Co-workers are strange. Very, very strange.

I had a boss who sat in my absent co-worker's cubicle across the aisle from me, slipped off her sandals, and starting cleaning and clipping her toenails.  Can you say euwwww????

Had a co-worker who "called" her dead swami whenever she had an issue at work.

Really enjoyed this blog.Much thanks again. Really Great.

I have had next to no co-workers I end up being barely able to stand for even an hour, let alone an eight hour day. Especially the ones that have to tell you every single, minute to minute boring detail of what they did last night, what they're doing tonight, etc. Like "did you see that B on the Housewives of New Jersey last night?" or "Oh I can't wait for the next Big Brother..." Get a life, people, really! Makes me just want to go it solo for the remainder of my working life and be an Ice Road trucker or something.

Ihave a co-worker who eats whatever is in the refrigerator if it doesn't have a name on it and if it does he has to openit up and to see and smell what it is. If you are eating he sticks his face so close in hopes that he can get a taste through his nostrils. Its really sad. Whatever you have on you desk he thinks its for everyone. And it doesn't matter what it is, a half eaten fruit, a cookie, whatever. Another thing he's loud and abnoxious!

my filipino coworker who is married to a japanese guy, thought she had a chance to have a blonde haired blue eyed white baby. she even asked me what i thought her baby would look like.

Most perfect example of why I work by myself. No one to compalin to and better yet NO ONE to have to listen to.

You might think wearing an iPod at work is unprofessional, but I HAVE to use mine. There is a guy who sits beside me a whistles all day long. Sometimes random notes, sometimes what could be a song, sometimes imitating the beeps that the printer makes (NO JOKE!), and if I wasn't able to put my earbuds in a crank up the volume to drown out the sounds, I might have had a mental breakdown by me. I can't leave the room. I can't stop it myself. It's like hearing nails on a blackboard all day long. I want to constantly punch him in the face, or throw something or scream, because it's like torture. When he's not whistling, he's humming or sighing or groaning or tapping. The guy CAN'T sit still.

Also, I have some serious hypersensitivity disorder (a real thing, as it turns out). Which means I'm sound-sensitive, photo-sensitive... pretty much anything you could think of. People blowing some of this stuff off like it's no big deal need to get their entitled heads out of their collective arses.

To all of you deriding people here for complaining: It can be very helpful, even theraputic to vent one's frustrations on the internet, better than snapping and inflicting bodily harm on a co-worker, right (kidding, for those of you who lack a sense of humour)? Before you accuse anyone of acting childish, look at yourselves, specifically going here to start trouble. Some of you probably don't have jobs and just want to start a little drama because your cable went out and you ran out of cheese doodles. Those of you saying "be happy you have a job" are likely unemployed themselves, there is a difference between not wanting a job and being annoyed with the people around you. Many of these people who are writing can't work, not because they look for the things, but because they can't NOT NOTICE THEM.

I bet you holier-than-thou idiots are either unemployed or the very co-workers that do the very annoying habits people complain about and you feel so insecure that you have to scramble to make yourselves look good, which is the only reason you're offended by this article and the people commenting. Perhaps you better do something more productive with your time than telling people "oh boo hoo, grow up" and do a little growing up yourselves.

I can't see how the things we find annoying about others are the things we actually hate about ourselves.
I have this turkey in the cubicle next to me and everything he does that annoys me are none of the things I do.

I have 2 co-workers will call them "CIndy" & "Tracy" they are annoying and fart all day long and stuff!

did you even go to school? it's women, not wemon..learn grammer buddy and than complain.

Watched a male coworker cutting his toenails in his cubicle -- which was in a high traffic area.

FIRST, I AM VERY GLAD TO HAVE A JOB. I THOUGHT MY CO-WORKERS WERE ANNOYING BUT AFTER READING ALL THIS! ITS CRAZY..... I HAVE ONE CO WORKER WHO IS CRAZY, THE REAL KIND OF CRAZY, WE START OUR JOB @ 8:30 BUT I COME A LITTLE EARLIER SOMETIMES, AS SOON AS I WALK THROUGH THE DOOR IT COULD BE 8:05 OR 8:15 THE PHONE IS RINGING OFF THE HOOK AND ITS HER, ASKING QUESTIONS THAT DONT CONCERN HER, THEN SHE'LL GET HERE AND YELL AND SAY ALL KINDS OF BAD WORDS, SLAMMING THE PHONES BECAUSE SHE CAN'T CLOSE HER DEALS. AND IF THAT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH SHE WILL CALL THE BOSS AND PUT HIM IN THE WORST MOOD AND HE WILL COME TO THE OFFICE TO YELL AT US FOR HER FAULT. THE CLOTHES THING IS NOT AN ISSUE FOR ME I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE WEARS OR WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT WHAT I WEAR. THE OTHER CO-WORKER IS NOT AS BAD, HOWEVER ALL DAY LONG SHE WILL TALK ABOUT GOING TO THE CLUBS, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLUB, AND TEXT ALL DAY AND ASK ME HOW TO SPELL EVERY OTHER WORD SHE TEXTS........ OTHER THAN THAT I GUESS I LIKE MY JOB

I worked at PETA for 2 years, you have no idea the strange things I saw co workers do or the strange conversations I overheard.

Watching someone eat pizza from a box or sip from a sippy cup would have a been relief.

I'm just thankful, and always have been, to have a job and the ability to work.

"Remember that the things you hate about other peole ar really the things you hate about yourself"

This is actully a misquote of Jung..what he siad was the things you dislike about other people teach you about yourself. You may not have any of the qualities or quirks of the poeple with whom you dislike, but it may be a window into yourown intolerance or grandiose thinking of a being superior(just an example).

Unless you coworkers are disruptive, hostile or worse just accpet that we all have our own quirks and forget it.

I work in an office where 1 supervisor frequently comes in drunk or severely hungover smelling like alcohol. She and her crew are probably on break for more time then they actually work. The breaks wouldn't be so annoying if I and a few other coworkers in MY dept. didn't have to sqeeze in time to help them "catch up" in order to "keep costs down" Then if we don't complete their work, they complain how we do nothing or ask "what we did yesterday". My dept. doesn't get a paycheck and a half for doing our job and half of theirs, to the contrary, bonus checks are awarded quarterly, and they get their bonus while we did a great deal of the work. Two other coworkers in my dept consistently come in late - I mean several times a week. One of them is almost always a half hour late and the other one clocks in at 5-10 after DAILY. This is a big deal when they are relieving you - then we periodically get notes in our mailbox advising us to watch our times to avoid overtime. This is typical in our office because our GM doesn't have any management skills - he appeases the slackers, for whatever reason, and those of us who come in on time, do our work, and sometimes others, get worked like 3rd world orphans. If anyone approaches the GM about these problems, he will go to the employee in question and tell what YOU said, - in the end YOU get made out to be troublemaker and everyone carries on with drunk supervisors, half the staff on break, and the rest of us wondering what time we'll actually get off because apparently the schedule doesn't mean squat to those who can't make it in on time. It's frustrating to see bad behavior glossed over daily while yourself and the other coworkers who try to exemplify a good work ethic are expected to cover the slack. Because the slackers constantly need excuses as to why they did or didn't do something, the rest of us have become paranoid and defensive and it is very stressful. To those of you implying that those of us complaining about bad behavior are whiners, well, YOU spend 40 + hours a week trying to deal with it and see what kind of mood you're in.

If you are thinking people are "competing with you" because they purchase same very common name brand clothing, maybe you should get married and have kids. It will give you something else to think of other than whether someone looks like you. And the comment of I hope you are going to a party because you are wearing a sexy blouse implies it is way to provocative for a business environment, not that they are jealous. You may wish to grow up a bit and realize that work is not high school and Sex in the city is not a real environment.

My boss, who I have to share office space with (his office is a room off of my work space), surfs a dating website all day long. He also has a friend that calls about 10 times a day and they crtitique the emails they send to prospective women on the dating website. This goes on constantly ALL DAY.

I tire of listening to the constant banter about the "hot " women he finds. I've asked him repeatedly to simply shut the door of his office so I don't have to hear this to no avail. Astoundingly, none of these women stick around for more than 1 date. Gee, I wonder why...

To all the people complaining about the ones complaining.

Sure listening to a topic of conversation you don't like, or having to put up with behavior you find annoying might be small issues (and baby-like whining), but it is the topic of this article, not how lucky we should count ourselves compared to people with a lot less!!!

While our worries might be small and irrelevant when you have no home, food, or job, they are still the worries that we do have.

Those things come almost close to what I've encountered...but not quite. There is not the remotest hint of professionalism in the place I work.
How about the 300 pound worker that wears shorts to work? ...Or the one who continuously pulls on her pants in the back and complains about her underwear "going up the crack of my a**"? ...Then there's one who whips up her top in front of everyone to adjust her bra. ...One uses the F word 3 times in every sentence, ...a couple discuss how their different psychotropic meds are not working, ...one smears vaseline on her face when her skin feels dry, ...one spends half her time on her cell phone arguing through text messaging with her boyfriend, ...and another one is apparently completely from another society that hasn't evolved to our level yet.
...And should we discuss the one who lost her drivers license last year due to a DUI incurred during the course of a cancer benefit? Well, this year, after just getting her license back, she said she's not going to drive during the same annual cancer benefit, and she didn't. This year she got drunk, stole someone's bicycle, wrecked it and broke her foot. So she's off work for the rest of the summer.
These are all health care workers. Do you feel safe now?

I have a co-worker who "Digs for gold!". EVERY day he picks his nose and YES it goes right into his mouth! At first I thought... that didn't happen... but I saw it again and again. I started to point it out to other co-workers who have all witnessed his sly finger to the mouth routine... now it's blown up to everyone in the office knowing of his dirty little habit.

Many of us have complained to management about this and we have all been told that we could move to another location if it's bothering us. Rather then have the balls to say something about the boogs, the working people are displaced for the one who sits surfing the internet eating his snot.

your coworkers are reading this. . .and so is HR

I used to work with a manic young woman whose cheating husband's" pet names" for her were all negative explicative's and who had slept in separate rooms since before they were married, who owned half a dozen dogs who were her "children" (which is for the best since even though she wants to teach elementary school someday she thinks human children are "little weirdos"), who talked endlessly about the squirrels in her yard- by name, who had incredibly negative things to say about her friends, family and former co-workers behind their backs (a good deal of which I found out later that she had made up), and whose family was insane (as in her mother burned her house down on Christmas Eve which, sadly, she did not make up).
It's not that she didn't do her own work, that she distracted me from my work by constantly talking about these things, or that she told me all of these things her first day on the job that made her the worst coworker ever and off the chart weird. The oddest and most difficult thing about her was that when she noticed what a good relationship I have with my adult daughter, she started hinting that she wanted me to take over for her mother and give her the support and stability she had never received and eventually pretty much outright demanded that I do so. When I declined to take over the train wreck that was her upbringing she immediately started to cause me trouble at work, tricking me into covering for her mistakes, lying about me, sucking all joy out of my job and making me dread coming to work every day even though I had once had boundless energy for my job. At first I felt very sorry for this tragic wreck and even defended her, which I grew to regret.

Now that I have been blissfully free of her for over a year the reduced stress has renewed me. I've lost weight, look younger and enjoy life again.

I hope this helps those annoyed by flatulent whistling co-workers with poor table manners to put things in perspective. It could be so much worse, at least you haven't had to memorize the names your office mate gave the 30 squirrels that live in her yard.

Okay people it's Lisa the fashionista is back lol i see alot of your'll are taken my comment really serious and that's ok every one has a right to their opinion..however, what i said in my comment was real not delusional, as i have had coworkers pettly approach me about what how they brought the same clothes as me and show me by saying oh look i have express jeans too.. i have coworkes that when i first wear something to work, for example i brought a coach bag and the next day my coworker went out and brough 600 $ in coach merchandise and came to work bragging directly to me about.. now i really don't care what my coworkers buy whether they copy my style or buy the same bag e.t.c or not.. bit what i find annoying is when i have to hear about it like i really care becauses i don't care if what my coworkers buy.. it is almost harassiing and annoying to be approaced directly with look i brought the same whatever.. buy it even if your copying me.. but don't harass me about it because i don't care.. well nice chatting with your'll peace to you and al our annoying coworkers Lisa the fashionista lol later

YES - Thank you very much! The sacrifices made by both you and your family are very much appreciated!!! Wishing you a safe return home.

WOW! Perhaps some of these people complaining and having their poor me moment should learn how to spell and possibly use proper english?! Just saying! And to those in uniform....thank you! Not one person complaining on here knows what a rough job is...as you do!! God bless...

The plant I worked at for just over 23 years was closed last year. I guess I was lucky to put in 50-60 hrs a week on the graveshift.....where I got to work in an isolated area......There was this one guy though........a temp. His name was Phuc and he was from Vietnam. A little short dude....Remember the Seinfeld episode with the "close talker"? THIS guy was one of those...He'd walk right up to you within like 3 or 4 inches, look up and start talking. To everyone. You'd see him backing people up til their backs were to the wall. We called him Phuc U........The even more annoying thing about him though.....If you were outside on a coffee & smoke break with him.....He was missing some front teeth, and he was CONSTANTLY expectorating ( spitting ) on the ground. NOT just in one spot either. You'd see these little wet spots every 6 inches or so...all over the smoker's patio. We were afraid to sit down at the picnic table without wiping the thing down first...for fear we'd rest our arms in a fresh drool pool.....

maybe she wants to lick your sweet spot

I found out from a friend that someone in the office where I worked and who I really didn't know very well was really badmouthing me. I knew that this person didn't like me, but this went beyond dislike. She told this person that I was a terrible worker and people in the office said that I was incompetent worker. She told her other things which weren't entirely true. She didn't really want to tell me but felt that I needed to know this. I didn't know what to do as I had just gotten my first full-time job and had never encountered this type of hostility from anyone.

What was interesting to me was when my friend brought this up to other co-workers, they never would deny that these comments about me were said or they wouldn't look her in the eye when she expressed her dismay at these things being said. They would try to avoid the issue but I know that they heard these comments said about me. Everyone else seem to know. They knew and they knew I knew. Avoiding the issue was what they did. If push came to shove, they would do the same thing unless they had to tell what happened.

With the exception of my friend, no one else ever struck up for me or told this woman to stop saying these things. Not even my supervisor. When I said something about it, avoidance was the reaction. I couldn't do anything about it.

I noticed a couple of years later at a party that this woman either bad-mouthed or said negative things about people. No good word about anyone or anything. I noticed this before but this time it was more pronounced. I really don't know how you could overlook this.

This happened over 20 years ago. If this happened today, I wouldn't put up with it. I'm much older and wiser.

How about a co-worker that sits in here desk across from you and picks the dead skin off her feet? Working in a room that's about 10' x 10'...I put up with it for over 4 years....also always sleeping at her desk! That's disguisting!!

Oh wow, I think I work for her now! Was her name connie?

ok ok ok ok - jeeze people! This is a forum for constructive public opinion - it solves nothing to tear each other to shreds because you don't like what someone else said!! You can't criticize someone for being catty when you are making it a point to cut them down in turn! No wonder no one gets along in the work place, or on the street, or with their neighbours or ANYWHERE beyond their front door!

The truth is people are weird. All of us have some quirk or foible that undoubtedly gets on someone else's nerves. It would be wonderful if we were all aware (and unselfish) enough to notice our own challenges and issues and have enough courtesy and COMMON SENSE not to get on everyone else's nerves. But let's be honest. For as long as there have been people roaming this planet, we've gotten under each other's skin. Whether it's gum chewing like a barnyard animal or "TMI" or who didn't put paper in the copier - we are ALWAYS going to irritate each other because that it just the way it is now, a hundred years ago, and will undoubtedly be a hundred years in the future. Perfect co-workers don't exist. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, (I frequently get on my own nerves) but I'm cognizant enough to recognize when something I'm doing or saying is irritating to someone else. And if someone else gets on my nerves, I walk away, or I put on my head phones, or I leave the floor and re-centre myself. If it's any help to anyone else out there try imagining you're in an episode of The Office (and quite frankly there are some days I expect Ashton Kutcher to pop out of the ficus and tell me I've been Punked).

With the unfortunate turn in the economy, those of us who are employed are luckier then we'll ever know or appreciate. But being stressed out, depressed, worried, angry etc in our everyday lives make us generally miserable overall and every small thing that other people do that we find irritating seems magnified by our own unhappiness. Personally, I work 2 jobs because I have no choice, spouse of out work, mother in law's home in danger of forclosure and being on the edge of bankruptcy. I will gladly take that person trimming their nails at their desk over not working at all. And I'm hoping they will be equally patient with my knuckle cracking.

People are who they are. We stand in our own way most of the time and can't figure out why we aren't getting further, doing better, being happier etc etc. But things are not likely to change - they haven't in the last 2000 years so why disparage the people around us. Chances are they have their own problems and worries we know nothing about but I bet you'd help them if you DID know! Nail cutting, gum snapping, sleeping at their desk aside! Food for thought or empty words falling on deaf ears, it's up to you to decide.

I had a co-worker that loved to sing. He kept insisting (at least once a day) that I sing with him or on my own. I kept insisting (at least once a day) that I can't sing. It gets to be very annoying. I would have gone to the boss, but him and the boss were best friends. Also, he was a manager and I was just an assistant. I just had to endure and ignore.

You're an idiot. Do your "jealous and competitive" co-workers a favor and quit.

omg, you sound like THE most annoying coworker of them all! don't you know imitation is the best form of flattery? Also, all the things you are talking about sound petty and catty, so who's catty? you are! i'm also unmarried and in the workfore, working at a company with mostly married people and the ladies do like what i wear and i tell them where i got things etc. it doesn't bother me at all... they do talk about the things they can't do because they're married and give advice on things i could be doing, i don't see that as offensive or annoying, it's rather enlightening and i just listen and take what i want from it, it doesn't mean that I have to follow their advice. Just saying.

I like the folks on forums that complain about the complainers because the entire reason for the column was to talk about the weird things your co-workers do. OH MY GOODNESS. lol What a riot!

I used to share a large cubicle with my boss. I would eat canned turkey and bean chili daily which consistently wrecked my GI system. I would drop ass the rest of the day after lunch and point my fan in her direction. She took it like a champ.

I'm just happy to be working. All I can say is headphones are a wonderful thing. They mat get on my nerves at time but we are all part of one big team. I'm sure they need their job as well as I need mine.

I promoted one of my co-workers to a key holder position. Then he stopped doing his job and twirled his new keys on a lanyard all day while others did his work.

People live in constant fear of upsetting those around them. Not one of those things listed bothers me at all. So what??? I work with my co-workers 8 to 12 hours a day. I commute two hours a day, I see my wife and kids for maybe 4 hours a day. That means the people I work with I see more than my own family. I am not going to waste a single amount of enegy worrying about all the annoying things they do, because they could just as easily come up with some for me.

who are you to criticize those around you? Are you Ms. Etiquette or Mr. Perfect? Then stop throwing stones from your glass house.

Live your own life and stop criticizing those around you. Be happy for once in your lives.

I use to work with a nurse who would come and sit down beside me. Once she made herself comfy, she would let a loud smelly fart and laugh about it. I thought this was a show of poor judgment and inconsideration for her colleague. For some reason she loved to pick me for her unpleasant smelly deed. The odd thing about this was that she was a very popular nurse. I learned to pick an area where I was less vulnerable to her nasty attacks.

That's stupid.

When I worked in retail, I worked with supervisors who knew what they were doing; stupidvisors that shouldn't have been allowed around other people; and snoopervisors who wanted peices of information to hang over your head as blackmail of some sort. I got out of there as soon as I could. I almost had a nervous breakdown over all the crap that was going on. As pitchman will say: "But wait--there's more!" But that is for another time.

I have a coworker who screams out "Deeeeevaaaa" all day.

Have you ever had a co-worker who picks his nose most of the time when you talk to him? It's very hard to focus and not laugh. I'm very cautious when he hands me papers and things. They require a "booger check".

I worked with not one, but two extremely terrible coworkers.
One put a picture of her parrot on her cubicle and would talk to it at 3 am(I worked third shift). She would pick her nose and talk about how brilliant Jeffrey Dahmer was. Very creepy.
The other lady was just...nuts. She would hide patient info in her desk, and when she got caught she was able to talk the managers out of firing her. But, she did it all the time. Argh!

I have to share a desk with a woman who covers her hands in vasiline and doesn't wipe things down when we change shifts.

Why doe's my comment appear and then disappear?
Is this magic?