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How to irritate your colleagues...

by Tash Hughes of Word Constructions (www.wordconstructions.com) 

Everyday you go to work and interact with the people around you. We all have habits and traits that may annoy other people, especially when they are tired or stressed.

But there are specific behaviours you can use if you want to really annoy your colleagues and become the most unpopular person in the office…

In meetings…

• Take your laptop to every meeting you attend, even if it is a casual catch up over coffee or a regular meeting everyone else takes pen and paper to

• Questions every point that is made - either argue the point or ask for clarification

• Explain what other people say as if you are the only one intelligent enough to understand all topics raised

• Arrive late whenever possible and then expect everyone to wait while you get organised and caught up on what you have missed

• Never apologise for being late or causing other interruption

• Sulk and continue debating any topic that someone dares to disagree with you about

• Insist everyone writes notes before and after the meetings so you can appear knowledgeable and not have to do much work yourself

In the office …

• Talk as loudly as possible on the phone. Not only does this distract and annoy others, it lets you show off how important you are

• Walk around the office frequently so everyone notices you are present

• Boast about everything you do, especially when you are included in any senior meetings or functions

• Establish procedures that let you avoid feedback from anyone who might know more than you do

• Always take the praise for anything you were remotely involved in, but never take the blame for anything

• Dress inappropriately all the time and look down at others’ clothes choices

• Assume anyone pointing out a problem is just having a bad day – obviously, you can’t have done anything wrong!

• More than avoiding change, turn things back to how they were at every opportunity

• Don’t worry about budgets or deadlines – just get the job done in your own way when it suits you

With just a small amount of regular effort, you can really make a difference in how your colleagues feel about you. Or you could use this list as a way to avoid irritating your colleagues!

About the Author

Melbourne writer Tash Hughes writes articles on health and family issues for ezines, websites and magazines. Tash is a microbiologist and also owns Word Constructions to help business owners have a professional presentation on paper and on the internet. For all your business writing needs, contact Word Constructions then get on with business.