'I looked him in the eye and said "that is not my job nor my problem"': 20+ Reasons these are the worst coworkers ever

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 18, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

We all have a favorite coworker and a least favorite one, and that least favorite one can make the workday go a lot slower. There are a lot of reasons why a coworker might get on your nerves. For some people, they get irritated at coworkers who are super messy, like one dude who apparently never cleans up any of his coffee mugs after his morning cup of joe. Instead, he just leaves them on his desk to grow mold. If no one else cleans that up, I guess it'll just sit there for ages. Gross! 

Other people have that infuriating type of coworker that is impossibly bad at their job. It seems like they cannot do a single thing right, and everyone around them has to take time out of their own projects to help this person. This tends to really stress out those around them, who aren't sure why they're working so hard while this employee just… isn't. Sometimes this person will complain so much about being asked to do their job that people will stop asking them to do stuff. 

Up next, this hotel receptionist was bemused by an influencer who kept insisting that he wanted "deals." 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10375482624
    via Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash
  • 02
    Who is your least favourite coworker and why?
    via u/devdevo1919
  • 03
    betneey The guy who cannot handle the slightest bit of pressure, why are you working in a very popular bar Friday and Saturday nights??? He'll blame everything that goes wrong on everyone else, he literally walked into me last weekend and spilt the drink he'd made on me, then started shouting about how it was my fault... For
    via u/betneey
  • 04
    being stood still, just picking. mint... It's like he's an only child that was never told "no" because he can't deal with even the slightest bit of criticism. I asked him to not dry his hands on the bar towels because I use them to polish glasses and I can't do that when they're wet, he proceeded to smash a bunch of about because he doesn't like that.
    via u/betneey
  • 05
    Me, the manager and the owner have spoken about this many times, only for nothing to happen. They both agree his attitude absolutely and something needs to change... And now he's being made supervisor. I'm handing my 2 week notice in on Friday.
    via u/betneey
  • 06
    Canadasaver Constant talker. Every second of every shift is talk, hum, sing, whistle. No one responds to her and everyone ignores her but it doesn't stop her gums from flapping. "Am I right?" followed by no one answering every single day.
    via u/Canadasaver
  • 07
    bo... The dude is the messiest person I've ever met (mold in old coffee cups on his desk messy).
    via u/bob_ross_happy_tree
  • 08
    Ro... I have a coworker that I'm generally friendly with and is an ok person, per se (like has never done anything bad to me personally)... BUT when he gets on a customer service call about something that has affected him, he is so to the poor agent. Like to the point that if I were on the receiving end of the call I'd
    via u/RockNRollMama
  • 09
    use the "sorry you're breaking up on me sir.. hello? HELLO?" line and hang the on him. It's made me look at him in a different light and now that I've seen him do it regularly i can barely stand him. You can't be nice to me and nasty to other people for no reason. I see through your fakeness.
    via u/RockNRollMama
  • 10
    TheyMakeMeWear... This is kind of generic, but... As a manager, whoever can't keep their together and makes me enforce the rules. Lots of rules exist because if they didn't would take advantage and nothing would get done. Many of those same rules can be completely ignored when you've got a team populated with responsible adults who
    via u/TheyMakeMeWearPants
  • 11
    are actually interested in doing a good job. My team is all salaried, and I deliberately do not track when they show up and when they leave. Are they getting their work done? Yes? Good. Do they show up for all the meetings they're supposed to? Yes? Good. Can I usually find them if I need to discuss something? etc.
    via u/TheyMakeMeWearPants
  • 12
    This only works when nobody is trying to take advantage of it. The moment someone gets it in their head that it means they can work fewer hours and get less stuff done because I'm not paying attention (I'm always paying attention, I just don't always care), now I have to pay attention and care about annoying things like what time they got to work this morning.
    via u/TheyMakeMeWearPants
  • 13
    jen... My coworker who constantly milks the clock and stands around doing nothing. I usually don't have to deal with him, but today was the final straw. Mother's Day. The busiest day of the year in the restaurant business. He comes in late, and is working the grill. I'm the baker so I don't even work
    via u/jennaleighlegge
  • 14
    near him. He tells the other guys on the line who are extremely busy that he doesn't have enough pancake batter (which is HIS responsibility to stock since he's making the pancakes) and proceeds to take a 30 minute break before we open. He wasn't even there an hour. Then he comes up to me and asks me to make the pancake batter for him
    via u/jennaleighlegge
  • 15
    because he's super busy. I looked him in the eye and said "that is not my job nor my problem. You decided to take a 30 minute break knowing you didn't have any pancake batter. Make it yourself, I've got things to do." He shut up and made the pancake batter lol
    via u/jennaleighlegge
  • 16
    Homiehomemrow... I feel bad saying this because this girl is not malicious in any way... But my coworker never, ever ever stops talking. She is really into anime (not judging that, but it's not my thing) and she will spend literally hours detailing all the characters and episodes of her shows. She is also writing a fantasy book (nothing has been actually
    via u/Homiehomemrowess
  • 17
    written of course) and spends entire 9 hour shifts detailing the ridiculous and unoriginal storyline. Now, you might say I must be encouraging this in some way. But when she does this, I literally do not acknowledge, reply, nod my head, or let her know I'm listening in any way. I will continue to work and even just walk out of the room without saying anything, and
    via u/Homiehomemrowess
  • 18
    she'll start right back up as soon as I'm back! I've asked for quiet, said I need to concentrate so I can't really listen to her right now, I've tried everything short of straight up telling her to button her yap. she still hasn't shut up for a single minute. If I tell the manager I will look like a huge
    via u/Homiehomemrowess
  • 19
    [de... He is a insecure twerp who talks to everyone like he is in charge of the whole operation. In reality, he's seems to me to have very low average intelligence. The quality of his work is completely sub par, and he loves to stir up drama whenever possible. I could go on forever:
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    He lied about accidentally starting a fire at work and asked me to cover for him. While at the same time berating other staff for not being careful about putting their cigarettes out. Every task given to him is accompanied by prolonged and audible groaning. Literally for the entire length of the task. He makes sure you know he's unhappy.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 21
    He listens to his own music in the office very loudly and hums and taps his feet loudly to the best of the music. When someone asks him to turn it down, he then storms off to another group of people to talk how much the person about In a group of talented professionals, he is by far the least talented, least educated, and least willing to learn. When someone
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    gives him advice or direction, his response is literally just silence. He refuses to help himself with anything. He asks for help with things as easy as looking up an address or getting driving directions. He made up his own job title, "lead designer" and put it in his email signature. We have a clear and recognized "lead designer" already. It
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    makes about as much sense as me putting POTUS in my email signature. It's pure delusion. After writing this, I now thing he is probably mentally ill or dysfunctional at some level. this guy. Even so,
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    He doesn't get fired because we're too nice to do anything about this and it's a small business. We don't have an HR Dept or any way to sort this out. We all just live in misery with this dude.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 25
    E:. He is also the worst one upper I've ever seen. And sometimes there's a twist. He will sometimes one up you by simply not responding to your story after he's told his. He'll literally walk away from you! as if you said nothing, as long as he got his story out.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 26
    PotatoPotahto He's the pushy, tricky salesman. He will tell you something that, while technically true, would hurt you and help him more in the long run, and he does it without blinking. He rubs how good of a salesman he is in our faces while most of us know that his sales are
    via u/PotatoPotahto
  • 27
    TRIGMILLION The ones that never learned to use an inside voice. I shouldn't be able to hear everything you say from the moment you walk in on the other side of the building. These are also the same ones that laugh uproariously at everything for no reason.
    via u/TRIGMILLION
  • 28
    Dr_King_Schultz John. He smells.
    via u/Dr_King_Schultz
  • 29
    Joelovesfood This guy Nathan. We all do things we aren't really supposed to at work like be on our phones browsing reddit or maybe take an extra 5 minutes on our break. You know harmless • Every time Nathan saw me do something he reported it. you you Nathan
    via u/Joelovesfood
  • 30
    thr... We work in a fairly low-level, low-training position. Not complicated. But as far as she's concerned, it's rocket science. She's been on the job for a year now and is still asking day 1 questions, and making day 1 mistakes every single day. The rest of the team spends almost as much time cleaning up after her as we do on our own work. I'm
    via u/throwaway1243592223
  • 31
    always apologizing to customers on her behalf. My boss put her on the most brainless, mechanical duty and she still manages to up. She's like a program -- the moment any situation comes up which she was not specifically programmed for, and I do mean ANY situation, such as a piece of information being in a different box than usual, her brain shorts out.
    via u/throwaway1243592223
  • 32
    She has changed my opinion on the phrase "there are no stupid questions." She has this way of breathing in sharply whenever she's about to ask something. Every time I hear that sound a shudder runs down my spine.
    via u/throwaway1243592223
  • 33
    RyanD I recently got overruled and had to hire a guy I didn't want to. Lucky for us he knows everything there is to know. About everything. Ever. It's a real training him. Especially joy because we hired two and the other is the sweetest old lady in the world who just wants to learn from me. It makes my day when dude #1
    via u/RyanD*****
  • 34
    incorrectly corrects me in front of her. I find myself day dreaming that ceiling tiles might fall on him. Or how sweet it would be to swiftly rip my keyboard from my desk and hit him in his smug head with it.
    via u/RyanD*****
  • 35
    [deleted] Cory. That's not her real name. She has terrible hygiene and constantly smells like an Italian sub
    via u/[deleted]
  • 36
    • When things don't go her way with a sale she turns into an enormous • For some reason, she thinks she's a great singer, despite me telling her (when she asked) that she's always off tune. This does not stop her from singing loudly with customers in the store.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 37
    . Constantly brings up to my customers mid conversation how hard whatever she's doing in her life is. • She practically yells when she talks. God, I hate her.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 38
    itsbayr The new guy. I don't hate him or particularly dislike him, but the first time we met as a whole team (we work separately in different locations) he said something about agreeing that women were baby making machines.
    via u/itsbayr
  • 39
    I'm not one that enjoys arguing feminism (especially during work meetings), but we were like "wait, what?" And he said "my mum was a single mother, it's ok" What's ok? You weren't the single mother. Why don't you tell your single mum that she was just a baby making machine and see how she responds. I don't know if he
    via u/itsbayr
  • 40
    was actually joking or being. sarcastic, but for now he is my least favourite.
    via u/itsbayr
  • 41
    meganovaa I have a coworker who blows his nose exactly once per day, always at lunchtime. That doesn't sound so bad but I should mention that it sounds like a mix between an incredibly loud duck quacking and a foghorn. It comes out of nowhere and scares the out of me every single time.
    via u/meganovaa
  • 42
    PrettyButEmpty The woman who will put so more effort into the mental gymnastics it takes to explain why something isn't her job than it would take to actually JUST DO the thing I'm asking her to do.
    via u/PrettyButEmpty
  • 43
    [deleted] I have a co-worker that just does the bare minimum and puts no effort into learning. It drives me nuts, why can't you learn the basics and why is management keeping you around! What is the value in keeping someone employed when they bad mouth the company, can't use google and always have an excuse?
    via u/[deleted]
  • 44
    sanxui A coworker that comments loudly everything. "Oh its laggy" I i'm so cool another contract" etc can you answer me"
    via u/sanxui

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

boss workplace-stories jobs job bosses work coworkers workplace
Scroll Down For The Next Article