10 Most Annoying Office Colleague Traits: Part 2

In part 1 of the most annoying colleague traits, I shared with you the first 5 types of individuals that you just wish you didn’t have to encounter on a day to day basis.

So, in addition to the Grinch, the Skunk, the Cheapskate, the Wanderer and the Parasite, here are a further 5 types of annoying office colleagues that can make your working day a slightly less enjoyable experience.

Let’s kick off with the type of individual that is extremely unpopular, particularly amongst female office staff:

Annoying Office Colleague - 6. The Toucher

The Toucher is the colleague that always likes to greet you with a squeeze of the arm or someone who will creep up behind you and place a hand on your shoulder.  For whatever reason, they feel that some body contact will really hammer the message home.

I know a lot of people, and typically the female sect of the office, who think nothing of giving each other a friendly hug from time to time, whereas the chaps might stretch to a handshake.  But I know of many people who feel a little bit uncomfortable with physical contact in the office and who knows when that friendly hug might go all ‘Disclosure‘?

Annoying Office Colleague - 7. The Prankster

We all like a joke from time to time.  It lightens the mood at work and can often re-inject a little energy into a flagging workforce.

However, the Prankster is an individual who is on a mission to play practical jokes on as many of his co-workers as he can.  They will think nothing of super gluing your mug to the mouse pad, changing your PC wallpaper to something obscene or simply unplugging your monitor and keyboard.

They are usually about as funny as haemorrhoids and are slow to realise that their wacky antics are making them extremely unpopular with their colleagues.

Annoying Office Colleague - 8. The Broken Clock

This is the individual that is always late to work.  They also manage to take long lunches, miss deadlines and then leave work bang on 5.30pm.  And they are at their most creative when conjuring up myriad excuses for their poor punctuation from roadworks, sick pets, their fifth dying grandmother, a dodgy curry or problems with the kid’s school.

The worst thing is that they never get pulled up on their tardiness by management who seem to brush the problem under the carpet time and time again.  Lazy management’s solution to the problem is to send the repeat offender on a time management course, which of course they will probably miss!

Annoying Office Colleague - 9. The Insufferable One

One of the most commonly seen annoying work colleague is the person who has absolutely no regard or respect for the people around them.

How do you know if you have an insufferable one amongst you?  If the person next to you is cracking his knuckles, drumming his table, whistling inanely or chewing like he has cud in his jaw, then you know you are sitting next to an obnoxious irritant.

Other irritating traits include shouting down the phone like the person they are talking is stuck down a well, or hearing them boast down the phone how they have an executive box at some random sporting event or how their whopping bonus is buying them a Caribbean vacation.

Their lack of respect for their fellow workers isn’t just annoying it can also have a serious impact on productivity.

Annoying Office Colleague - 10. The Weirdo

And to finish my run down of the 10 most annoying work colleague traits, I present to you the Weirdo.  This is the chap who will greet you in the morning in his native Klingon, whist wearing his favourite kipper tie and ironic 3-D glasses with the lenses removed.

His desk will be covered in his favourite World of Warcraft figurines, including a hand painted Garm Whitefang which of course is his on-line persona.

Naturally shy and often introverted, the Weirdo is always quick to paraphrase the latest tabloid conspiracy theory and will spend his lunchtimes searching the web for jedi costumes for his pet pig.

You can humour the Weirdo and pretend that you “get them”, but really they are best left to mingle with their own sort.

A report from 2010 conducted by Opinium Research illustrated what people find most annoying in the workplace:

The UK top 10 annoying office colleague traits are:

1. Grumpy or moody colleagues (37%)
2. Slow computers (36%)
3. Small talk/ gossip in the office (19%)
4. The use of office jargon or management speak (18%)
5. People speaking loudly on the phone (18%)
6. Too much health and safety in the work place (16%)
7. Poor toilet etiquette (16%)
8. People not turning up for meetings on time or at all (16%)
9. People not tidying up after themselves in the Kitchen (15%)
10. Too cold air conditioning (15%)

Research conducted online amongst a national sample of 1,836 UK adults by Opinium Research LLP, between 15th – 18th January 2010

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