Who are the worst to work with? And the worst? (Workplace etiquette only)
The company where I work has offices dotted around the world and I come into contact with people from different offices daily. One experience last week got me thinking about how radically I have to change my approach depending on which office I'm talking to, and how that makes my job a very pleasant one, or very stressful and annoying.
Not to turn into an American bashing thread, and of course not everyone is the stereotype, but this is the country I most dread working with. You would think because we speak the same language it would be easier but it never is. Due to the time difference, I often get people dialing into calls from breakfast drive thrus and then ordering their coffee or whatever while shooting off instructions. They often already "know what they want, so this should just take 5 minutes" without taking the time to listen to the details of what is involved. Then the call abruptly ends with "I've got someone else on the line so got to jump out now but if you could send x by y morning that would be great"
I work in design/legal/admin area so very specific but if you imagine this analogy, just with paperwork/designs:
"Right so this should be quick. I want a Shepherds pie. Should be achievable by tomorrow morning and if you could..."
(Makes coffee order without muting)
Me: "Right well let me just get out the menu and we can look at the options and make sure that's really what you.."
Then: "Definitely want to go for a shepherds pie and once it's ready send it over to me and I'll do the final taste before sending to client. Got to dash but let's speak tomorrow if I have any feedback."
(Call was originally scheduled for 30 minutes)
Next day: "Catbear we need to talk about the pie. There were a few problems. Can you jump on a call?"
Turns out: "So I'm a bit surprised because what you made me was with lamb and I thought we had specified beef"
"Oh so actually, what you wanted was a cottage pie? You did say very certainly you wanted shepherds...
"What's a cottage pie?"
Starts fumbling around in the background, so I know I've been put on loud speaker while they complete some other task now it's my turn to speak.
For this very reason, despite their bad rep for being abrupt and rude, I love working with the Germans. Not only have they read the specifications list beforehand, they take their calls from an appropriate setting and they take the time to go through the instructions with you, to make sure we are doing exactly the right thing. Deviate from the agreed instructions, and be met with their fury, though.
Of course every country has its specific annoying qualities and perks. Lateness vs. punctuality. Accuracy vs. sloppiness. Passionate and angry, vs. predictable and dry. But for me the most frustrating thing is a lack of ability to listen. Every meeting has to be followed up with emails to specify what they was supposed to listen to in the first place. Most of those emails, I fear, just go unread.
What about in your workplace? Without insulting people's culture, religion, politics, race etc. as this is strictly related to pet peeves and office etiquette, what gets your goat, and what makes your day?