March 27, 2009 at 6:35 am
People that feel it is necessary to describe their lives to everyone, in great detail, all day long.
I had one person that worked for me that would tell the same story to everyone she met. Not just once, but with minor revisions, each time she saw them throughout the day.
I once told her "Shut up, I've heard it 20 times already." She wasn't fazed, and continued retelling her tale even as I walked away.
Because of that experience I actually developed several interview questions to make sure I weed these type of people out early in the process.
I'll take team fit (someone I can work with) over technical prowess any day.
March 27, 2009 at 6:36 am
At a previous job, if you were in a meeting with this one person and you were asked a question by someone else and if you took more than a second before starting to reply she would repeat the question that was just asked and try to help you understand it. It was very frustrating since it wasted an absurd amount of time. I was in a meeting once where there were 3 people doing just that, one after another repeating the same question again and again for half an hour. I eventually walked out and got on with my day.
March 27, 2009 at 6:40 am
Ice chewing drives me up the wall. There's no one at my current employer who chews ice. I even ask prospective employers if any of my possible coworkers chews ice.
Another one is nail clipping. Yikes. That's personal hygiene. Do it at home.
:crazy:
March 27, 2009 at 6:48 am
Three main pet dislikes:-
I work in an open plan office & the noise is VERY distracting when trying to cut code or do any analysis work,
Agree with the hot office & dozing scenario, and finally
My boss likes to wander over for a meaningless chat & then blatantly reads the emails / docs, etc that are on my screen or whatever is on my desk irrespective what it is.........
March 27, 2009 at 6:49 am
I don't mind if you want to stop by and chat for a few minutes, or call if you have a problem, but one thing that really grates on me is Slow Talkers... You know who I'm talking about, people who take 30-40 seconds to get the words "Good Morning" out of their mouths. I can understand people working with a language barrier and folks with some sort of mental defect (I once knew a guy who had some degenerative disease where his entire body was slowing down), and am more patient with them, but it's the plain old regular folks who just can't either get the words out or if they do speak at a more normal pace, they never come to the point.
I once had a guy call with an error message in a dialog box. Took him 5 minutes to tell me this. It just took me 22 words to tell you (and that didn't include the time to actually read the message). On more than one occasion I had to stop him and ask him to please get to the point already.
-Luke.
March 27, 2009 at 6:50 am
I think I need to apologize, because you guys have hit all of my bad habits. I don't talk in the 3rd person or the coffee stuff, but drumming, singing, talking to myself, tapping, wow, I've been annoying people for years. Well, if you ask my family they'd say from birth:-D
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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March 27, 2009 at 6:50 am
I would say the biggest annoyance is people who use loud speakerphones. We have folks here who are two offices away and still call each other on their speakerphones with their doors open. The echo in the hall and open area can wake the dead.
Another is people who leave their cell phone on their desk, but have the volume set to "Outdoor" so they can run back and answer it if they are getting coffee. We used to have a guy here who did that and also had to have a different ringtone for each different caller. We called him "Lord of the Rings". Ha.
March 27, 2009 at 6:53 am
I have a guy in my office that when he eats anything his jaw clicks loudly, I just want to walk out until he has finished his sandwich. I then have another guy in here that eats all day long, starts his packed lunch at about 9:30am and does not seem to finish it until about 4. The guy with the clicking jaw also talks to himself while coding, I don't need to know that he is ijit. So to get over all this I put headphones on and listen to an ipod or an internet stream, I then get accused of being anti social. My intolerance lives on 🙂
March 27, 2009 at 6:53 am
SQL Analyst (3/27/2009)
My boss likes to wander over for a meaningless chat & then blatantly reads the emails / docs, etc that are on my screen or whatever is on my desk irrespective what it is.........
Windows Key + L - lock the screen. This may make you look guilty, but maybe the boss will get the hint as well.
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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March 27, 2009 at 7:14 am
Just a warning. Ice chewing frequently is a sign of iron deficiency. I found this out while recovering from colon cancer surgery. I was always craving and chewing ice.
A co-worker mentioned to me that I had an iron deficiency when she saw me chewing on ice. I was stunned when she told me how she knew.
Once they got my iron level back up the craving and chewing went away.
When you run into someone that does this explain this to them. It might help them out, or convince them your a nut and that they had better stay away from you.
Either way, problem solved.
March 27, 2009 at 7:16 am
I shared a cube wall with a person that didn't necessarily type as much as play the keyboard like a set of bongos - I swear it sounded like they were slapping the keyboard (a whole new meaning to 'banging out code' ). It sounds silly but I swear I could hear them type across the room.
I'll also vote for speakerphones, usually set to maximum volume. If they have people in their cube that need to hear the conversation, rock on. If they're alone in their cube and just too lazy to hold the phone to their ear, it's just annoying. Especially if it's a personal call.
March 27, 2009 at 7:23 am
I also have to jump on the speakerphone bit but from a different angle. I can't stand when people leave me on speakerphone, first because I don't know who else is privy to the conversation, but additionally because even in this day and age most speakerphones are really horrid. Either they pick up too much background noise, or too little of the speakers voice. The worst ones are the half duplex ones that won't let you talk and listen at the same time. When someone walks by behind the person your voice cuts out and you have to repeat yourself typically more than twice.
-Luke.
March 27, 2009 at 7:25 am
A quick top 10:
1 - clipping fingernails
2 - whistling a song that ends up getting in my head
3 - repeatedly clearing mucousy throat (go to restroom and spit!)
4 - long personal phone calls
5 - smelly meals (please don't microwave fish at work!)
6 - meals outside of mealtime (hate smelling popcorn midway through morning, before lunch)
7 - wanting to talk religion or politics
8 - whispering things in cube like nobody else can hear (it's a cube!)
9 - peers who try to manage you
10 - folks that take technical disagreements as personal insults and defend bad designs to the death to save the honor of future generations of their family
March 27, 2009 at 7:26 am
Loud talkers! There is one person in the department whose voice is about 10 dB too loud and it makes it difficult to concentrate sometimes (I sit next to his office). A few weeks ago he was sick and couldn't talk well...it was pure bliss!
March 27, 2009 at 7:29 am
Good ones. Number 5 reminds me of the Engineering Manager that decided to cook salmon in a toaster oven in his office. Building stunk for days...
Unfortunately number 10 reminds me all to much of me in my younger (and very insecure) days.
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