Office life is a lot like dorm life. You have to put up with some pretty insufferable people, the bathrooms always stink, and someone is always crying in the corner. All that, and there’s just no easy way to escape the people who annoy us the most.
And PSSST — if you can’t name an annoying co-worker, that means you are the annoying co-worker.
Here are the top 5 habits and behaviors you should avoid if you work in an office (and don’t want people to hate you).
- 🔨 Don’t Break the Bank – Everyone needs a break during the day - we’re not robots, after all. But taking too many breaks keeps you from being productive, and trust us – people know. You know Larry, who sits by the water cooler? Tom near the coffee maker? They’re keeping tabs on you and have already shared your love of vending machine Biscoff cookies with the entire office. And if you think you’re safe because you work remotely – think again. Thanks to apps like Hubstaff, your bosses are always watching. So set a schedule and stick to it. Set a reminder for two breaks, one in the AM and one in the PM, and stick to it.
- ⏰ LIFO-ers Not Welcome – No one cares if you stayed up too late last night watching the 2019 film version of Cats (that was not a confession, I swear it) – get your butt to work on time, not half-past-the-morning-meeting with a venti frappe in hand. Everyone knows stuff comes up; sometimes, we have to skate early or come in late. But being the Last In, First Out is not a good look if you’re doing it on the daily.
- 🦨 Something Stinks – Seriously. Just leave the fish, the egg salad, cabbage, etc. at home. Being a good office mate means being sensitive to those around you. While most of us enjoy a good piece of salmon, we definitely don’t want to smell yours reheating the next day.
- 🚀 Failure to Launch – We’re not talking about fear of pushing the button here. But if you regularly miss deadlines, leave requests unfulfilled, don’t respond to emails, fail to follow up, or don’t live up to the promises you’ve made and goals you’ve set, then your colleagues (and your bosses) will think they can’t count on you. Get a free Trello board to keep you on task and on point.
- 😠 Hey Debbie Downer – No one likes a complainer. Constantly announcing your discontent at work is straight-up toxic behavior. We all complain about challenging or difficult situations sometimes, but most of us save it for Happy Hour – you know, the place where our conversations aren’t being monitored? Being known as the office complainer won’t just get you disinvited to the office Christmas Party – it could hold you back from earning a promotion or raise.
🔥 The Bottom Line: There’s always somewhere we’d probably rather be than in the office, but as we start to return to our cubicle farms the country over, let’s do each other a solid and try to be better office mates. We’re in this together, work fam.
Guess what? The President doesn't care about your office building...but your local & state government reps can have a huge impact on how it goes when you get back there! Here’s three small things you can do that make a BIG impact:
