What’s given you the work ick?

[MyAmusedOpalCrab]

I’ve started a new job recently and was surprised at how quickly I lost respect for certain colleagues. My manager regularly doesn’t show up for meetings she scheduled and just leaves you sitting there. Another colleague vapes through every meeting like it’s completely normal. It’s not the end of the world but it definitely gives me the ick and now I can’t take them seriously.

So AIBU to feel this way? And what are your workplace icks?

Sexual harassment, managers bringing their children to people’s redundancy meetings (yes really). When the 14yo wasn’t asked to leave the room; I knew I was absolutely ready to walk!! I think someone being late occasionally wouldn’t bother me. Everytime would. Also presenteeism which has zero benefit for any of the actual objectives of the job / project.

Just general wank-speak. It’s contagious where I work. No one ever using the word “ about” it’s always “ around”.
“ This slide is around the plan for the next project phase”😖
People never saying “ the situation with the budget is-“ because they haven’t been arsed to find out, they say “ we need to understand the situation around the budget” which they never seem to..
People younger than me who patiently explain how to do basic tasks in Windows. Which I have been using since 1997…
Scheduled Teams events about menopause where women fall over themselves to tell everyone how foggy their brains are and how incompetent they have become, thus confirming to the younger staff that older women are a total fucking liability. Being told to get more involved in said activities as it will tick my diversity and inclusion box.
Thats just off the top of my head.
I don’t honestly know how I’m staying sane…

🤣

Agree on LinkedIn. I can’t believe it’s taken off to be honest I find it such a pit of corporate / wannabe corporate cringe. Just find something you enjoy and are good at, and then find someone who’ll pay you for it. Do job and then live life with proceeds. I don’t think everyone needs to know about every minuscule event on your journey through these steps

An incompetent 'manager' who signs off his emails with "reach out to the management team if you have any queries ". I won't be reaching out anywhere you wank stain, let alone to you.

😳

I quite like LinkedIn. Everyone is always thrilled! Which makes a change from the gloom of Twitter.

I cannot bear

• people who think their opinion is worth more than evidence.
• Liars.
• people who talk too much in meetings. You've made your point, we got it in the first sentence.

Colleagues leaving every room/desk looking like a shit tip. If I’m bringing someone into that space they see the need and will naturally assume it’s mine. Pisses me off that I feel I have to say “this isn’t mine” when I see them staring at it. It’s disrespectful to expect people to either work in the environment or clean it up before they can use the space.

spineless management. I’ve had to stop reporting things to management because I know nothing will be done about it. It’s always the same characters that get away with blue murder. I’m driving myself nuts reporting unprofessional behaviour, and getting a “thanks for making us aware” then radio silence from SLT. I’ve had to disengage for my own well being.

Ice breakers at face to face team meetings which are childish tasks using lego etc.
Pronouns in email signature.
Wanky management speak about well being and safe spaces - cringe !

Team-building days/exercises. Especially with a Myers-Brigg or similar component.

Anyone who refers to the organisation as ‘family’ and means it as a good thing.

Having a manager behave very aggressively toward me, including shoving me in front of customers, then the employer NOT sacking him for it. Then they sacked him not long after for being drunk at work. I felt like they couldn't give a fuck about my safety being there working with him, but as soon as he started drinking their booze and being drunk, then that's enough to sack him.

My final straw moment was them hiring a man to do the same job as me on significantly more money, he was a lot less qualified than me. I handed my notice in the following day. They begged me not to leave but refused to increase my pay to match the new start's.

Boss who “chooses” a colleague to hate and then bitches about them and mocks them in front of more junior staff.

I deal with that by explaining how many emails I get per day. I get around 120 emails on a typical day, more on an explosive day. If they can't deal with a handful of emails, then they need to pick up their game.

Colleagues who message you wanting something on Teams and start “Hi, how are you?” - and don’t say what they actually want until you engage.

I know the right way to deal with this is to ignore it until they get to the crux of the matter - but I used to get fooled and think they were just asking how I was 😆

I felt the bile rise up in my throat just reading that

I do wish we would get back to being professional. This whole work family business is what leads to standards getting slack and cliques forming.

We've got this lovely young girl in our team. She's nice but very needy and clingy. When she left our team, everyone took it in turns to call her on their lunch break !? I just found it..... Unnecessary and odd. I got asked. "It's your turn to call Jenna this lunch time isn't it ?" I thought "no. I want to eat, scroll on my phone and have some quiet time thanks " (just to add, the young lady wasn't depressed or suicidal or anything, just a little meek and always had problems) I found the expectation for us all to take it in turns to be her personal counsellor weird and intrusive of my time.

But there again, perhaps that's why I haven't got many friends ! 😁

I’m in a senior position. I moved for a promotion. My manager manages to not turn up to meetings, move things constantly, fail to provide the right information and also care deeply about tiny details that are a preference not significant. But I’m supposed to guess or maybe I’m not and she is trying to gaslight me. I’m really not sure honestly. Regardless, I haven’t been treated so poorly in decades. I’m leaving as soon as works for me and I’m current operating grey rock mode…

People who steal my desk even tho it’s been reserved by me (hot desk rto issues)

People I don’t know well, who teams chat ‘hi’ and don’t follow up with anything else

Meetings titled ‘quick chat’ - always provokes fear of redundancy

One of my team members who regularly doesn’t turn up for 1:1s, cancels at last minute and then complains I have no time to spend with them. I loathe them.

"Hey hey hey teeeeeeam"

I worked with a pair of body builders who were lovely guys, but who would eat bloody kippers in the small restroom area. My office was literally in the restroom. I had a door, but the smell would creep in and it made me dry heave. It would linger as well. Horrendous.
I also worked with a guy who I got on really well with, until we started working on the same team. Before we had just chatted in the canteen and at odd points during the day. When we worked more closely, I realised he was a massive sulker. If anything didn't go his way, he would go into a silent sulk with his bottom lip out. Put me right off him.

During covid where an idiot I worked with (5G conspiracy theorist) refused to wear a mask, didn't enforce the students wearing masks, was in close contact with the students, caught covid, gave all the children covid.

Got arsy when I refused to go into meetings where he was if he didn't wear a mask or accept an open window for me to sit by.

Hearing my (not current) boss speak down to junior or lower level staff used to make me cringe. She’d look at me with a smile on her face while I looked on in disgust and got out of there as soon as humanly possible.
I worked my way up to my job and the people who treated me so much nicer when I got higher up also gave me the ick. Respect does not depend on job title in my world.

(Edited for spelling mistake.)

The colleague who sits next to me chews gum constantly - which is bad enough when he does it with his mouth open - but every minute or so he tries to blow bubbles so you just hear chew chew chew, pop, chew chew chew pop, chew chew chew pop... <Screams silently>

Oh god this gives me trauma flashbacks to my temping days in my late teens/early twenties. Many different offices, and without fail the person who did the honours of showing me around would make a point of telling me it was a madhouse, and that they were ‘all crazy here’. Every. Single. Time. At the time I was bang into raving at the weekend, and my hobby was doing fire tricks whilst on copious amounts of drugs. Compared to the colourful characters I associated with, Dawn from payroll and Steve from purchase ledger were far from crazy, but I’d smile and nod.

I started training as a social worker in my thirties, many years after I’d done any kind of office work. On my first shadowing day I was in a SW office and got told to sit at a lady’s desk who was on holiday. All her bits and bobs were there, neatly organised - her hand cream, her special mug, her little framed family photos. In that moment, I got The Fear. Those items gave me the ick and realised in that moment I couldn’t do office work again. I switched courses at the end of the first year, and that was the end of social work for me.

Managers who mess up then hand over to you to sort the mess out.

Managers who offload anything difficult on to their team.

Managers who quite simply don’t do the job.

Oh god this gives me trauma flashbacks to my temping days in my late teens/early twenties. Many different offices, and without fail the person who did the honours of showing me around would make a point of telling me it was a madhouse, and that they were ‘all crazy here’. Every. Single. Time. At the time I was bang into raving at the weekend, and my hobby was doing fire tricks whilst on copious amounts of drugs. Compared to the colourful characters I associated with, Dawn from payroll and Steve from purchase ledger were far from crazy, but I’d smile and nod.

I love this post!