To ask you to describe your worst colleague

[SydneyJones]

I work with someone who's so tight. Will never contribute to presents (weddings, new baby etc). Donations can be anything like 50p etc.

Any food people bring in he will help himself in adundance. He has never brought in any food to share.

I helped him out loads and asked him for a review (evidence to give to manager for our yearly review) and he wrote one word answers. Not one sentence, my manager was baffled when she read it.

He doesn't log into his phone so we always get calls from his customers.

I've worked with worse people but he's the worst right now. Anyone else?

Appalling table manners - eating with mouth open, talking with a mouth full of food, showering anyone unfortunate enough to sit nearby with food.

Talking over people and repeating what they'd already said or trying to make it look like others ideas where their own.

Shouting at people who didn't Do things to their standards. Patronising people even inexperienced staff.

Talking about people behind their backs. As part of their role they were supposed to be the one to talk to about problems.. issue was they then told everyone else, including private medical things.

Tantrums when things didn't go their way. Proper stamping and tears. When roles were taken away couldn't understand why and 2 years later still going on about it.

Told lots of lies. Got others in trouble

Could go on. Happy days when the person resigned

I work with two teenagers. They are best friends. We will call them L and C.

C and I had a bit of a run in a while back. There was a misunderstanding, it was on my part, I realized my mistake and I apologized, profusely. Since then I've been actively making amends for it, to the point where C has commented on how much better things are.

L, on the other hand, from the get-go was in full on pitbull mode re: C. Because she perceived that I had wronged C, she decided she disliked me. And honestly, I don't care. We don't have to get drinks after work. I wouldn't want to anyway. You are a teenager, and I am grown. But you do still have to work with me/be professional - and at this, L is failing miserably.

She refuses to speak to me, to the point where when I have to ask her something she will literally turn her back on me and walk off when I'm mid sentence. She won't even be behind the counter at the same time as me, unless we're both actively serving. So she could be there folding things, and if I have to go over for whatever reason she will actually stop what she's doing and walk away, and pretend to be tidying elsewhere (though I've watched her surreptitiously, she's not actually tidying just keeping her hands busy, and she comes back to the counter as soon as I walk away).

We all have to take a two hour block in the fitting room. She won't do hers. She doesn't say as much, but it's interesting how many shifts see her "helping [our merchandiser] right at that time slot, even though they're given out in the morning, even though she knows what the time is and what time she's supposed to be in there. Oh, no, she can't do it now! She has to help [our merchandiser], leaving us to cover the slack.

I have worked with crappy teenagers before but this one is the worst. As I said, you don't have to like me - and I do not like her at this point - but you do still have to work with me/be professional, and she can't even do that much.

When I was on the floor in pain with SPD when pregnant at 1am he just walked over me and ignored my pleas for help. But that's a whole different thread.

I did have a colleague who only ever put 3p into collections. She also used to feed the babies in their highchairs and eat a spoon of their food for each spoon she gave them.

She wasn't struggling financially by any means but she always took home left over dinner and tea for her family to save cooking.

And she used to take home loo rolls and cups of washing powder.

My colleague likes to pick her teeth, look at the food and then eat it. She does this very noisily. We hot desk and she eats at the desk and I hate that I have to use the same keyboard as her :/

Another colleague loudly asked me if I was pregnant, and I wasn't.

Emotionally incontinent pita.

Always crying.

I have two colleagues who sleep during their shifts, refuse to do half of the work and refuse to document any of it.

I don't really care, except if I did any of the above the manager would soon say something, yet these people get away with it.

In hindsight I'm reasonably certain she was a bona fide psychopath. A manipulative bully who'd terrorise her peers and her managers aloke but always knew exactly who she needed to be making BFFs with at any given moment in order to get away with it.

She terrorised one of our other co-workers so much that she resigned and then somehow managed to come out smelling like roses when the rest of the department took a stand in co-worker's favour. The rest of the colleagues all got warnings.

I was made her manager at one point and positively dreaded it. Thankfully, I had already resigned and accepted another job when she was transferred to my team. I felt really sorry for my team and for my designated successor, who'd been working hard for this promotion and certainly hadn't been banking on it coming with manipulative nightmare bitch as a subordinate.

The worst colleague I've ever had was unbearable in so many ways.

• Ate smelly and loud food at his desk several times a day.
• Every day he made several phone calls at his desk to his wife, with lots of smushy nicknames and kisses blown.
• Picked his nose constantly.
• Asked that we, his colleagues and teammates, called him Dr Surname.
• Real work dodger. Just couldn't knuckle down to anything.
• Used meeting rooms as nap areas.
• Finally got the sack when he was found asleep in his car three hours after leaving his desk.

He was an absolute horror of a colleague. He turned up a few years later sitting next to DH in a different company. He lasted two months there, not making it through his probationary period due to incompetence. We reckon he must look great on paper and interview brilliantly.

Every day he made several phone calls at his desk to his wife, with lots of smushy nicknames and kisses blown.

Not a nightmare co-worker at all in general, but my current boss calls his wife 'my sexy boo-boo' on the phone. It's utterly cringeworthy and makes me throw up in my mouth a little every time I have the misfortune of overhearing it.

I used to work with a man who would answer his phone by greeting his wife with the word 'alright bollocks'.

He told me all of his personal business including all about his sperm when he and his wife were trying for a baby.

He called everyone male mate and every female love regardless of the fact he was younger than them.

He constantly sniffed.

He wore umbro shorts to work when it was sunny.

God I couldn't stand him.

I worked at that office for 10 years

He was the reason I left.

There was only the two of us in the office so I couldn't escape him.

She slept with married boss and now gets away with murder.

Oh god. So outing I've used my other username!
Ok so one started and no one seemed to like her. I went out of my way to make her feel welcome, and it worked, she even bought me a necklace that matched earrings I'd admired on her. Then I started seeing what the others saw. She was above me in managerial status, and would order me around to do certain things. I grew a backbone and refused, said it was against the rules of the workplace and I wouldn't do it. She went above me to manager to complain, I was hauled in for a massive dress-down. That was fun, she went out with a red face. So I saw her for what she was.
I later went in having suffered a mc and surgery to remove the day before. Approached her quietly knowing I would be working with her that day to explain that I was on light duties (cleared by manager). She got in my face screaming bloody murder at me- totally unprovoked, thought she was going to hit me. Hadn't even got to explain about surgery. I, knowing I had witnesses to the attack, immediately went to manager. Who was well above her. She was on her way to manager when I left, I was smirking I have to admit. I knew her arse was about to be handed to her and I also knew she'd signed her death warrant for that place. She was a racist, vile bully.
Two weeks later, work took me to the pub to celebrate her leaving 😁😁
Obviously I was traumatised by the attack but I was so pleased work was forced to deal with her after years of her tormenting staff. Bye bitch.

Colleagues who are manipulative with the boss are the worst. Ie talking to the boss all the time, laughing at their jokes, checking where they are going to sit, then sit by them, then spend all day slating colleagues to the boss, in the nicest possible way.

Then there are the people with the teflon in tray....always saying they will do this or that, but when it comes to it, they are never there or available to do it.

Those who arrange meetings for when they are on holiday, so as others have to pick it up.

Food police, I hate the food police. They go ughh what's that, when u open up your lunch.

Those that look you up or down as you walk in.

Those that don't do the day job, but are loudest at meetings saying they are doing everything that is seen to be proactive.

Those that don't say good morning to you or talk to you but when a colleague comes in, they are all over them.

Yep, love them all. Behaviour at its worst...

• Farts in the office when I'm out, and the smell hits you like a brick wall when you walk back in. Absolutely foul.

• Forgets my name on a regular basis despite having worked with me for 5 years (though I suspect this is a passive aggressive tactic to make me feel inferior)

• Talks over me and other colleagues as a matter of routine. I could be talking to someone and this person would start talking over me, repeating me word for word.

• Asks me and others for ideas then passes them off as their own.

• bureaucratic to the point where important work is impossible to complete.

In other words a total nightmare to work with.

I work with a cantankerous old man who spends all day moaning and complaining about the company he works for. He us racist, homophobic and misogynistic. He leaves his paperwork all around the floor by his desk for people to trip on. He keeps changing the radio station to one that everyone hates and he is completely heartless and arrogant.
He sits behind me. We don't talk.

Office has just two of us. Since passing her probation she's been off sick about 1/4 - 1/3 of the time, never for more than a couple of days at a stretch. Every day I wake up wondering if I'm going to be trying to do her work as well as mine.

In an open plan office, the person who probably had an eating disorder and used to steam a plate of broccoli and cauliflower (nothing else) in the microwave for her lunch. It stank out the kitchen and the whole office.

Currently 'been there 20 years' sits in her backside all day in a physical job, organised all team outing except only includes her friends, nips put for shopping and regular fag ( not anti fag - just pisses me off it's another time wasting adventure in work time) has a last word on anything

Yesterday was not good

Manager, was all in a good mood when things went her way. When things were shit at home, things were shit for us at work. She even said to one of us 'if things are that bad,' as one of us couldn't take her bad moods one day so were having a crap day) 'why don't you just go & commit suicide?'

Often asked the last minute before going home to do 3 hrs overtime, their (the bosses) justification was 'well you haven't anything better to do.'

Nice. Unbelievable when you think of all the shit you put up with/did put up with all because someone was an arsehole.

The colleague who huffs and puffs throughout the day and swearing under their breath even though they are doing the same work as the rest of us and use the same computer systems! I deliberately ignore a person who does this who sits close by 'NO I'M NOT GOING TO ASK YOU WHAT'S WRONG GROW UP!'

Oh and what about the colleague who never makes the tea ever??? Lazy!

Oh this is a great thread

Someone I work with closely is a different personality for every person she meets.

The worst moments are when she pretends to be Jewish. (She's through-and-through normal British atheist whose aunt married a Jewish guy, so she has cousins in Israel who are being raised Jewish). That's the Jewish connection. But she plays it when she suits her, and then will happily slag off any religious belief any other day of the year.

She also had a go at me for being married once, because it's "not feminist". Since then, she has proposed to her boyfriend and they are marrying next year.

I'm intending to remove myself from her circle as conveniently as I can, as I don't trust her.

Old work colleague - long ago

I was in admin; he was clinician

Was disorganised and lost files repeatedly, then blamed me in front of patients. When challenged, claimed he had 'situational dyslexia'

Smarmy with women (patients loved him) massively full-of himself and thought he was very cool - made sexually inappropriate remark to me. I think he didn't know how to deal with me as I was not charmed by him.

I think he had a personality disorder. He gave me the creeps

I worked with an absolute nightmare woman, you could tell what mood she was in my how she stomped up the stairs.
Examples of her nastiness are:

1. when I was learning the job and she was supposed to be the senior and supporting me she overheard me making a mistake (which would affect a family at a very difficult time) then when the shit hit the fan said, oh I heard she was doing that I knew it would cause trouble!!!
2. When I was taking a practical based exam her and her side kick took all the cases for 6 weeks so I couldn't practice, then kept telling me how she didn't pass first time ( I aced the exam).
3. Would sometimes refuse to speak to a member of staff with learning difficulties and generally treat him like dirt ( I did put in a written complaint about her behavior towards him).

I could go on & on & on but she's not worth the breath literally everyone who worked with her (except her side kick) hated her in fact a lot of people quit because of her I lasted the longest then became pregnant and towards the end of my pregnancy had to be signed off work as I was getting palpitations from the stress of working with her.

What I couldn't believe was when a college & I raised the issues with my manager especially the bullying of the other member of staff with learning difficulties my manager asked us to look after him but never spoke to her.

So glad I left.