Lhe working day is made up of routines, many small routines which, in the long run, can be annoying. What annoys us is precisely the eternal return of annoying behavior: the gossip of a colleague, the complaints of another or those stains, always the same, around the coffee machine after another’s break.
What are the most annoying? He asked for it in a survey InfoJobs, the leading online job search platform in Italy. Here then is the ranking of the behaviors (and of the “typical colleagues”) that most generated impatience.
Snake colleagues, the most annoying habits at work
1. The gossip. At the top of the list of what colleagues just don’t like is the gossip, the practice of gossiping about someone behind their back, sometimes even in front of large audiences. It is the most annoying habit for a decisive 50.4% of those interviewed.
2. The howler. It follows, in second place, the voice volume during meetings, calls and telephone calls: 45.4% of colleagues would gladly do without attending other people’s conversations.
3. The latecomer. In third place, the colleague who arrives (on time!) late. Complaining about the most varied reasons, from the absence of parking, to the weather which is always too bad or too beautiful, too hot or too cold (24.7%).
4. The pontificator. Tie merit in the ranking of intolerance, at 14.8%, the colleagues who always know more than anyone else about everything. And they monopolize attention on cinema, football or the novel they read over the weekend. The others? I am the public.
My desk is mine and I manage it
5. The messy. Another great enemy of harmony in the workplace is disorder, especially when it is induced by others in our space. At the top of the list of disagreements generated from the workstation, with 45.4% of the answers, there is the dive of colleagues who, authorized, look for a document among the mountains of other people’s paperwork. After they pass, hell. Is the invasion of the field unbearable even that of colleagues’ bags and objects that also spread over our space? Cause for irritation for 27.8%!
6. The voyeur. Then there is the question of position: in many cases the desk is in a passageway, and the gazes that invade the screen are countless (32%).
Colleague meeting etiquette
7. The “I know everything”. Interruptions while speaking (38.4% and 38% respectively) and the anglicisms used to give a tone (34.5%) generate more intolerance in meeting opportunities throughout the office, together with the lack of punctuality. But also those who have their eyes on the smartphone or other “collateral” activities (25.7%). And maybe then he allows himself to speak her mind without having given his attention to the opinions of others.
«Sorry, please, would you give me that phone number again…»
8. The profiteer. For 47.5%, the most annoying behavior is that of those who ask and request telephone numbers or information that they could easily find on their own. This is followed by requests for the recovery of prints, an activity assigned to those who are closer than others to the area dedicated to printers (20.4%), and questions relating to stationery (17.3%). The ride home? A tear today and another tomorrow, even patience is torn: it is the most unwelcome behavior for 14.8% of the interviewees.
Complaining is a classic. But there are those who… complain about it
9. The complainer. Complaints in the office are a great classic but there is a limit to this too. 39% are fed up with their colleague who… fed up with everyone else. 35.6%, on the other hand, can no longer stand the redundant speeches on the inadequacy of salaries. Finally, 17% are fed up with criticism of the boss, perhaps not because they are not shared, but because they are always the same: at a certain point, that’s enough. Ditto for holidays: the fact that they are always too few is not surprising, but it is tiring, for 41.6%, to hear it repeated over and over again.
10. The Bungler. The favorite place of crime for this type of colleague is the coffee machine: a symbolic place for a break from work which can also become a nightmare if left dirty or untidy (65.5%). It is usually the same human type who leaves his food in the fridge space indefinitely (19.7%) and heats up food with not always pleasant smells (indeed unbearable for 15.5% of respondents).
How to resolve disagreements between colleagues?
It’s comforting to know that nearly 50% of InfoJobs respondents, when faced with something irritating, put up with it for a while and then want to solve the problem by talking constructively with whoever caused the situation. 33.1% bear it in silence without batting an eye, 10.6% immediately express bad moods and only 4.9% do… escalation by going to the boss.
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