The Co-worker List

“I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job” It’s a book written by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon. It was also the subject of today’s luncheon speaker.

Among their ten least wanted co-workers are:

“Switchblade – Today they may be trashing your cubemate. Tomorrow they’re dishing you.

Liar, liar – Technology has made it easy for workers to lie about not getting that email or voice mail.

Stop sign – Devil’s advocate is another term for these naysayers. The larger your company, the more likely you’ll run into Stop Signs who strangle your innovative ideas like weeds.”

Etc., etc., etc.

I applaud their initiative for being among those who repackage long standing organization theory with common sense and make a buck off it. But, the classifications seem more generic than tied to the workplace.

After all, habitual gossips and liars are generally deemed loathsome, whether it be in the office or the family, church or neighborhood. And, who has any regard for those who rain on every parade, but never pull off one of their own?

If I were putting together the workplace list of most abhorrent, it would include:

The Phantom – You need to make a copy in a hurry, but discover the last user left the machine jammed. Just disappeared and left it. This person is a kissing cousin to the one who takes the last cup of coffee from the urn and doesn’t make any more.

The Spoiler – A flexible manager tries to accommodate special needs of the employees (payroll advances, having to come in late, etc.). These favors have to be universally available, but can only be viable if they aren’t abused. The spoiler abuses them and ruins it for everyone.

The Merchant of Menace - It always seems there’s one person who has four kids, and each kid has 27 teams to raise money for. You are constantly imposed upon to buy candy bars, greeting cards, and numerous other goods you don’t really need. Let the kids learn how to earn their way and keep the unnecessary pressures out of the workplace.

Now we have the beginnings of a workplace list.