How to tell if you are the annoying co-worker everyone hates

October 23 is 'Slap Your Annoying Coworker Day' - yes, that is a thing and, no, you should not slap your colleagues. 

But the unofficial holiday does make you wonder...  are you the annoying co-worker in your office?

How would you know if you are the colleague everyone secretly wants to throw a stapler at or, as today's holiday suggests, slap you in the face? 

Continue reading...

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Here's a look at a few things that would put you on the annoying co-worker list. 

The office spy 

If your colleague comes in 10 minutes late to work or leaves 10 minutes early, do you:

A: Joke about their tardiness, but make a mental note of the time so you can report them to the big boss. 
B. Sip your tea and mind your business. 

If you answered "A",  then sir/ma'am you are possibly the colleague everyone tries to avoid at all costs. 

The office suck-up 

Every office has a brown-noser who would do just about anything and everything to please his/her manager, including dishing out empty compliments. Brown-nosing tendencies are usually done to gain favour with the boss, which the suck-up usually hopes will support their ambitious ladder-climbing goals.

Here's a look at some of the typical signs that indicate you are the office suck-up:

1. You agree with everything the boss says and nod your head multiple times when they are speaking. 
2. You praise your boss nonstop during meetings - much to the annoyance of your colleagues.
3. You love making others look bad to gain favour with your boss. 

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Stealing other people's food

Nothing causes drama in an office more than missing food. Some coworkers shamelessly take food that does not belong to them. You can label your food, leave a threatening sticky note, but come lunchtime your chicken wrap is missing. 

But be warned, most staff members usually have an idea about who the food thief could be! 

Kitchen etiquette is a must for every office: 

1. Don't leave your moldy/rotten food in the fridge. 
2. Use your own mug, and wash it when you are done! 
3. Reset the timer on the microwave after using it.
4. Clean up after yourself! Just because the office has a cleaner it does not mean you can leave the kitchen in a mess. 
5. DO NOT eat food that does not belong to you.

Forcing people to take your child's school raffle 

No, your colleagues do not want to contribute R20 to your child's raffle for a chance to win a bottle of cheap wine. Don't take offence if your coworkers say they don't have money for the raffle and definitely don't make them feel bad about it either. 

Reply to ALL 

Unless you have something important to say that will benefit everyone cc'd in an email, do not click reply to all. There is nothing more annoying than receiving multiple replies on a "Happy birthday, Jane" email sent by HR.  Feel free to personally email Jane your birthday wishes. And if you are the office suck-up (see point two), do not hit reply all to tell your boss how amazing they are for existing. 

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Main image courtesy of iStock/grinvalds