There are a lot of things that people might dislike about their jobs, but coworkers often fall at the top of many lists. And what do you do when you like your job but not your colleagues? Avoid them at all costs? Defeat them with kindness? No! Vent about them online, of course!
#21
*Friend's coworker, not mine*
Company hired a person newer to our country and I guess he lied about his experience to get the job. He told them he was handy and had experience with North American vehicles, machines, etc.
He usually had a co-worker to help guide him, but during an emergency, he was asked to hitch up a company truck to a trailer (solo) that held a strapped down generator.
Poor guy couldn't figure out the crank mechanism to lower/raise the trailer and he absolutely panicked. Apparently he unstrapped the generator and tried to fit it in the back seat of his own vehicle (Toyota Corolla). He mangled the upholstery and scratched up the paint all around the door and it still wouldn't fit.
Then he tried to get it into his trunk by building a ramp out of boards... Again, he damaged his car in the process but actually got the thing into the trunk.
He drove to the emergency situation with his trunk lid slamming down on the generator and his Boss apparently lost his s**t because of the amount of time it took him and the general fuckery.
He no longer has the job :-)
(Edit - spelling).
Company hired a person newer to our country and I guess he lied about his experience to get the job. He told them he was handy and had experience with North American vehicles, machines, etc.
He usually had a co-worker to help guide him, but during an emergency, he was asked to hitch up a company truck to a trailer (solo) that held a strapped down generator.
Poor guy couldn't figure out the crank mechanism to lower/raise the trailer and he absolutely panicked. Apparently he unstrapped the generator and tried to fit it in the back seat of his own vehicle (Toyota Corolla). He mangled the upholstery and scratched up the paint all around the door and it still wouldn't fit.
Then he tried to get it into his trunk by building a ramp out of boards... Again, he damaged his car in the process but actually got the thing into the trunk.
He drove to the emergency situation with his trunk lid slamming down on the generator and his Boss apparently lost his s**t because of the amount of time it took him and the general fuckery.
He no longer has the job :-)
(Edit - spelling).
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15points
#22
Worked in the bar once and got an order for two coffees with soy milk. As it happened, we didn't have any soy milk at the time so I personally went to the table and told the ladies that we don't have soy milk and I offered alternatives. They said they'd rather not have any then and I apologised and came back to the bar and told my manager we need to refund them for the coffees. 15 minutes later, the waiter handling that section came to me and was like hey they're waiting on their coffees. I explain what happened, and he just can't seem to process it, just goes "but they're waiting on their coffees man, they're in a rush". We go back and forth for a bit until my manager chimed in with a much louder tone going "HE SPOKE TO THEM PERSONALLY AND THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T WANT IT ANYMORE". Somehow he finally understood and left but man was I fuming at this point.
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15points
#23
Yes. I worked at a fast food place, so the concept wasn't that difficult. He was terrible at it, couldn't even clean the dining room properly. He was screamed at multiple times because he wouldn't sweep under the tables. Whenever someone told him what sauce they wanted with the chicken strip basket, he would hit the "no dip" button.
He would pester people about their religion, and when they gave him an answer that was anything except devout Christian he would try to debate.
He was given specific step by step instructions on how to make tea and skipped half the steps which led to boiling hot water spraying everywhere.
He told the customers that the owner was an a*****e (he had never met the owner)
He tried to flirt with a couple of the women there (one was a manager!) who were taken and not interested. One of the women was married to one of the guys in the kitchen and he one time went on a spiel to the husband about how he was so lucky to have her, she was so awesome, etc.
One day he said he was hungry but didn't have any money to buy any food. The cooks had just happened to make an extra chili cheese dog. He went on a spiel about how "Jesus looks out for his own"
One time he got food and said "Ok, I'm gonna go to the bathroom and eat this."
I said, "You know there's a prep table in the back we can eat on, right?"
He said, "What, am I not allowed to eat my food in the bathroom?"
I said, "Well, I'm not saying you can't, just that most people don't."
On his last day (he lasted 2 weeks btw) he had a college class or something he had to leave early for. He didn't tell any of the managers, just clocked out and left. One of the managers asked him to make some more tea, and he said "I'm already clocked out." She tried to ask him why he was already clocked out but he was already out the door.
He would pester people about their religion, and when they gave him an answer that was anything except devout Christian he would try to debate.
He was given specific step by step instructions on how to make tea and skipped half the steps which led to boiling hot water spraying everywhere.
He told the customers that the owner was an a*****e (he had never met the owner)
He tried to flirt with a couple of the women there (one was a manager!) who were taken and not interested. One of the women was married to one of the guys in the kitchen and he one time went on a spiel to the husband about how he was so lucky to have her, she was so awesome, etc.
One day he said he was hungry but didn't have any money to buy any food. The cooks had just happened to make an extra chili cheese dog. He went on a spiel about how "Jesus looks out for his own"
One time he got food and said "Ok, I'm gonna go to the bathroom and eat this."
I said, "You know there's a prep table in the back we can eat on, right?"
He said, "What, am I not allowed to eat my food in the bathroom?"
I said, "Well, I'm not saying you can't, just that most people don't."
On his last day (he lasted 2 weeks btw) he had a college class or something he had to leave early for. He didn't tell any of the managers, just clocked out and left. One of the managers asked him to make some more tea, and he said "I'm already clocked out." She tried to ask him why he was already clocked out but he was already out the door.
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15points
#24
I think every person I work with--myself included--has had at least one moment of complete stupidity.
Like the time I couldn't hear someone properly on the phone, so I closed my eyes. While driving.
Or the systems expert who suggested the equivalent of turning off the car's engine to make it quieter while driving.
Or the director who stalked a staff member because they thought they saw them fail to stop fully at a stop sign.
Or our top IT guy who rearranged a production directory on a Friday, thinking it would have no impact.
Or the visiting specialist who melted holes in critical equipment because he didn't understand his own safety system.
Or the senior staffer who quit rather than take sensitivity training for being a p***k.
Like the time I couldn't hear someone properly on the phone, so I closed my eyes. While driving.
Or the systems expert who suggested the equivalent of turning off the car's engine to make it quieter while driving.
Or the director who stalked a staff member because they thought they saw them fail to stop fully at a stop sign.
Or our top IT guy who rearranged a production directory on a Friday, thinking it would have no impact.
Or the visiting specialist who melted holes in critical equipment because he didn't understand his own safety system.
Or the senior staffer who quit rather than take sensitivity training for being a p***k.
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15points
#25
I worked at the news desk with an English (hons) graduate.
She could not string together a sentence without needing help of an editor. I helped her make sense of her mumbo jumbo article several times.
The horrible grammar and syntax wasn't the only issue. She couldn't even put her thoughts down on paper coherently. All editors and reporters would scramble their heads and keep asking her "what are you trying to say here?"
She knew her days at our office were numbered. So, she looked for a new job and earned a promotion. And then, she skipped on to 2 new jobs and earned more promotions. She never spent more than a year at any position because I guess she knew people would catch on that she had zero writing skills.
She is a Communications Director now at some company. LOL.
I wonder who is the moron here. The woman who still doesn't know how to write after 15 years in the industry or the people who keep hiring her.
She could not string together a sentence without needing help of an editor. I helped her make sense of her mumbo jumbo article several times.
The horrible grammar and syntax wasn't the only issue. She couldn't even put her thoughts down on paper coherently. All editors and reporters would scramble their heads and keep asking her "what are you trying to say here?"
She knew her days at our office were numbered. So, she looked for a new job and earned a promotion. And then, she skipped on to 2 new jobs and earned more promotions. She never spent more than a year at any position because I guess she knew people would catch on that she had zero writing skills.
She is a Communications Director now at some company. LOL.
I wonder who is the moron here. The woman who still doesn't know how to write after 15 years in the industry or the people who keep hiring her.
15points
#26
We had an accountant who called me asking why our credit cards weren’t batching at night. I looked and they were batching at midnight, maybe a few minutes after, but it was an automated system doing what it was supposed to do.
She says no, credit cards being ran on Monday weren’t batching until Tuesday. And I say yes, because they batch at midnight. She responds that it should be midnight on Monday. And I jokingly say, can’t batch what hasn’t happened yet. She didn’t like that. Anyway, explained that midnight is a new day to her and at some point I asked if there was someone else in her department who could explain how time works because I’m busy and I hung up.
This went back and forth for about thirty minutes before I decided to hang up because I will not suffer fools at work.
She says no, credit cards being ran on Monday weren’t batching until Tuesday. And I say yes, because they batch at midnight. She responds that it should be midnight on Monday. And I jokingly say, can’t batch what hasn’t happened yet. She didn’t like that. Anyway, explained that midnight is a new day to her and at some point I asked if there was someone else in her department who could explain how time works because I’m busy and I hung up.
This went back and forth for about thirty minutes before I decided to hang up because I will not suffer fools at work.
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14points
#27
I had an employee who was constantly late. I tried everything to help him before having to write him up. After the write up he said he didn’t understand and how when he hangs out with his friends most people show up 45 minutes late and it’s kind of your fault if you show up at the set time.
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13points
#28
Yes, I worked with someone like this. She was undeniably incompetent, that it exposed the incompetence of our manager who hired her, who continued to sweep everything that this employee screwed up, by forcing the rest of us to clean up after her disasters. There was not a single person in our entire organization who liked this idiot, except for our manager. And our dept became disliked because of this screw up employee. Everyone who was decent ended up leaving and it soon became obvious that our manager was protecting the village idiot.
When I say village idiot, here are some examples, when she was sick she would take NyQuil during the daytime and got mad when we told her NyQuil was for nights and DayQuil for daytime. She didn't know how to turn on her computer, could not write a coherent sentence, and has no clue how to use a day planner or how to use her outlook calendar. Those are just a few examples, I've seriously never met someone so dumb before and she was in her late 50s and had somehow managed to raise children. Her husband knew she was dumb because if he had to take her to work events he'd tell her she wasn't allowed to drink any alcohol and was not allowed to speak to anyone.
In the end the best employees got sick of being dumped on by our manager and her favorite idiot and we left for other jobs. It exposed our manager for her incompetence after key people left because she had no idea just how much they were doing for all of their projects, which led to loss of funding and that manager was told to retire or be fired. Without her there, the idiot had nobody to cover up for her, so then she finally got fired too.
When I say village idiot, here are some examples, when she was sick she would take NyQuil during the daytime and got mad when we told her NyQuil was for nights and DayQuil for daytime. She didn't know how to turn on her computer, could not write a coherent sentence, and has no clue how to use a day planner or how to use her outlook calendar. Those are just a few examples, I've seriously never met someone so dumb before and she was in her late 50s and had somehow managed to raise children. Her husband knew she was dumb because if he had to take her to work events he'd tell her she wasn't allowed to drink any alcohol and was not allowed to speak to anyone.
In the end the best employees got sick of being dumped on by our manager and her favorite idiot and we left for other jobs. It exposed our manager for her incompetence after key people left because she had no idea just how much they were doing for all of their projects, which led to loss of funding and that manager was told to retire or be fired. Without her there, the idiot had nobody to cover up for her, so then she finally got fired too.
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13points
#29
I worked at a small firm where the HR director (yes, the head of HR for the entire company) had absolutely no clue how to use Microsoft Word on basically any level apart from using his computer like a typewriter. And this wasn’t a long time ago. He once had the ‘paragraph markers’ button turned on, and he spent like an hour trying to delete all the little spacing and paragraph symbols that show up when you have that button turned on.
He would take ~1.5 hour lunches every day, because he would go walk around target. He just really liked going to target. The CEO apparently called him out on it, and HR guy didn’t know that he was only allowed to take an hour….even though he being the head of HR was the one who had supposedly written the employee handbook
He once thought that he had lost his wedding ring in a trashcan outside of a five guys or something, and he just grabbed the trashcan and dumped all the trash everywhere trying to look for it. iirc, he hadn’t actually lost it, he just forgot he was wearing it that day
I’ve got other stories, but you get the picture.
He would take ~1.5 hour lunches every day, because he would go walk around target. He just really liked going to target. The CEO apparently called him out on it, and HR guy didn’t know that he was only allowed to take an hour….even though he being the head of HR was the one who had supposedly written the employee handbook
He once thought that he had lost his wedding ring in a trashcan outside of a five guys or something, and he just grabbed the trashcan and dumped all the trash everywhere trying to look for it. iirc, he hadn’t actually lost it, he just forgot he was wearing it that day
I’ve got other stories, but you get the picture.
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13points
#30
I once supervised this real potato of a guy.
My two favourites:
* I asked him to make an inventory of some of our equipment, explaining the task and how to find the serial number. When I checked in, he had been inputting basically anything from the labels that looked like a number, so things like “2000mAh 100v/5v” or “100-240v ~ 50/60Hz” or “CE FC ME01” for the serial and things like “Dell” or “Current Rating” or “Warning: Sensitive Electronics” for the model.
* I asked him to take something to shipping to go out. I guess I wasn’t specific enough and he just left it outside, as in he left our building, walked around to the back, and left the box on the ground outside the shipping and receiving bay. It got run over by a truck.
My two favourites:
* I asked him to make an inventory of some of our equipment, explaining the task and how to find the serial number. When I checked in, he had been inputting basically anything from the labels that looked like a number, so things like “2000mAh 100v/5v” or “100-240v ~ 50/60Hz” or “CE FC ME01” for the serial and things like “Dell” or “Current Rating” or “Warning: Sensitive Electronics” for the model.
* I asked him to take something to shipping to go out. I guess I wasn’t specific enough and he just left it outside, as in he left our building, walked around to the back, and left the box on the ground outside the shipping and receiving bay. It got run over by a truck.
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12points
#31
Yeah, I worked with a guy who thought “CC” in emails stood for “Cancel Communication” so every time the manager added someone to the thread, he’d stop replying entirely. He once asked if he could microwave a metal spoon because “it’s not sharp like a knife.” Nice guy, but working with him felt like babysitting a confused golden retriever.
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12points
#32
This is an example of a conversation I have with a manager at my company a couple of times a day:
Me: Hey, can you please make an effort to get me "x" by this date, I need it to complete my work.
Them: I'm really busy today.
Me: That's fine, I just need it by this date.
Them: Ok, sounds good.
Me: Just to confirm, you will get me "x" by this date.
Them: Oh, you need me to get "x" for you?
Me: Yes, can you please get it to me by this date.
Them: When do you need it by?
Me: This date.
Them: Ok no problem.
Me: Hey, can you please make an effort to get me "x" by this date, I need it to complete my work.
Them: I'm really busy today.
Me: That's fine, I just need it by this date.
Them: Ok, sounds good.
Me: Just to confirm, you will get me "x" by this date.
Them: Oh, you need me to get "x" for you?
Me: Yes, can you please get it to me by this date.
Them: When do you need it by?
Me: This date.
Them: Ok no problem.
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11points
#33
Yes. They were impossible to train, talk to, deal with. Tolerate. It was my job to fire them after they had been with the company many years. They shouldn’t have lasted that long, but they had been close friends with one of the founder’s son, in college. I had no ties to anyone, so that task fell to me. They didn’t want to be blamed for giving this guy the boot, so they let the new girl do it.
The guy was insufferable to the very end. Dumb, you can usually work around or deal with. Lazy, deliberately and willfully ignorant, and arrogant? Out the door with them. Don’t even try. .
The guy was insufferable to the very end. Dumb, you can usually work around or deal with. Lazy, deliberately and willfully ignorant, and arrogant? Out the door with them. Don’t even try. .
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11points
#34
Yeah I worked with a girl in Australia that was from Hong Kong.. it was my first job as a manager and I just had her working under me at first. She was the most incompetent person I've ever met. All she had to do was make a few phone calls a day to clients and check on some super basic details.. write them in a spreadsheet, and show me at the end of the day. The number of days that went by where she called no one and wrote nothing was just incredible. I'd talk to her in depth about it, and say "ok so pick up the phone now, and make a call now, and if you have trouble I'll take over.. ok?" and she'd say "ok" and then turn around and look at her computer ... after a few seconds of me just looking at her, she'd look out of the corner of her eye and see me looking, and then turn around and look at me... and id go "pick up the phone and call" and she'd pick it up and just sit there. Baffling stuff.. had to let her go after a few months of red tape b******t but yeah she was embarrassingly poor as an employee. And no i didn't hire her lol.
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11points
#35
We have some pumping units on skids, weigh about 18,000 lbs each. Young engineer convinces management that we should mount these on extra trailers we have at another location. Trailers have gross weight 14,000, including 4,000 for the trailer itself. Took hours to convince them that this was a very bad idea. For context, management are all the age of my youngest child, engineer about the age of my grandkids.
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10points
#36
I worked with a woman named Deborah. Very friendly and sweet, but my god was she terrible at her job. What job was this, might you ask? She was a grocery store cashier and I was the supervisor.
Despite working there for over a year she routinely forgot how to use the automatic scanner. I'm talking at least once or twice per shift. She also forgot how to enter the four numbered produce codes claiming that "I don't access to them." Each and every time I would pull the sheet from next to her register and hand it to her. This was not a complicated sheet, it was essentially the size of paper coloring paper that kids get at an Applebees.
When I left she asked me if I could suggest that she be promoted to my position. I did not recommend her.
Despite working there for over a year she routinely forgot how to use the automatic scanner. I'm talking at least once or twice per shift. She also forgot how to enter the four numbered produce codes claiming that "I don't access to them." Each and every time I would pull the sheet from next to her register and hand it to her. This was not a complicated sheet, it was essentially the size of paper coloring paper that kids get at an Applebees.
When I left she asked me if I could suggest that she be promoted to my position. I did not recommend her.
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10points
#37
Worked at a software development shop and had this project manager whose only accomplishment was never finishing a project
See what she would do was, she would get a project started, and when it looked like it was going to fall apart, she would get it foisted on a different project management
Then, if the person she has setup to take the fall for a project failing looked like they were going to succeed, she would take their project over at the last minute so she could claim the glory of having a successful project
But she was so bad at managing anything, whenever she did that, the project would immediately derail and the previous, competent project manager would have to come in and get the project done
She got fired for not finishing a big project, but somehow was rehired a year down the line
Per my contacts at the company, she still hasn't finished a project
She also once insisted that we should start storing our data in views instead of tables. And before anyone tries to defend them and say what they think they meant, no, she meant we should get rid of the tables in our databases and use views instead.
See what she would do was, she would get a project started, and when it looked like it was going to fall apart, she would get it foisted on a different project management
Then, if the person she has setup to take the fall for a project failing looked like they were going to succeed, she would take their project over at the last minute so she could claim the glory of having a successful project
But she was so bad at managing anything, whenever she did that, the project would immediately derail and the previous, competent project manager would have to come in and get the project done
She got fired for not finishing a big project, but somehow was rehired a year down the line
Per my contacts at the company, she still hasn't finished a project
She also once insisted that we should start storing our data in views instead of tables. And before anyone tries to defend them and say what they think they meant, no, she meant we should get rid of the tables in our databases and use views instead.
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9points
#38
This chick was clueless. I’m a veterinarian now. Before vet school, I was hesitant to apply because I was scared of rejection/imposter syndrome.
Then I worked with a lady who didn’t do full physicals and missed easy diagnoses like ear infections, flushed iso in proximity to several employees (at least the patient was disconnected) and talked s**t about our employer (I mean me too but not to a total stranger at a new location???)
Anyway. I said if that b***h can have a successful career, so can I.
Then I worked with a lady who didn’t do full physicals and missed easy diagnoses like ear infections, flushed iso in proximity to several employees (at least the patient was disconnected) and talked s**t about our employer (I mean me too but not to a total stranger at a new location???)
Anyway. I said if that b***h can have a successful career, so can I.
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9points
#39
I worked at a print shop that printed beer bottle labels on a 3ft by 4ft sheet of paper. We would stack these 1000 high and cut them apart lengthwise, and then put the lengthwise strips into another machine to be cut into individual stacks and plastic wrapped.
The guy who ran that last machine, cutting up the strips and wrapping them?
He was only working there because he told the boss about everything anyone messed up.
On his machine he went through 20 assistants in a year, and a new supervisor pointed out after 20 people being fired for the same thing, it's more likely he was the one making mistakes and blaming the other people. The supervisor was fired.
They cross trained me on his machine for his week long vacation. I trippled his output, they checked my work and found no mistakes. My assistant said it was the easiest work day he ever had because I was coming to his side and helping a bit. I was taken off the machine for the rest of the week so the owner of the company didn't have to see how poorly his friend normally does.
Someone made a big wooden post with a wide end to smash down paper scrap in our bins. On one side this guy wrote "stomper handle" on the other, "stomper handel" and he didn't understand it didn't say the same thing on each side.
Dude was constantly drinking. He'd sneak a beer at each 10 minute break and at least one at lunch. His wife drove a truck through the fence by shipping "trying to warm it up before the shift was over" and when someone mentioned d**g testing before the company paid for damages the guys wife caused to the fence he flipped out on them.
He was convinced bluegrass was actually a blue species of grass he just hadn't seen yet, and Australian pines grew thin side down and wide side up. He pronounced "Mocha" as "mo-cha" with a pronounced "Mmmmo" and a heavy cha sound, like in "cha cha slide".
The number of stolen tools he has at his house must be astounding, and only matched by the number of times someone reported him for sabotage and was told to calm down by the owner of the company.
The guy who ran that last machine, cutting up the strips and wrapping them?
He was only working there because he told the boss about everything anyone messed up.
On his machine he went through 20 assistants in a year, and a new supervisor pointed out after 20 people being fired for the same thing, it's more likely he was the one making mistakes and blaming the other people. The supervisor was fired.
They cross trained me on his machine for his week long vacation. I trippled his output, they checked my work and found no mistakes. My assistant said it was the easiest work day he ever had because I was coming to his side and helping a bit. I was taken off the machine for the rest of the week so the owner of the company didn't have to see how poorly his friend normally does.
Someone made a big wooden post with a wide end to smash down paper scrap in our bins. On one side this guy wrote "stomper handle" on the other, "stomper handel" and he didn't understand it didn't say the same thing on each side.
Dude was constantly drinking. He'd sneak a beer at each 10 minute break and at least one at lunch. His wife drove a truck through the fence by shipping "trying to warm it up before the shift was over" and when someone mentioned d**g testing before the company paid for damages the guys wife caused to the fence he flipped out on them.
He was convinced bluegrass was actually a blue species of grass he just hadn't seen yet, and Australian pines grew thin side down and wide side up. He pronounced "Mocha" as "mo-cha" with a pronounced "Mmmmo" and a heavy cha sound, like in "cha cha slide".
The number of stolen tools he has at his house must be astounding, and only matched by the number of times someone reported him for sabotage and was told to calm down by the owner of the company.
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9points
#40
Construction: one guy just sat a stared into nothing for 30 minutes and when he did work it all had to be redone. He’s a journeyman who can’t do anything… I think he just goes to huge jobs where he can blend it and not get noticed.
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8points
