The ‘reply-all’ and other office pet-peeves
A recent poll indicates that office workers have plenty of gripes, and most of them are about the behaviour of their co-workers. The list has plenty of tech complaints, but the biggest annoyance is also one of the oldest.
A recent poll indicates that office workers have plenty of gripes, and most of them are about the behaviour of their co-workers. The list has plenty of tech complaints, but the biggest annoyance is also one of the oldest.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the number one office beef is gossip. The full top-7 list breaks down like this:
- Gossip (60%)
- Poor time management (including personal calls and non work-related web surfing) (54%)
- General messiness in shared spaces, such as dirty dishes in the sink (45%)
- Strong or offensive smells like perfume, smoke or food (42%)
- Loud noises such as speaker phones, raised voices or obnoxious ringtones (41%)
- Overuse of cellphones, BlackBerrys or PC’s during meetings (28%)
- Misuse of e-mail e.g. hitting ‘reply-all’ unnecessarily or putting people in the BCC line (22%)
The study was conducted with 2,429 respondents, all of whom were in the U.S. It would be interesting to see if the top seven were the same in Canada. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but my personal top peeves are actually the last 3 on the list. Having worked exclusively on websites for the last 10 years of my career, poor electronic etiquette drives me crazy. That said, here are my contributions to the office pet-peeves line-up:
- People who don’t take the time to read your emails thoroughly before replying (and yes, I’ve been guilty of this myself)
- Meetings that don’t have a specific goal or agenda and end up with nothing concrete being decided
- Conference calls on which people in a boardroom forget that others are on the phone
- People who carry on loud conversations as they walk down the hall (especially in open office environments)
- Poor spelling. I know, I’m showing my age on this one. Call me old-fashioned, but if you’re going to communicate in writing, please, at least use the spell-check!
Ok, I can feel you absolutely shaking with the desire to add your pet peeves and vent your frustrations with the office… have at it… try to remain civil :-)
Update: I really should have provided a link to the original article, mentioned that the study was done by staffing firm Randstad USA. Sorry, my bad.
Also, you may be interested to know that people’s willingness to address their peeves with co-workers varied with the irritation in question: 42% were willing to address loud-talkers, 34% would confront the gossipers among them and only 25% would hold people accountable for their e-mail faux-pas.
My pet peeve is people who come to work and use it as their social outlet, no social life out of work so all conversations to coworkers are non-productive. either about husbands/wives, non-stop talk about their kids, or about how busy they are, blah blah blah blah.
Sounds to me, Kelly…..
like, maybe you do not
have a husband or kids
because if you did….
You would really
UNDERSTAND
why — those issues
NEED to be talked
about…
People spend more time at
work then they actually
do with friends or family !!!
Inconsiderately loud speaking on the phone.
my pet peeve are people who are anoyed by everything at work. i can't stand anal retentive who have a problem with everything don't wear sents, do use your phone, don't spell correctly. We're all at work just go with the flow.
Some work with their spouses so there's no ned to use cell phones, email,ect
Nadine, you should check your own spelling before you say you dislike poor spelling: it's "scents", not sents.
My personal pet peeve is when managers send out redundant memos berating everyone because they know who the person people are who caused the problem but for some reason are too scared to go and talk to them. All it really does is lower morale, waste paper, and kill trees. Another good one is when the manager tells you to leave your personal life at home when you come to work then spend most of their time complaining about how hard his/her life is. So the bottom lines for those who are guilty of that one: act as you would expect others to act and your subordinates or coworkers all have their own problems, They don't need yours too!
Im a real estate agent so I'm often on the road alot while always checking my email on my blackberry or laptop, my job is hard as hell and I try to remain civil but what pisses me off is drivers who just cut you off and give you the finger for no reason! Im a easy going guy obviously i dont care, if anything i'll pull him over and sell him a house. i came to the realization that alot of people have and actually live very depressing lives. People for some reason put on a show that they arent depressed.. How many people here know what im talkin about? and how many are one?
By the way I'm in toronto i refer to myself as the best in my industry..being the best allows me to give my clients grade A service! I'm not number one…YOU are! interested in proper agent advice?
General messiness in shared spaces… come down to "general abuses in shared spaces". Including behavior such as rinsing mouth and brushing teeth in the kitchen sink.
Sounds to me like cheryl is defending those people who do nothing but talk about husbands and kids to others who will pretend to be nice and listen as maybe she is feeling guilty herself as being one of them who is too busy being married to her job and has no time for her husband and kids. Your time is what you make of it. Let's get that straight, right now. I pick up that cheryl is a talker rather than a listener. Have a nice day. :D
-People who talk really loud on their phones, no not just cell phones, but office phones! It is really annoying when others are trying to do work.
-Also the 'hierarchy' which really limits creativity, yet at the same time people not understanding their and other people’s respective roles. (A.k.a. people who some how get away with doing nothing).
-People who take long and frequent breaks chatting about their social life to other people, who may or may not care (I am one of those people who do not care). Then as soon as it strikes five o-clock they complain that they have a lot of work, not to mention brag about the over time they are about to put in.
Well those are just a couple. hahaha. Anyways, I also wanted to say, I probably do stupid annoying things at work too. Try not to get too annoyed and nit pick at the little things. Yet at the same time, it is important for everyone to try to respect his or her co-workers! A healthy stress-free work environment it the best environment, unfortunately it can only be achieved by working from home.
CHEERS!
It is my belief that you would all benefit by reading a book called "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It's a pretty hard book to put down once you begin reading it.
I agree with Simons comments. I lived those very same comments during our company conference call yesterday. They send an agenda via email but none of the corporates are prepared on the subjects they sent on the agenda. My biggest peeve is when managers who are being spoken to during the call, speak just to be heard. Just shut up !!! and listen. Their comments are usually unrelated to the issue and have no value to anyone listening.
Office workers I figure you have alot to complain about .your management is not doing its job. So do it there are coffee breaks and lunch times those are the times to visit and chat or do what ever you want . But when at work (WORK)
that is how it got named
Anyways, this really hot guy at my work is going out with this dumb annoying pig and I just don't understand. He could do so much better. I guess she knows this because she had a little "chat" with me today about it. She said she knows the stuff I've been saying and how it's just so inappropriate and that she just wanted to tell me so I know how disrespectful i'm being. I ACTULLY appologized but then I thought about it and now I just see she's trying to make drama out of nothing and is just really insecure.
Anyways, that's my rant lol
I just hate office/elevator small talk. I don't need a weather update or your opinion about the weather from you everytime we look out the window or take a break.
My ultimate pet peeve at work is when my co-workers borrow my sex toys! Like geez, if your client requests a specific sex toy – make sure you have one of your own in stock!
Speaking of spelling, since when is 'alot' one word? The dictionaries I've checked indicate there's no such word as 'alot' – so there must be 'a lot' of people who can't spell.
I am personally, for the most part, impartial about work manners. You want to socialize, I'll socialize, you make a mess, I expect you'll act your age and clean it up… but what you do NOT under ANY circumstance do, is try and tell me how to do MY job. Unless you are in an aphiliated and superior role in the work place, that is the one singular way you will get on my nerves. Respect people, respect.