My place of employment can be a real toxic wasteland somedays. I am reminded of a quote I once heard, "Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power"...I believe it was Shirley McLaine who said that, when she was promoting a book she wrote. It really stuck with me and I think of it often here in my workplace. People say there's always that one person in every office...well, I believe I've been dealt a few here in my immediate department, which consists of 9 people, including myself. Three of them specifically tend to gnaw on me most often...which would make that 1/3 of my working environment and not cool. Let me see if I can sum them up in 3 short paragraphs.
Thorn #1 - 'The Gossip'...ours happens to be a beyond middle-aged Jewish woman (I only mention that she's Jewish because it should help explain much of the forthcoming description). This is the person that trained me in almost 3 years ago and from day 1 she told me who to associate with and who not to associate with. I was sucked into taking breaks with her 'group' and lunch with her 'group'. She no longer speaks to me because I opted to bow out and do my own thing. The one word I always come back to when trying to describe her to people is 'simple'. Perhaps this doesn't make sense but it's just that she is simple. There is no depth to her whatsoever, she is predictable, a gossip, ridiculously juvenile about so many things and quite difficult for me to take. In recent months, she has also been lacking for steady work to do as many of her duties are now being handled at our various branches, so she delegates herself to various office tasks, such as stocking our cups, plates, silverware, napkins, etc...in the break room; filling all of the copiers/fax machines, etc...with paper, and generally just being an annoyance. However, it's much easier now that there is no speaking involved...she has even ceased to say good night or good morning to almost everyone in our department. I guess others have done something to set her off as well.
Thorn #2 - 'The Know-It-All' (who actually knows very, very little)...ours is a mid-30's male who has done everything, been everywhere, and has come to save the company. While I feel it is safe to say that the rest of us would love to see him gone, we would be left with a pervasive emptiness, since he does lend quite the flavor to our department. I do have to throw in just a couple of my favorites from the past couple of years, however, I could write a book which would most assuredly garner a spot on the best-seller list.
* Know-It-All (speaking on the phone): "A John Deere? That's a fire truck, right"?
Sadly, folks...he wasn't kidding.
* In response to an e-mail that was sent out regarding the reserved spaces in our parking lot...he says aloud (he talks aloud a lot, just to hear himself, we believe) "What do you mean reverse parking spots, does that mean we have to back into them"? and proceeds to jump up to speak to the manager who sent the e-mail to clarify just why we needed to back in and couldn't pull straight in to them. Perhaps even tougher to believe folks...but again, not kidding.
* Our faithful California sports fan (yes, he's a Cali boy which could explain a lot) who claimed to be an 'Oakland A's' die-hard when they were in the playoffs this past season. Specifically, when they played our own Minnesota Twins, the day of Game 2.
Know-It-All: "Trudy, why don't they have Santana pitching?"
Trudy: "He threw yesterday".
Know-It-All: "Oh, you mean they rotate them"?
I couldn't reply to that, I simply had to walk away whilst shaking my head.
Thorn #3 - "Mr. Negativity" ...ours is a middle-aged (perhaps slightly beyond) male who literally personifies a 'wet mop'. Truly, when he walks around he resembles a wet mop...shoulders sagging, face like a horse, ridiculously saddened expression. He could suck the very life right out of you if you allowed him to. He is constantly whining and nothing is right, huffs and puffs while tossing things about on his desk...even threatened to quit a couple weeks ago. While I'm no expert, I have no managerial experience nor have I ever held the title of a supervisor, I do believe that if an employee under my watch came in complaining about things and asking about whether or not they would receive unpaid vacation and sick time upon quitting, I think they'd be done. Nobody needs that around the office, things are tough enough without it. I remember reading an article about the brain and negativity in an issue of 'Psychology Today' several years ago. While I don't remember all of the specifics, I do recall them saying that the brain has a 'negativity bias', meaning that it is simply wired with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news. Apparently, nastiness just makes a bigger impact on our brains...and our attitudes are more heavily influenced by downbeat news than by upbeat news. I don't know if that applies to this particular situation, but I am often reminded of that when he is particularly downtrodden, which he is today. I say...quit already if you're that unhappy. If I were his manager, however, he wouldn't be given this option.
Ok...so those are my 3 thorns in the workplace, just had to share. Cool, I'm feeling better already!
