Even De Sade himself was kind of a tortured soul and most of what he wrote was a criticism of others in his society although he did have his own perversions.

Yes, people compete with one another for almost everything they have, and yes we play a lot of ego games in this life, but there was a time when PTSD was reserved for soldiers suffering from shell shock and the word sadistic was reserved for people who mutilated others. Today, we use these terms for internet trolls and people who get teased too often. I think we need to have some perspective, honestly.

I guess it is a sign of how good things really have become when the worst thing we have to contend with on a daily basis is someone else performing an ad hominem against us on some web forum.