It's Not a Related Duty.....

Moochers. Don't you hate them? There are a couple of my coworkers with quite an annoying trait.

I already discussed my disdain for potlucks, but this is another issue entirely. Do you ever go out to lunch? Ask coworkers if they would like to join you? Do these coworkers then ask where you are going and ask you to bring something back?

Unfortunately, I have a couple of these mooching divas as coworkers.

I realize one logical conclusion could be that these coworkers simply don't want to go to lunch with me but they do this to everyone. Before you jump to conclusions and blame me for asking them, consider this.....

One of them used to go frequently so it seems reasonable she might go. The other one incessantly complains that she is never included so we ask her.

I don't mind picking something up once in a while but I am not your lunch cart. What tops this off is the twisted face I get when I say I am going somewhere they don't like. That takes some balls. So sorry to inconvenience you with my shitty lunch choice.

I don't ask anymore but while I am on the subject of annoying coworker behaviors, here is a list:

• Personal friends at work who chat in offices/cubes for hours on end while others need them for a business reason. Taking this a step further, these people complain about how unfair it is for others to consider their personal friendship at work. Stop advertising it and maybe people will stop throwing it in your face.
  
• Snappy, grumpy women who cannot be approached for fear of pissing them off. I approach anyway because I welcome the opportunity to get snapped at (actually because I am too busy to wait for the mood elevators to kick in).
  
• Children. There is a never ending power struggle in my office between those with kids versus those who don't. Some with children use their children as excuses for particular schedules and those without don't want to have their lives impacted for someone else's kids. On the surface, it makes perfect sense but it's never that simple. Everyone has other responsibilities, however children are an easy target. At the same time, children should change your life, not your coworkers.


• Cell phones. Don't leave your cell phone at your desk, with the ringer louder than a fire engine. You may want to consider the music you have as a ringer, too. No one wants to hear the Rocky theme or "Baby Got Back" at top volume at work. Inappropriate or just plain stupid, both annoy your coworkers.


• People who don't take turns driving to seminars, lunches, etc. These people are first ones to ask who is driving or who can they go with, yet never offer to return the favor.

This is my quick list. Got any others?