Comments on: Tell me about your worst coworker and win a prize!

By: John G

John G — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:42:28 +0000

In reply to Jen. 17 RCTs?? I had 4 last month and I thought that was a lot! :)

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:49:42 +0000

I hired an acquaintance and things went well at first. Then he decided he wanted my job – his job was a term one. He started telling the receptionist to move my clients to his calendar because I was having a really bad day and I was in a bad mood and they all needed to pull together to help me. Of course, when I came out to see why my 9, 9:30 and 10:00 appointments were no shows, the anger part was a self fulfilling prophecy.

Then he started calling support staff and asking what I’d said to them during the day. They would gripe, as all people do about their supervisor. Then he would take a “hostile work environment” claim upstairs. All the employees denied they described work that way and individually apologized to me.

There was a full investigation over an allegation that I’d falsified my time cards. Fortunately, I’d kept all the e-mails related to flex time for working on the weekends. But there was still a formal investigation by an outside agency into the charges.

Although I knew he would like my job, he didn’t begin the character assasination and plotting until after I’d asked him not to tell me any more stories about his girlfriend since I knew his wife and had dinner with them as a couple with my wife. That set it off. Management was afraid to fire him, so they bumped him upstairs in a different office. He never got a permanent job and left shortly thereafter. My friends used the term ‘gaslighted’ since he was nice to my face while he maneuvered the conditions in the background. Machiavellian spider that he was.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:31:27 +0000

In reply to Celeste.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really understand what the huge deal is here? I mean, wearing designer heels to work is not illegal, slamming kitchen cabinets is… bad, I guess, but I don’t know that I would even notice, and if she cleans the strainer after using it, like everyone else presumably does, what’s the problem? It’s not like fish poop forever sullies something in ways you can’t wash off. I mean, maybe there’s something I’m missing here, but if the best you have is that she had a bad attitude, that’s like half the people that everyone works with. 🙂

By: Nora

Nora — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:23:47 +0000

First, it’s important to know that I work in a laboratory where we study infectious diseases. Most of the technicians are there to gain experience before going on to graduate or medical school.
Then they hired Cranky Old Man Manager (COMM). COMM had never worked in a laboratory before, but he had worked in hospital administration. He had never held a previous job for longer than a year. We soon learned why.
COMM was incredibly unpleasant to everyone, demanding “respect” (which meant, essentially, jumping to attention and dropping whatever experiment we were running when he wanted us to do something) and speaking to us in rude, abrupt tones. He was insanely territorial, freaking out (“Who do you think you are?!”) when anyone else, say, signed for a delivery.
He owned two companies unrelated to the lab, one of which was blacklisted by the state we live in; government-funded projects were not allowed to use his business. When we Googled him, we found that he had falsified credentials in applying for a professional license. He spent most of his workday on his cell phone, running his shitty businesses on lab time.
He made weird, arbitrary demands, like insisting that all glassware be placed on the floor in a narrow dishwashing area because things on the shelf were a hazard, as they could be knocked down and could shatter (?).
The worst part was his insane, dangerous incompetence. COMM claimed to have a PhD, but he had no idea of how to work safely in a laboratory environment. He handled carcinogens with bare hands and transferred them by touching other things, like door handles, so the rest of us were also exposed. He poured a neurotoxin down the sink (sorry, municipal water system!). He decided there were too many chemical waste receptacles (we keep things segregated for a reason!) and combined them for “efficiency”, generating toxic fumes. He’s lucky nothing exploded.
And for some reason, it took about six months to get the bastard fired.

By: ReceptionistChick

ReceptionistChick — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:51:08 +0000

In reply to the celt. Wait, WHAT??? The state supervisor didn't fire him!? Oh my gosh.

By: ReceptionistChick

ReceptionistChick — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:44:14 +0000

In reply to EG. What a gigantic @$$. WOW. I'm afraid I would have gone into his office, shut the door and given him the tongue-lashing of a lifetime. On my last day, heh heh.

By: ReceptionistChick

ReceptionistChick — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:35:53 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. Cripes, I would call the cops if one of my coworkers did that to me!

By: LadyTL

LadyTL — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:01:46 +0000

In reply to Belinda. I honestly don't get this thing of acting like work is back in high school. It rarely helps get work done, often gets in the way and punishes people who just come into work for work. Why do so many managers like this attitude?

By: LadyTL

LadyTL — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:56:39 +0000

My worst was from my last job. When I was hired I let everyone know that I had Asperger’s and might occasionally react to things differently from how one would normally expect. This is because sometimes I cannot tell what I am expressing. At one point I was hurrying to get something for a customer and said excuse me to the female co-worker I guess in a bit brusque manner (I am not sure exactly of how she received it.) After that though she started trying to pick fights every time we had a shift with me, started getting more of the other female co-workers to do the same and eventually got the company to force me to quit. All this because she didn’t want to believe I had Asperger’s even after I told her so. I guess she thought I was being rude to her or something and way over reacted.

By: Operations Analyst

Operations Analyst — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:51 +0000

My coworker with much less experience refuses to work more than 40 hours, (including lunch!), while everyone else works 45-55 hours. He doesn’t like talking to people so ordered equipment to be installed at 20 sites but didn’t tell any of the building managers someone would be coming, so we had to pay the installer for a full day driving around confused! Anytime there is a problem, it sits. As a result, the accounts he works on make about 1/2 to 2/3 of their potential for their first few months until I analyze how to handle them and actually talk to the clients, solve their problems and complaints, and work very hard to change their behavior, services, etc. He wants the $ I have, but simply wants to process the easier spreadsheets – doesn’t realize the $ comes from dealing with difficult things! We constantly butt heads, because he wants to deal with me with the authority of someone who has as much technical knowledge and business acumen, but clearly puts alot less effort into everything he does. We used to be friends, but after watching him leave month after month at 5, when I was staying as late as 930, and avoiding every single uncomfortable or difficult situation (and we have alot, being a startup in a regulated business), I lost respect for and the patience to deal with him. When I complained about workload, he tells me I need to learn to prioritize and automate processes. I could have punched him. I know how to write macros in excel, but that doesn’t mean I can automate everything! My boss approved 2 new hires trained by me I could delegate work to (even though i am not their manager), and this coworker couldn’t understand how I “coxed” my boss into getting 2 workers “to do my job.” !!!!!