Though you’re likely to find many a true friend at the office, you’re also probably going to end up with some enemies. Like it or not, you’ll find genuine jerks in every part of life, and the workplace is no exception. They overload you with work. They take credit for your projects. And even the way they breathe annoys you. They can be a nightmare to be around!The r/AskReddit communityvented aboutthe most insufferable people that they’ve ever had the displeasure of working with, in a very frank thread. Honestly, these are the sorts of coworkers that nobody deserves to have. Scroll down to see just how bad things can get and to get a bit of perspective on how decent your own colleagues might be.Bored Pandagot in touch with the author of the viral post, and they agreed to share their thoughts about workplace issues, so long as they stayed anonymous. They explained that multiple coworkers had inspired their post. You’ll find our full interview with the redditor as you read on.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Though you’re likely to find many a true friend at the office, you’re also probably going to end up with some enemies. Like it or not, you’ll find genuine jerks in every part of life, and the workplace is no exception. They overload you with work. They take credit for your projects. And even the way they breathe annoys you. They can be a nightmare to be around!
The r/AskReddit communityvented aboutthe most insufferable people that they’ve ever had the displeasure of working with, in a very frank thread. Honestly, these are the sorts of coworkers that nobody deserves to have. Scroll down to see just how bad things can get and to get a bit of perspective on how decent your own colleagues might be.
Bored Pandagot in touch with the author of the viral post, and they agreed to share their thoughts about workplace issues, so long as they stayed anonymous. They explained that multiple coworkers had inspired their post. You’ll find our full interview with the redditor as you read on.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
At my old job, my boss would give me difficult projects from difficult clients. When I finished the project, she would go into the system and add her initials (whoever does the work has to initial after every step) and take off mine.Then she would go to her supervisor and be like, “Look what I did! Hehe!” And she would get all the credit. When I finally figured out she was doing that, I wouldn’t let her know when I was done, and I would personally submit my work to her supervisor.His mind was blown that I just “magically picked up the work so effortlessly,” and I got promoted lol.
The fact of the matter is that it’s very unlikely that you’ll like everyone at your company or even your department. Most likely, you’ll have a few folks you get along with fairly well or whoinspire you, a whole bunch of people you’re neutral toward, and then a handful of individuals you would love to see quit.They might be lazy, arrogant, or disrespectful. Or they might actively harass you or try to get you fired. Whatever the case might be, you need to solve the issue. Of course, you could always grow a thicker skin and ignore their attempts to sabotage your career, acting all zen-like. But it’s probably worth getting them to change their behavior or to tackle your mutual issues and find some sort of way to coexist, as professionals.
The fact of the matter is that it’s very unlikely that you’ll like everyone at your company or even your department. Most likely, you’ll have a few folks you get along with fairly well or whoinspire you, a whole bunch of people you’re neutral toward, and then a handful of individuals you would love to see quit.
They might be lazy, arrogant, or disrespectful. Or they might actively harass you or try to get you fired. Whatever the case might be, you need to solve the issue. Of course, you could always grow a thicker skin and ignore their attempts to sabotage your career, acting all zen-like. But it’s probably worth getting them to change their behavior or to tackle your mutual issues and find some sort of way to coexist, as professionals.
Craig. Bragged about how Christian him and his wife are, always doing good things through his church. Laid me off the day before my kidney biopsy ending my benefits. I was deathly ill, a single mom with a minor son at home to look after.
A gen-ed teacher who refused to acknowledge the ESL students in her second grade class.She would pretend to not understand the ones that were pretty much fluent in English. She never translated anything for the parents despite me showing her how to copy paste in Google translate. She ignored the adjusted grading scale for new immigrant non-English speaking students. She also refused to say their names correctly, instead using anglicized versions of their names (example: Juan became John).She never came back to work after spring break and nothing of value was lost.
They said that the manager “would scream at people and threaten them over the phone, all while taking no accountability for his shortcomings.”
Brian. Mother f***g Brian. Brian is an older dude -late 60’s at least. Very good ole boy mindset. Thinks his way is always right. Likes to talk about the China Virus. Tells people the equipment is just like a woman - you just have to fiddle with it to get it to work right.Fk Brian.
My new current 2 bosses. Both complete idiots. Both of them ask me questions that shouldn’t be asked to the lowest ranking employee in the group. They ask me how to run metrics, how to respond to clients, etc. I suspect they do this because my higher ranking teammates will judge them. This alone doesn’t make them as. What makes them as is they load me with a ton of work (enough for 5 people) and then complain to me that I’m not meeting metrics. I had no problems meeting metrics when I was under my old boss. If anything, I exceeded my metrics. If I get fired for this, I’m filling a wrong full termination suit. I have all the screenshots ready
We were curious to get the author’s thoughts on healthy workplace environments. They highlighted the importance of establishing a clear framework of rules and having all the most important policies in writing.
“Within that framework, managers should assess the talents of their workers to achieve the goal of the company, be it growth, employee retention, or making money,” the author of the thread noted that it’s very likely that all of these factors are going to be priorities.
My wife worked with Vivek Ramaswamy. She said he was an insufferable douchebag. Does that count?
Guy that I worked with on a cabinet door assembly line. One night we got done about 30min early and this guy throws a fit. How is he going to pay his bills if they send us home early ect ect. Two nights later we had to work about 45min late. This guy starts throwing a even bigger fit. No one helps us, whining we have to work overtime ect ect lol.
Dave.Dave is a guy who thinks he’s much smarter than he is. He’s been with the same company for 20 years and has worked his way up the ladder at a small company, where he now leads Operations.He’s a control freak and micromanager and this job is pretty much all he has in life. He will do anything and everything to block progress and innovation and will ruthlessly stab anyone in the back who gets in his way.Sometimes I have pity on Dave because this job is as good as it’s ever gonna get for him. I’m gonna leave this job soon and move on to better things, but Dave’s gonna be doing Dave things until a heart attack or kidney failure takes him out eventually.
According to the OP, being a good coworker “is simple.” From their perspective, quality colleagues will be punctual, show up on time, and keep gossip to a minimum. “However, if there are serious issues or incidents, write them down with specificity when you have a cool head,” the redditor urged employees to then take those concerns to the appropriate manager, along with all the documented evidence.“I’ve noticed recently younger coworkers tend to mouth off every frustration that crosses their minds,” they pointed out that there is a trend of “hair-trigger disparagement of other employees behind their backs.“They said: “Silence is golden. You learn that with maturity.”
According to the OP, being a good coworker “is simple.” From their perspective, quality colleagues will be punctual, show up on time, and keep gossip to a minimum. “However, if there are serious issues or incidents, write them down with specificity when you have a cool head,” the redditor urged employees to then take those concerns to the appropriate manager, along with all the documented evidence.
“I’ve noticed recently younger coworkers tend to mouth off every frustration that crosses their minds,” they pointed out that there is a trend of “hair-trigger disparagement of other employees behind their backs.”
They said: “Silence is golden. You learn that with maturity.”
David. When anyone went into David’s room, he would make them wait to speak to him, depending on how important they were. So his boss didn’t have to wait at all; his equals and his secretary would wait until he finished the sentence. I was the new start and sometimes I would wait ten minutes - and if I tried to leave, he would stop me and make me wait even longer. F**k you, David
I worked for a company that paid you for the mileage for using your own car. They found out someone was logging hundreds of hours a week unnecessarily to get paid. I logged my time, but cheated myself out of 11 miles (.23 cents per mile) due to inverted last two digits. The manager wrote it up, documented and sent it to the home office. Didn’t make any attempt to reimburse me.Same company. I was getting bonuses for being the top sales rep. every month. The manager fired the rest of the sales reps. Called the home office and told them I didn’t deserve the bonus, because there was no competition. He collected a bonus every month for keeping the hours low.
Sunshine - her name does not denote her.One of the most insufferable micromanagers I’ve ever had.I’m in tech and eventually was placed within a client’s office 5 days a week because they were big and needy. I had to be on a video call with Sunshine the entire time I was there. If one of the user’s there came up to me and I needed to go to their desk, if I didn’t let Sunshine know first, I’d get a “where were you? I needed you and you weren’t here” message. Every. Time.It got to the point where I started being very specific with where I was going. “Sunshine, I’m going to take a p**s. Hope it’s ok, be back in about 2 minutes if the dryer is slow in the bathroom”.So so so happy I quit that place
Obviously, good communication is the antidote to office suffering. Many people are unaware of how their actions affect those around them. And assuming that nobody’s a mind-reader in secret if there’s an issue, someone needs to bring it up. Politely, gently, in a friendly manner, yes. But you cannot let it fester. Or to put it bluntly, if your coworker is bothering you with their insufferable manner, talk to them about it and set some healthy, common sense boundaries.
However, you should never make it feel like you’re attacking your colleague. That’s why it’s so important to tackle problems immediately instead of bottling up all of your emotions until they come bursting out in a flood of anger.
I can think of three.Laura…insanely competitive with the nastiest attitude imaginable. She would throw anyone under the bus to get ahead. She also had no control over her emotions, often crying in the middle of the office and raising her voice to anyone who undermined her know it all personality. She still works at my company but in an unrelated department THANK GOD!Angela…perfectionist who made everyone’s life a living hell if things weren’t done to her liking. Rude, extremely critical and condescending. Acted like an angel in front of upper management but to contemporaries/lower ranking employees she was a nightmare. Insulted me and others many times…no longer work with her directly but still hate her.Christina…the worst of them all; power hungry manager I had several years back. Her demands were insane and she would belittle and scrutinize us under the guise of “elevating” our roles (needless to say this included a lot more work, stress and conveniently no more pay!). If you even sent an email she didn’t like she’d pull you into an office and berate you for “unprofessional behavior” or something to that effect. Luckily management disliked her difficult nature and several employees quit under her leadership and HR got involved due to some scathing exit interviews. She was on a work visa from another country and the company did not renew it.I work with some other difficult people but these three took the cake. Unimaginable how people could act this way.
Sierra. Sierra knew the answer to every single question, had better ideas than you, had done more than you had done, tried everything that you thought of, seen more a problems than you had, and just all around was an insufferable know-it-all. Everything had to be done exactly the way she wanted it to be done even if it didn’t need to be done that way, it still had to be done that way because that’s the way she wanted it. She micromanaged everyone around. I was so happy when she moved to a different job.
Linda. She threw a chair across the office after having an argument with another colleague as to who was working on a Saturday.
Folks who go on the defensive might hold a grudge or avoid changing just to spite you. If you explain how their behavior affects you and makes you feel and nicely ask them to make a small shift in their behavior, however, they’ll be more likely to take your side. Make it seem like a compromise even if you don’t want to. Your body language, tone of voice, and how you phrase your request all matter. The more professional you are, the better!Indeed suggestsactively listening to the other person’s perspective. Meanwhile, theHarvard Business Review advisesthat coworkers spend more time with the other person so that they can learn to work together, even if there’s mutual enmity between them at the moment.
Folks who go on the defensive might hold a grudge or avoid changing just to spite you. If you explain how their behavior affects you and makes you feel and nicely ask them to make a small shift in their behavior, however, they’ll be more likely to take your side. Make it seem like a compromise even if you don’t want to. Your body language, tone of voice, and how you phrase your request all matter. The more professional you are, the better!
Indeed suggestsactively listening to the other person’s perspective. Meanwhile, theHarvard Business Review advisesthat coworkers spend more time with the other person so that they can learn to work together, even if there’s mutual enmity between them at the moment.
He had pneumonia. Coughing up his lungs at his desk every day. Had over four hundred hours of sick leave but refused to use it. The woman across the cubicle wall from him was pregnant at the time and it was not something she wanted to be exposed to. Our management said they were powerless to make him stay home.
Matt, the new VP of operations decided that everything about our company needed to change, including undermining my role, essentially taking over my team, and started implementing these incredibly micro managing processes that nearly halved our productivity, then blamed it all on me. He then proceeded to place our junior as the team lead and left me on my own island. It really felt like he was trying to get me to leave and well, he got what he wanted. F**k you, Matt.
Don’t be surprised if not every single insufferable coworker is going to see the light. Some of them are going to trample all over your completely reasonable requests. In that case, it’s time to get someone to mediate the conflict. Talk to your human resources team or your direct supervisor about what’s happening. Try to stress the fact that your only goal is to solve the issue and move forward, not to punish the offending party. (Naturally, this works only with smaller offenses. If there’s genuine harassment going on, the person needs to be brought to justice.)If that fails to bear fruit, go higher up the corporate food chain. Barring that, seek legal help if there are pervasive issues and you find yourself in a thoroughly toxic workplace environment. Meanwhile, if every single colleague of yours seems to treat you like trash, it might be worth considering running toward greener pastures. Your mental, emotional, and physical health is worth far more than whatever they’re paying you.
Don’t be surprised if not every single insufferable coworker is going to see the light. Some of them are going to trample all over your completely reasonable requests. In that case, it’s time to get someone to mediate the conflict. Talk to your human resources team or your direct supervisor about what’s happening. Try to stress the fact that your only goal is to solve the issue and move forward, not to punish the offending party. (Naturally, this works only with smaller offenses. If there’s genuine harassment going on, the person needs to be brought to justice.)
If that fails to bear fruit, go higher up the corporate food chain. Barring that, seek legal help if there are pervasive issues and you find yourself in a thoroughly toxic workplace environment. Meanwhile, if every single colleague of yours seems to treat you like trash, it might be worth considering running toward greener pastures. Your mental, emotional, and physical health is worth far more than whatever they’re paying you.
Some white dude who said he was Native American almost every day for a year. He got his dna done. He wasn’t native.
Bill. Fg Bill. This is a bit of a rant because I kinda got going on this guy.This fg guy joins the crew and the first day I worked with him he said, “I don’t talk politics at work, I don’t talk st about people that aren’t around, and I don’t want to be in charge”. Immediately proves it to be all lies *the same fg day*.Ultra conservative and makes it everybody elses problem. I don’t give a st about working with folks that are conservative, what matters to me is if you’re a decent person. I know very staunch conservatives that are great to work with. Bill is not like that. Bill would literally start yelling at the mere mention of anything he viewed as liberal. I saw this guy fly into a rage, on the job site, because somebody mentioned Kamala Harris. Dude fg got in a shouting match with a homeowner over politics. Ya know, the guy that fg hired us to paint his house. He would try to start arguments with me all fg day. Dude would just yell “Let’s go Brandon” at least a half dozen times a day when that came out.This guy said to me one day, “ya know, slavery was good for black people because their descendants wound up being in America”. He thought that was some profound wisdom and I was a liberal idiot for saying it was nonsenseDude would st talk another painter so hard every day, to the boss and everybody else. I had to stand up for the guy constantly and even our boss got sick of it.Bill also had 30 years experience but was one of the worst painters I’ve ever seen. For context, we do high end residential jobs and pride ourselves on the quality and finish. Bill did not. He would caulk and paint over it immediately and it would always fail. He could not cut a straight line to save his life or he just didn’t give a st. On one job, I had almost a full 4 days just recaulking these tall as windows, 8ft step ladder required, and spot priming and repainting finished baseboard he clobbered with the much darker floor paint. He was also king of doing one coat and claiming it was two so he could brag about how fast he was.Bill almost burned a house down one day because he was dropping the embers of his cigarette into dead dry leaves on an exterior job. We left for lunch and came back to the cedar shingles burning like a bandit, another few minutes and it would have been beyond containing. Did he learn? Absofuckinglutely not.Bildo got a young guy he knew from a poker game hired. Bill was talking a ton of st at a game, new guy called him an idiot. 3 f*g months later Bill shows up univited, drunk, and mad to a game and crashes his truck into their porch and tries to fight the new guy. This particular stunt ended with him demanding our boss fire the new guy and getting fired himself.Dude was just the most insufferable miserable prick I’ve ever had the great displeasure to work with, hands down. *Fk that guy so hard.
Gretchen. Worked in a small office (5 people). To save money, I kept things to make a sandwich (bread, cheese, etc) in a designated drawer in the office fridge. Noticed these things would disappear, even though I didn’t need them. Finally saw the package in her trashcan and said something to her. She got really upset, went to the boss, had to have a sit down. “Gretchen was really offended you accused her of stealing your food.” Had to apologize to her directly. When sitting down with her, she said she got really upset because when she was a kid people would accuse her of stealing things all the time. That’s because you did, Gretchen!
Worked for a manager for about 6 years. In that time probably was told I was doing a good job a handful of times. I worked my butt off and always took his feedback to heart and tried to improve. He had an impossible expectation of perfection and never gave me anything above a good rating on annual reviews. I liked the company and people I worked with so I toughed it out. He eventually retired and since he left all of my reviews have been above expectations without any change in my work or attitude. I work just as efficiently as I did before but the new manager that was hired actually recognizes my work contributions.
See Also on Bored Panda
Incredible lazy guy, he had new excuses all the time be be away, relatives died, car stolen, train not moving etc. turned out all was just lies.
A guy had a crush on me and worded it weirdly to me that he was thinking of leaving his gf and kid for “someone else” literally describing that ‘someone’ with my hair color and personality traits. It was obviously me, we kind of flirted sometimes but I didn’t know he had a gf or a kid. He was 19 and had literally never brought them up in 5 months of knowing him… But I told him he should stay with his gf and kid, that would be terrible to tear the family up. And he was like “Yeah but it happened when we were so young, and we aren’t in love” etc etc. but I said no, you should stay with them. (plus I am in no way looking to get involved with someone with kids, at 18..) Shortly after a rumor started that I was trying to make him leave his family for me. The girl who worked in cosmetics was this massive goth mommy who started being mean and complained about me openly in front of our boss. Or just blatantly insulted me sometimes in group meetings. I think she came off worse than I did for that though. And generally my coworkers started all being awful. One of my coworkers who was new came up to me and told me she overheard him and he was the one spreading all the rumors and it confirmed to me it was all him. (I thought it could’ve been the goth girl too since she was a close family friend of theirs, hated me, and maybe saw us flirting ((which I stopped immediately after knowing he was super taken))). But yeah. Fk that guy. Poisoned like 5 coworkers against me. Maybe even my boss too, they were chatty.My boss was also insufferable though. One coworker would go “I C 10” to signal a hot girl so he could come and ogle her and flirt with her at the front… It was awful and obvious, and f***g creepy.
I worked with a girl who kept telling the manager that I confided with her that I didn’t like certain colleagues.She got me in trouble and what’s worse is I never said any of those things.I think she had problems with these people and she was trying to show the boss others didn’t like them either. I can’t tell if she was so stupid that she didn’t realise that I would get in trouble or if she was just a horrible person.
Rich: This sales guy that got promoted to mid manager back in 1992. I got laid off right after (coincidence?) and was actually glad to be done with that drunk, misogynistic, evil, lying prick.Got rehired in 1999 and he came up while catching up. Turned out he was a coke fiend at the time and got fired for blacking out at an intersection. His wife left him and took his kid.Told the person to point out the street he’s sleeping on so I can p**s on him.
Guy I worked with at a help desk. He was an absolute a*s to all his co-workers and his management. He literally shoved a manager once and didn’t get fired. He would bully and belittle anyone he felt was dumber than him (spoiler alert, this meant everyone). That didn’t get him fired either. People gave him cp once because he had like 9 kids. Went to HR and complained about that. We got told that we were not allowed to make fun of him at all for any reason. He continued to give us cp about everything. People on the team finally got sick of it and just froze him out. Refused to speak to him unless it was work related. He went to HR and complained about it being a hostile workplace. We got griped at about that. At least three different managers went to HR and tried to have him fired. HR wouldn’t fire him because he actually got widgets made. They claimed that him not getting along with anyone was not a valid reason to terminate an employee. Meanwhile he gaslit the living c**p out of anyone who would listen to him and other people in the company thought our team was filled with a–holes who just tormented this guy for no reason whatsoever. Management started doing anything they could to make the job uncomfortable for him hoping he’d quit and he went to HR every single time and got management yelled at every single time. Eventually he finally got tired of it and quit. Then he pretended we were all his best friends and talked about how much he missed his “work family.” I hate that guy so much.
I worked with an insufferable know it all that was an expert in everything, would repeat the same thing 20 times in a sentence. Would constantly say how right she was (even if she wasn’t) or a stream of “I told you so”. She couldn’t do anything wrong, always someone else’s fault.And she’d remind people that she never actually needed to work as her husband earned loads. Would constantly get newer items as things would “bore her”Nobody liked her, even cleaning sites would tell her to leave because of how full of s**t she is.
John. Fk John. He was my boss, never missed a day and thought nobody else should either. He was sick, came in and laid on the floor behind his desk. Huge snowstorm, walked to work though it took an hour. Then got pissed when I told him my car slid out of control going down a hill outside my subdivision but I managed to get turned around and go back home. Apparently I didn’t try hard enough. So many ways he was a total dk and just didn’t understand why he never got promoted. I was so glad when he finally left the company. Get f****d, John.
Walter. He was like the example of the worst human being. He was so fake at life and being a human. He treated his gf as a s"machine and would say about her parents"they let me f**k their daughter, they feed me, drive me to work and provide a house” how lucky did he have to get for that? Dude was homeless before that.
I’m working with him now. The guy is one of those who refuses to do the most basic parts of the job and then whines like a 5 year old when he gets called out on it. He’s great when you give him a project to do but then he uses that as an excuse to not do anything else he’s supposed to do. He’s also a one-upper and so freaking obsessed with himself he probably has sex like that scene in American Psycho where he does poses in the mirror. And last but not least the guy is a misogynistic asshat and racist. Unfortunately we’re always short staffed so he’ll probably never be fired. He keeps talking about finding a new job but with his attitude I doubt he’ll ever get hired anywhere.
Hunter. Embodies the manlet incel stereotype like he’s playing the part. Absolutely hates women like to the point you can’t bring up anything negative relating to your spouse without him chiming in something about them all being bihes 😒. He knows how to do next to nothing completely misrepresented his skills and experience during his interview so has to constantly rely on others for help with tasks or will deliver a string of excuses why he can’t do something. Constantly interjects himself in conversations he’s not needed or wanted in. And to top it all off he’s a transphobic, bigot, MAGAt who thinks the cases against the former president and his ilk are “a bunch of b****t”
I had a manager, who suffered from a major napoleon complex.I know he was going to be “special” when before the Fantasy Football competition someone made a joke about themed team names like Quarinteam. Of course he immediately signed up with Quarinteam as his team name, and only changed it after the pressure was put on him.If I ever asked anyone besides him a question (or even talked to anyone else) he would freak out. Got upset when others (including the ceo) would ask for my opinion, and asked me to clear it with him first. When I started bombarding him with the request I guess he sent me my job description, and asked if I fit it! The best part is it was the wrong job description.I also tried to transfer, and was given a lecture on how I was trying to undermine him. I got told saying “clear the calender” met I didn’t take him seriously. Oh yea, and I was an onsite employee and he was remote. As soon as I left he transferred departments, he undermined himself I guess. I could go on for pages about this d******d.
S. Would literally backstab you in daylight. Thought she was always right and needed to “help” everyone else. Condescending as f**k, but a political snake, so total a*s kisser. Caught her in several outright lies and falsified work that had to be redone or just wrong. Talked over everyone in meetings and always had to have the last word. Is now a people manager.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
Gabija Saveiskyte
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Rūta Zumbrickaitė
Work & Money
