Career Development Career SeriesAnnoying co-workers…everyone has them. Unless you’re Mr. or Ms. Congeniality, there will always be someone who will annoy you if it’s the last thing to do. From loudmouths to backstabbers, annoying co-workers will get the best out of us in a short while that we end up losing our patience that we can’t really work well.
If you notice that your productivity is going down, it’s time to take action. You don’t have to sit in your cubicle and live with psychological torture everyday. The company is not paying you to endure that and it’s your responsibility to make the office a better working place.
Think Before You Act
Before you take out your battle gears, think about the situation first. Sometimes, it’s not that the person wants to annoy you but you’re just annoyed with him or her. If you feel you don’t like anything about your co-worker, you have a problem and your co-worker doesn’t. If you’re feeling like that, you better stop now or else face the backlash of pointing fingers.
Instead of going out and telling your co-worker that you don’t like him or her, just move out and look for another place. Just transferring to another area or maybe adjusting your desk will make a great difference. If you’re the only one who finds the action annoying, then you should adjust instead of the co-worker.
Honesty is the Best Policy
When one action or behavior of your co-worker annoys you, you have to let your co-worker know about it. But don’t just barge into your co-worker’s cubicle and demand a change of character and behavior. You have to be diplomatic in telling you co-worker about the little thing that her or she does. More often than not, a co-worker will always understand your pleading and try to change his or her ways.
Some will say you can write a letter to your co-worker but doing it in writing may have bad consequences since the tone of the letter cannot be controlled and could be interpreted differently. Approaching your annoying co-worker is easier than you think. Just remember that they don’t bite and you’re at the same level so no worries about being terminated.
Persistence is Always a Good Thing
Oftentimes, a single reprimand or talk is not enough to change the annoying ways of your co-worker. This time, you can write your co-worker a letter about it but still, it might end up pretty bad because it might be treated differently. If you do it by e-mail, it might be even used against you as defamation.
Again, approach your co-worker and remind him or her about the small things they do that annoys everyone. It would be even better off you could bring another co-worker with you who shares the same sentiments.
Office honesty and being frank to your co-workers is a good thing. As long as you say things in a diplomatic way, your co-workers will stop their annoying ways without thinking badly about you.
