to ask you to share your "awful colleague" stories with me?

[smokeytoby]

I have the pleasure of working with someone absolutely insufferable.

She is at least forty years older than myself, and I believe it is for this reason that she finds it justifiable to treat me like an idiot. She is rude to me, inconsiderate, critiques everything I do (even if it isn't actually incorrect) and as far as she is concerned, the sun shines out of her peachy arse. ARGH.

She was nasty to me today in front of our boss, and while I just shrugged it off as I have found this is the easiest way to deal with her, my boss called her out on it, asked her why she thought it was acceptable to speak to me like that and had a stern word with her (much to my amusement).

Please tell me I'm not alone?! Has anyone else worked with someone rude, and if so, how did you deal with it?

I'm not going to run to HR telling tales, and my boss knows what she is like but tends to adopt the same 'shrug it off' idea as myself when it comes to dealing with her.

Any phrases or techniques on how to deal with shitty colleagues? Or tales of a colleague even worse than mine?

I did also have a manager who was insane. Always nice to me but really scary to others. She was unhinged in so many ways, over sharing to an extreme level, never did any work and my tasks basically included hiding her absence from her manager and buying her things online or in shops. When she finally got caught skiving she went off sick for months then left. The whole time no one except me covered her work. She got paid twice as much as me!

I had a manager who reckoned she was a great people person. She was incapable to giving anyone feedback. We all had a weekly 1to1 with her and dreaded them. You'd get a few minutes chat about what tasks you were working on (but no feedback on it) and the rest of the time was filled with her complaining about the other members of the team/her manager/whoever else had slighted her that week. Each time she got a new manager they were REALLY difficult to work with, never did what she wanted them to but it was always them being unreasonable. I just kept my head down and got on with the job.

I have so many, I couldn't even recount them on here. People are total pricks in the workplace

jayaywhynot his treatment of you is plain bullying and harrassment. He clearly doesn't want you to have any peace on your lunch. I am glad that you igmored him but your phrase "I just can't take anymore" is alarming. You don't need to take anymore. Go immediately to HR with a log of everything, including your boss not believing you. Are there any colleagues who would act as witnesses? Next time he shouts at you, record it on your phone. It can't be used as evidence, but it is proof that it happened. HR will be obliged to take your complaint seriously. The red penning alone is enough evidence. I am so angry on your behalf. You do not need to put up with this

I started a job in the same company but it a different Department. My colleague who was in the same job level as me was a complete nightmare. It was her job to train me, but if I asked for her to show me anything she would say no. She would then review my work without me knowing, bring it to the higher ups and point out all my errors. They would then bring it round to me to show me what I don’t wrong and she would chirp up ‘I really don’t know why you didn’t just ask me’.

She would complain about me every day. The complaints ranged from my clothes to how much water I drank (Seriously!), she is one of those people that if she’s in a bad mood everyone has to be in a bad mood. I’m usually very tough skinned but having negative comments through at you every day really does wear you down. The one time I tried to stick up for myself I was pulled aside by management and told ‘not to anger her’.
After six months in the role we got a new office manager. I was filled with hope that the situation would change but it just got worse. The new office manager was in over her head and just pushed all of her work load onto me, she was also was terrified of the above college so her reign of terror just got worse. The office manager would agree to do work, not do it, and then tell the management that that she had allocated it to me. They would then get mad at me for not doing the work even though I knew nothing about it, she would just lie point blank that she had, she was so good at lying I actually thought I was going mad.

The bullying and the increased workload cumulated with me having a complete mental breakdown and having to be signed off work for a number of months.
Seriously people, you should never take your mental health for granted a job is not worth losing your marbles over. I’ve moved onto a new role in a different department and couldn’t be happier.

I had a female manager who hated me from the moment I joined her team; no idea why, but the woman couldn't stand me.

I tried to take it on the chin to start with as she clearly had issues as she was severely anorexic, and I mean she was painful to look at. She was late 40s and she regularly passed out in front of customers from starving herself, had be carted off to hospital so many times, and yet none of the other staff said anything about it, ever. She bullied me, tried to block me from taking annual leave when no one else was off, banned me from wearing earrings when all the other women did, told me I was young and immature and stop doing my hair and makeup as it looked unprofessional

Basically, a grade A bitch.

In the end the area manager clocked on to what was happening and privately told me this wasn't the first time said manager had taken a random dislike to another female member of staff and was known for this behaviour. Fortunately moved me to a different branch and she got a bollocking.

I do wonder to this day if she's still alive or if she's still battling with anorexia.

I worked with someone once who-
Told everyone I was off cos I’d had an abortion-i was on holiday
Told me my breath stank-loudly in front of everyone-it didn’t
Told me I had b.o which I didn’t but she’d wave her hand in front of her face everytime I walked past
Hid my work shoes
Would change my shifts at the last minute
Used to scream in faces if you did the most minor thing wrong
Howled at me for writing something down-cos my handwriting is too small for her to read-maybe if she hadn’t been so stoned she could have read it
Used to smoke weed at work and then blamed everyone else for the smell
Would walk away while you where trying to speak to her
If anyone was in the loo she would bang on the door until you came out and would then scream at you for having the cheek to be using ‘her lav’ when she needed it
Would just take lunch out of your hand while you where trying to eat it
(She learnt not to do that to me)
Was just such a foul boss that nobody ever asked her for anything
Would stalk people on Facebook leaving snide comments but if you spoke out she’d ‘be joking’
Was the most homophobic,snobby and racist person I’ve ever met

Worst bit was all the higher bosses thought she was the bees knees cos she was such an arselicker

I left and refuse to go back to see everyone else because of her

I really wish I’d told her that was wasn’t the dogs bollocks she thought she was-she is more pond scum

Years ago I was quite friendly with a colleague who turned against me when I got engaged. We went out for drinks to celebrate and the next day she stopped talking to me. Literally started cutting me dead and roped one of her sidekicks into doing the same.

It was utterly bizarre and after several months she ramped up her behaviour to include telling lies and deliberately sabotaging my work.

Eventually I left an organisation (and career) where I thought I'd have a long term career and whilst she wasn't responsible the tedium of having to deal with her and her pathetic behaviour did play a part.

It was the best thing I could have done. My next enterprise was hugely successful and I'm so appreciative of the way things turned out.

A colleague of mine leaves everything til the last minute. When things start piling up and the pressure is on they go off with stress for weeks/months.
Not exactly the kind of horror colleague that many have described, but for me they are very difficult to work with.

I worked with a guy who sat across from me in my direct eyeline.

Not only did he pick his nose all day, but he would then inspect them before SUCKING them off his finger.
When he was extra hungry he would go into the ears for dessert.

I ended up with my monitor at a ridiculous angle trying to block his face out.

Oh yes🤬🤬🤬 total sociopath in my team for a while. Affected the whole atmosphere. Tried to divide the team. Ignored people, pushed people out. Screamed at me until I cried once. Then screamed at another girl until she cried. Then we all stonewalled her and she went on dick thankfully. She's on mat leave now I remind my manager frequently she can't return to the team. Hr accept this. Vile

I am a personal assistant so I have had my fair share of terrible boss stories.

The boss who made me come down three floors in the building to pass her bag to her that was arms reach away.
Demanding I get a coffee to her...when I was not in the office.
Making me jump through hoops so I could get annual leave, to the point I was begging.
Had a boss spit out sushi I had got him because it was white rice, not brown.
A colleague had her boss call her shouting bloody murder that he didnt like the colour of the bathroom in the hotel he was booked into....

a previous boss, when discussing me asking for some flexibility with working hours for a week or so (due to having a new baby and toddler, and wanting to be a supportive husband) asked why i didn't just hire a nanny.

he just seemed incredulous that i might want to be personally involved.
he was so negative about everything as well. constantly. everything was bad, even successes were always positioned as "well i suppose it wasn't a total disaster".
it was totally draining.

then in another company, 2 of the finance people (older, long-standing employees) refused to use excel at all.
they'd do all their work, including customer and supplier statement reconciliations by printing them all out, and manually checking everything off with highlighter pens.
the same people would up and leave at 2.55pm and would only do whatever was required by the letter of their contracts, and not a single thing more.

where i am now, there's a little coven of 3 women who all egg each other on in the negativity stakes - bitching and moaning about every little thing. we can all hear them messaging each other.
i've taken to loudly calling them out on any muttering i hear - funnily enough there's never once been an issue they want to discuss openly.

In my last job, I shared a room with someone in my team who was senior to me but not a manager. She literally, never talked to me. She completely ignored me - no eye contact, anything. If I asked her how her weekend was she'd just ignore it.

She was lovely to the whole of the rest of the team and I've never found out why she was like this with me. It was humiliating and upsetting. Whenever I raised it with my manager she'd say 'oh that's just what she's like - don't worry, we know it's not you'. It was the weirdest thing and I hate that I've never found out why or what it was that she hated about me.

Luckily for me, our director came back from maternity leave and within a few months had realised this woman didn't really do any work. All of a sudden the sulking and ignoring was turned on the rest of the team, because she was being pulled up to actually do her job. Relationships deteriorated and she was 'let go', immediately after which it was discovered she'd barefaced lied having done things, her files were complete disarray.

Three weeks later I was promoted into her role

I would, but they would choose this moment to appear behind me and start reading over my shoulder...

Up until this job I've been pretty lucky.

@Jayaywhynot Jesus Jay.

Please post on employment matters on here about your situation - you can't go on like this! I think you need to get a nanny cam and record the abuse first off to have proof if you're not being believed.

“She objected to a perfume I wore so I started spraying it on her chair but would wear a different one to mess with her head.”

This is genius!!

I have a colleague who never washes, wears the same clothes for 2-3 weeks, wears a thick coat all year round in the heatwave.

He smells like dog shit, his mouse and keyboard is covered in some sort of crust from never washing his hands and his locker and chair have black marks all over them. Had grass stains in his hair at one point which lasted a week.

I made a complaint to our manager during the heatwave last year and he dealt with it by saying "BUTTER had noticed you might be wearing the same clothes every day"

I've since moved desks to the other side of the office to evade him as it's getting progressively worse.

My old boss was a thundering cunt. She made my life hell for three years. She used to throw things at us like big folders or files when she was angry. She once threw a shoe at another staff member. She refused any annual leave requests and made every ask for leave a huge fight. When I told her I was pregnant she just looked at me and said well that’s the end of your career. She asked my colleague if she had married her husband becuase she liked him or because he was rich. When we had Christmas parties or any work night out she had to have the last say in every place . If the menu had any mention of a sausage on it we couldn’t go to that restaurant because only common people like sausages. The happiest day of my working life was the day she was let go from our organization.

2 different work places.
First one I worked in a very large office, we got a new manager and she wanted us to put our hands up if we wanted the loo. Only have a drink at 10.15 and if you were on the phone or away from your desk you couldn't have one.
She then started to pick on different people for silly reasons, one day she started on me. My hair needed a cut, my roots were showing even complained that my sleeves were too long. (We didn't have a face to face with the public). I shouted back she didn't pick on me again.

2nd job told on first day that anything in the fridge was provided by management and to help myself, I took a carton of orange juice and another lady called me a thief as she liked those drinks and no one else should have one. She hadn't even bought it.

• Tried to give me a disciplinary for not completing work that didn't arrive in our department until 4pm when my finish time was 2:30pm
• Threatened to bill me for a " missing" piece of equipment which was exactly where it should have been. Hadn't thought to actually LOOK for it
• Contacted me whilst on A/L about a totally non important issue.
• Did the same when I was signed off with stress I could go on but it would take too long. Basically she didn't like me and didn't hide it.

Changed a few things as outing but all on the same lines
Member of staff was speaking about a member of the public in a derogatory way so I had my peace and shouted at them as it was not on. Went to management to grass on me shouting at them and dropped themselves in it for what they said I was spitting mad. Decided that they wouldn't Pass on messages, gossip and lie about me. Single me out do a food run and ask everyone but me. Told other members of staff they were gonna get me fired for something can't remember what. So I lost my shit and went to management and did the they are bullying me. And they haven't spoken to me in years so can't complain and I've told others not to tell me if they say anything as I CBA with the drama

Oh my god some of these are awful.

Mine aren't as bad as many of these, but my worst was a woman who was sickly sweet when the managers were around but a total bitch the rest of the time. Similar to a situation described above, she was meant to be handing over her work to me but if I asked her for help she'd say "I don't have time to explain that I'm afraid" or "I can't help you with that as I'm stepping back from that now". So I'd have to muddle through as best as I could and then when I gave updates at our regular team meetings she'd say something like "I'm extremely worried about this, based on my experience your approach won't work at all, I wish you had consulted me". In front of everyone!!

I work in a small office.

One of the people I work with is a 60 year old man who will tell you stories of people shagging! His younger days of all the woman wanting him, him shagging, how he always wants a wee 16yr old blonde with big tits to work in the office, sexist. He would rather do nothing but chat all day while everyone else works hard.