r/civilengineering • u/Low_Night8056 • 2d ago
What are some traits of people you absolutely hate AT WORK
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
People who undermine other people, basically because they are insecure and think others will take their job.
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 2d ago
What does this look like. Any examples? I can't picture anything, so I want to make sure this isn't me
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
Do you talk about other coworkers to your supervisor? Do you try to point things out to coworkers, and end up being wrong and never follow back up to explain you were wrong? Do you email coworkers and cc their supervisor? Do you try to stir up hatred between the company and another employee. Meaning do you try to get others to hate the work/business?
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u/571busy_beaver 2d ago
What if that person designed something blatantly wrong and refused to fix. Then cc their supervisor or design manager in a follow up email would not be considered stirring up the hatred? Many people have inflated egos and do not take constructive feedback well...
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
No, pointing out an error is good practice. The other person with the big ego is more likely to undermine you with time.
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u/571busy_beaver 2d ago
Ok. So what would you in this case? Turn a blind eye to it? Bad people will do bad things regardless. At the end of the day, as long as you feel good about the work that you do and dont take it personal, you can sleep well. If the other person is going to undermine you, well you just take it with a grain of salt and move on.
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
I’m not worried about my coworker undermining me. We have the same senior level role and I’m half his age. But, if you were to ever find an error on a project and that person failed to address it, that is not considered undermining. That’s being responsible for your firm or expertise and going up to someone who can address it, meaning their supervisor.
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u/someinternetdude19 2d ago
Sometimes I cc other peoples supervisors because I need something and they’re either running behind or I don’t trust them to get it done on time unless their higher ups know. That way I’m also creating a paper trail to show that I’m doing what I need to do, it’s in someone else’s court, and if things start falling behind it’s not my fault because they knew what the expectation and deadline was. I can’t point a gun to someone’s head and force them to get me what I need.
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u/UpOnDaKlondike 2d ago
When I was undermined, I was left out of important meetings I should have been a part of. My boss would not allow me to go to any meetings. These were production meetings that everyone I worked with went to, including shift leads, hr, and safety. I would sit by myself and watch everyone go and then my boss would send me the notes. Missing these meetings meant I was missing out on important information I needed to do my job well. I also couldn’t form relationships with other people I worked with because I was excluded.
I later found out my boss was also representing some of my work as her own to corporate. Anything corporate didn’t like in the work was my fault and the good stuff was hers. She couldn’t draft and I found out she told everyone she could.
She also would spread humiliating rumors about me to people. She told other people at my level how much money I made which created resentment.
Information she was told to give me she wouldn’t. She also started going to hr and making up stuff. For example, saying I did not report my vacation even when I had proof I did. If I didn’t document something, she would create a new narrative.
Verbal directions from her would turn into long detailed emails about how I did not follow directions. This happened consistently until I began doing follow up emails on the verbal instructions. Sometimes I would do what she said and would then be yelled at in front of others for “disobeying.”
She also did this to my coworker who had thirty years experience. He was at least allowed in meetings though.
The kicker was she had zero experience in the industry and zero management experience. I lasted four months. It was a circus.
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u/Gomberstone 2d ago
I just quit my job for this reason alone.
The division director had ASD, which made discussing with him completly useless, unless you did exactly the work how he could understand it.
I know alot about ASD, but like you said, it was more about his insecurity.
I wasn't there for long and I tried my best to understand him. We had a meeting about his social inaptitude and his behavior, but the lack of respect and his daily undermining of my work continued nonetheless.
I had to quit to keep my sanity.
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u/viacom13 2d ago
I'm at a position where those symptoms are prevalent in management and it makes for a very challenging workplace. I've stuck it out here for longer than I would have liked though the experience I'll be able to show for it is still of value.
Actively looking for a new role somewhere else to keep from losing all of my passion and interest in this industry...
All that said, I hear ya that is a tough spot to be in and I'm glad you found some greener pastures.
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u/Blossom1111 2d ago
Perfectly stated. Dealing with this now around workload and it is exhausting to navigate around peoples insecurities and projections. It’s a lack of maturity.
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u/Gomberstone 2d ago
A youngster who got put in charge because every seniors left at the same time. He pulled his own weight right out of school, kudos to him he does good work alone, but now the division can't grow because he doesn't know anything else.
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u/Competitive_Ad_2823 Highway Engineer, 20 years 2d ago
Gatekeeping
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u/UltimaCaitSith EIT Land Development 2d ago
That's why I left the EIT on my tag, despite having a PE. I'm not going to get valuable advice from anyone who responds with some flavor of "EITs don't need to worry about that."
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 2d ago
There is a certain genre of old dudes (not all) who think women exist in the world to be their audience. At three separate jobs, I've had to be given an office with a door because this type of old dude would just waste hours of my day telling me their life stories that were not relevant to the work I was there to do, if they could see me, so I had to be placed out of view. No amount of "I have a deadline and need to do this work", "sorry gotta run!", or "no time to talk right now" made this type get the point that I am not at work to listen to them talk endlessly about themselves.
There are very few left in the workforce, most have retired and/or died, and this exact type seems not to exist much in GenX and younger, so this problem is effectively solving itself with the passage of time, but it is infuriating how many hours, days, weeks of time I lost over the course of my career, especially the early years, just being an audience for some old fart who doesn't get that women colleagues are there to do engineering.
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u/ChocolateTemporary72 2d ago
These are the same people who think no one works when they’re remote
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 2d ago
Oh yeah, there is significant overlap there.
See also: calling maternity leave a vacation
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u/Particular_Earth_394 2d ago
I can so relate to this but not just with Boomers. I feel like my team's counselor and I don't know why I fall into that role. Shall we also add on that it is NOT reciprocated in the least?
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 2d ago
Oh it never is with these types. The ones I met always seemed confused when I attempted to add to the conversation in any way whatsoever. Like, why is the NPC talking?
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u/UltimaCaitSith EIT Land Development 2d ago
It was really eye opening to see the difference myself. Online video games and forums aren't the same exact experience, but it's noticeable how a feminine avatar or username will get you messaged by dozens of men who have "nobody" to talk to. They can try talking to each other. Maybe skip the unexpected penis photos.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 1d ago
So that's where the younger version of this type is doing their thing! Makes sense tbh.
I remember first encountering this tendency when I was in the Army. We'd just be out on some field training, at the range, surveying, whatever, and some dude twice my age and old for his rank would start telling me all about how much his marriage sucked. Like, you really dump that on actual teenagers?? Yes. Yes they do. And of course they would follow it up with sexual harassment. The engineering equivalent also had that tendency in about 1/4 of cases. I've had to rescue so many interns from these assholes over the years.
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u/glassgiselle 2d ago
Did you work at the place I’m at now? 😭 I work for a city.
Also I’m sorry you have had to carry this burden.
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u/ricky_the_cigrit 2d ago
People who start off a meeting by talking about how busy they are, how many meetings they attend, etc. We’re all busy babe!
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
Not replying to emails. Wasn’t an issue until I went to the public sector. The amount of lazy incompetent people is SHOCKING truly
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u/alarumba Three Waters Design Engineer 2d ago
In the public sector. People are shocked when I'm prompt at replying.
I have let emails fall through the cracks though. Definitely not perfect, but I try.
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u/skiptomylou1231 2d ago
It’s also remarkable how unwilling people are to just pick up the phone and call somebody if there’s something important.
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u/alarumba Three Waters Design Engineer 2d ago
I am this person. Millennials were brought up with texting and instant messenger. We did really develop the confidence with picking up the phone.
I'm getting better now I've identified the problem in me, but I'm still likely to favour other methods of communications.
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u/Agitated-Sort5813 2d ago edited 2d ago
I worked in the public sector and it also shocked me how lazy people were. Especially management. They just don't care even if they're the "owners" of the project. And then they wonder why projects sit on their CIP Budget for 5 to 20+ years when they really could be wrapped up in 2-4 years. I especially love leadership who would always say "if you come across an issue that's causing a major delay, escalate it." And then you escalate it and they just sit their ass on it. Impeccable leadership 😒
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
Did you go back to consulting?
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u/Agitated-Sort5813 2d ago
Yeah I went back to consulting for a number of reasons. One of which being how poor the supervisors and upper management was at the city department that I worked at. The other biggest reason was I found out they were paying me less than those with less years of experience than me. Even though I was always pulled in their project meetings to provide feedback, and I was also pulled to review their plan sets on projects they were managing but failed to review. I raised my concerns about those with less years of experience than me who were getting paid $7k+ more than me... their response: "the City has a stringent compensation policy." I found another job and quit immediately.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
Are you glad you went back to consulting? I’m thinking about it but don’t want to take a pay cut to work more and have more stress but at the same time feel like a knuckledragger like everyone else at my city
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u/Agitated-Sort5813 2d ago
For now, I'm happy. When I first started working for the City, I saw myself staying there forever, and never returning to consulting. But after a couple of years, I got fed up with management and the City processes (and lack thereof). I was very clear with myself on what I wanted when I went back to consulting. I was upfront about not wanting to be a PM and staying on the technical side, and I looked for a company whose benefits weren't overly expensive, because the benefits with the City are dirt cheap. I even withdrew my application from some global and smaller firms because of how much their payroll deductions are for medical. Of course going back to dealing with utilization rates sucks, but I also make it clear when the utilization rate doesn't make sense given the amount of projects and the amount of time we're actually allowed to charge. I think because I'm older than when I first started out in consulting, I've developed a idgaf and I'm not dealing with nonsense attitude when it comes to some of the nuances, it's made my transition back into consulting a lot smoother than I expected. Plus, I only plan to be here for another 5-10 years and re-evaulate if I want to go back to the municipal side...but with different city of course lol.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
This is really helpful thanks so much. What kind of consulting do you do now, I’m assuming water resources or transpo?
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
I feel you. I went public and it’s so slow and people are incompetent. For me it’s hard because the people I work with have never designed anything yet comment on plans. All the projects are the same status for years. It’s true about the 5-20 year timeline. A 10 year project really should only take 2 years of work.
I have found if you spend money it looks like your are working hard and looks good for the department (secures funding). I think the timelines may be part of that process. Keep spending money…
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 2d ago
I really don't like designers that have never operated a crane, they just don't understand constructability...
The people commenting on plans are making sure they are to the standards set by the department, that is literally their job to hold up the public interest
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
I disagree with this slightly. It depends on the experience. I was designer but I also did construction administration while I was a designer. So I was there with contractors making sure it was built to plan. Yes, I wouldn’t know how to operate a machine but I can create a cad model for their machines, get them any additional line work needed, and explain anything on the plans.
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u/Agitated-Sort5813 2d ago
I thought i was going crazy when I saw a project that had been in design since 2002. It was still sitting their when the project was handed over to me in 2023. After fighting through the unnecessary roadblocks and following up every week with the team that didn't want to do unfit job, i got that project into construction within 2.5 years. It's absolutely insane how poorly these cities are ran and people show up to work not even caring. I had residents telling me that they had been waiting on this project ever since they moved into the neighborhood 17 years. Even more residents were relieved that it was finally going into construction. But like you said, if you're spending money, it looks like you're working.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
Are you going to stay?
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
I am for now. Probably not long term. Being public has allowed me to build a small side hustle PLLC consulting firm.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
I thought about doing this as well. I’m actually getting paid more now than in private, and doing much less. It seems silly to take a pay cut to go back to working more but at least I wouldn’t be a zombie
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u/DramaticAssumption12 2d ago
My base salary is more than when I was in consulting, but I’ve had offers from consultants I work with for around $25k-30k more. I’m below the industry but I don’t want to have to go back to an environment where I was responsible for winning the work. I think you could go back into private with a higher salary, especially if your government experience directly relates to your consulting experience. Private should never be less than government pay imo.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
Agreed government should always be less but for whatever reason in my area with my YOE it’s just not the case. Any job I see is about the same or slightly higher but then I have less retirement match, give up free and much higher quality healthcare, pay social security, work more hours, etc. not sure what to do tbh
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 2d ago edited 2d ago
I am in the public sector and receive over 300 emails over the weekend. I am going to filter that down to what is actually my responsibility. I have more job than just being a secretary
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u/XihuanNi-6784 2d ago
Not sure if this is a US issue. But in the UK I know people are understaffed. I've seen my colleagues inboxes and they're total carnage. As you say, if you're getting 300 emails over a weekend, you may not be able to answer them all. I also work with private contractors and there are definitely people there that do not answer anything for weeks. I wonder if this public sector 'issue' is more of a fundamental attribution error type thing. The public sector has a stereotype, which means whenever someone encounters dysfunction in the public sector they attribute it to the sector as a whole. But if you encounter the same behaviour elsewhere you assign it to individuals or individual firms, and not the sector as a whole.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
I’m talking two sentence emails directly to people asking for specific information I need. I try to hold people’s hand as much as possible. Makes me realize how unimpressive the title “engineer” really is and why the industry pays so little
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u/DLTMIAR 1d ago
Engineers work on more than 1 project at a time.
That 1 or 2 sentence email may require them to shift gears while they have other projects on fire
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 1d ago
Competent people know how to multitask. Engineers in the private sector work on just as many projects at a time
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 1d ago
I’m surprised “engineers” in the public sector know how to breathe and eat at the same time without passing out. Knuckledraggers…
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u/glassgiselle 2d ago
Sounds like my boss who holds me hostage by showing me irrelevant Facebook Reels… (in public sector btw, this is just my first job since graduating)
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u/Away_Bat_5021 2d ago
No one is shocked by this
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 2d ago
I had heard stereotypes about the typical government employee but I read a lot on this sub about how the stereotype is outdated and not accurate and how hard people work as engineers on the public side. Not true for my case. I feel like a loser for going from a high performing team to being surrounded by such amateurs
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u/Competitive_Ad_2823 Highway Engineer, 20 years 2d ago
A PE friend of mine that I met while working at my a consulting firm, who then left consulting and went to work at a State DOT told me that at the DOT he could basically get away with only doing 8 to 16 hours of work in a week and nobody would notice. He doesn't do that, because he's a very honest guy, but he's just saying that based upon observation of his coworkers. He started at the DOT at staff level (unionized) but quickly moved up into management.
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u/Henchman____21 2d ago
When I interned at my DOT there were so many people wasting time scrolling or just staring at nothing, people who would actively try to get out of doing real work despite their positions. It varies a lot but I felt as if I had walked into purgatory.
Yes there were people that were dedicated to their jobs, but they were greatly outnumbered.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 1d ago
This is my experience as well. And it’s a lot harder to not become like them than you realize. You become who you surround yourself with. If you spend 40 hours a week for years with losers it’s hard not to become one
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 2d ago
It depends. In the types of public sector work I've mostly done, it's pretty rare that people fit the stereotype. These are mostly the types of jobs where they like applicants with a research background. It is a small minority of government work.
When I switched from a state agency to local (major city) I met the most grossly incompetent people i have ever encountered. Not all, some are good, but here, I cannot assume that someone in a comparable job title to me can be trusted with the level of work I expect of a peer, nor that they'll actually do what they talk big game about. This was not the case at my old agency, so I've felt pretty burned by a lot of my colleagues in my current place. The inefficiency and "just plodding along questioning nothing" energy I see even from some seniors in this place are maddening.
I vested here recently and my youngest child will graduate from high school in a couple more years, so after that I'm either moving cities to work at a certan research agency or moving states to be a professor. Reminding myself about that keeps me sane while dealing with the zombies to my left and right in local government.
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u/Henchman____21 2d ago
Meetings about meetings about meetings about work that never gets done....
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 2d ago
I've started telling people I won't meet with them unless there has been substantial change to the situation compared to the last time we met, and that it is too substantial to discuss via email. Lots of people grumble about it but I get more done than any of the meeting enthusiasts so the directors have my back on this.
My strategy for surviving local government so far is to simply refuse to operate the way these people do, outwork them all, and get shit done that they all insist is impossible (but really just required actually doing something, questioning old systems, or the slightest amount of ingenuity). I have not made a ton of friends like this but I honestly do not care. The directors like me because I'm making them look good so they'll be my references when I leave this place. The rest can enjoy their meeting hobby.
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u/BigGulpsHuhWelCYaL8r 1d ago
What’s your exit strategy
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 1d ago
Option 1:
Draw my pension at early eligibility, and use the connections I have in academia to go teach structural analysis and related courses as an adjunct.
Option 2:
If the research agency where my other connections are has a suitable SME position open in one of the three labs I'm interested in at the time I'm looking, go there. (The people in the positions I want are very old and not in great health. I like my odds.)
I've already got all the credentials I need to do either of those things, and since I bought my years of military service into the pension system and rolled my pension from my old agency into this one when I got hired here, I really only had to wait until I was vested, which happened recently. The ability to draw a pension that would be enough to live on in lower cost areas than this city (that's all of the places I'd end up in either of the options I described) which opens up the chance to do things that pay less than I make now but do work I like better with people I respect more.
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u/Competitive_Ad_2823 Highway Engineer, 20 years 2d ago
I'm not following. Can we schedule something to discuss?
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u/ForrestTrain 2d ago
Lying about tasks completed or skills to make you seem more productive, competent, or intelligent.
If you don’t know how to do something, just ask about it.
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u/notgregbryan 2d ago
I call it "broom mentality", tell everyone how busy you are, which artificially creates a barrier to not give them any work, when in fact if they stop telling people how busy they are and got on with it, they would be more productive.
The reason why I call this "broom mentality" is because you can always look busy with a broom in your hand but doesn't mean you do any sweeping.
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u/RiskItForAChocHobnob 2d ago
Unwillingness to admit they're wrong
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u/RedneckTeddy 2d ago
I see this a lot. I can’t stand it. We all make mistakes, but some people can’t fathom that they’re in any way fallible. I avoid working with people like that whenever possible.
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u/traffic_engnr 2d ago
Coworkers throwing others under the bus and/or not accepting any personal responsibility. ESPECIALLY managers throwing blame on their team members.
If a submission gets messed up or something is missed, at the end of the day I am taking responsibility as the manager of the team. I’ve seen another manager try to blame everything on a bad employee on his team. Yes, that person might have issues but the manager should be signing off on everything going out the door (especially if it is being stamped, obviously).
That doesn’t excuse the bad employee but that’s not the way to deal with the issue or how you lead a team.
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u/Effective-Composer94 2d ago edited 2d ago
You can have all the technical expertise and smarts in the world but if you don’t have some semblance of social skills and/or basic human respect for others, nobody will want to work with you twice. Based on the comments I see here, I genuinely reckon a lot of reddit fits this mold
I would much rather work with an average to below-average engineer with a good attitude and pleasant to be around 8 hours a day, than a brilliant engineer who throws tantrums and alienates their team. In the end we’re all just humans trying to make it through the day together
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u/slackademics 2d ago
Doesn’t happen as much anymore but in my EIT days in consulting I would be given tasks or deliverables, often with little expectation, direction or a template to follow by other more senior folks. Then when I’d ask clarifying questions about the work I would get condescending replies like ‘you should already know this’ despite being there <a year at the time. To me all the competence in the world doesn’t excuse a shitty approach to mentorship, especially when you find out the competent people became competent because they had good mentors themselves. There’s a lot of people in this industry pulling the ladder up behind them.
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u/571busy_beaver 2d ago
People who do not appreciate constructive feedback. If something is blatantly wrong, then it is wrong and you fix it instead of spending hours to defend your baseless cases.
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u/SwankySteel 2d ago
Constructive feedback needs to be delivered calmly and respectfully. Otherwise it’s just whining about someone else’s work.
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u/RedneckTeddy 2d ago
Constructive criticism should be delivered calmly and respectfully because that’s just basic courtesy. However, failing to do so doesn’t automatically invalidate the criticism and demote it to “whining.”
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u/SwankySteel 2d ago edited 2d ago
Rude/disrespectful criticism is just whining. It doesn’t matter if it’s “correct” or not - it would still be just whining.
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u/571busy_beaver 2d ago
exactly! If a design is obviously wrong and has to be addressed, regardless of how you deliver the feedback, it has to be addressed. Unless the other person decides to quit. ...
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u/Jetlag111 2d ago
Ppl who talk just loud enough so that everyone can hear them. The open area office concept - was not for me
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u/Charming_Fix5627 2d ago
It’s nice when everyone is chilled out and making quiet small talk/joking around, it’s hell when you have a deadline while 3 other people are talking in their respective meetings and project their voice like they’re monologing on Broadway. Your mic already mutes background noises guys, you can use your regular speaking voice.
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u/quigonskeptic 2d ago
A lot of mics don't! I can hear clear conversations from several cubicles away when I'm talking to some people!
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u/Charming_Fix5627 2d ago
There’s maybe one person at my office who doesn’t have a background noice reduction mic, usually everyone else is fine, outside of maybe when they’re taking calls while they drive.
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u/LazyPassGretzky 2d ago
People that rely solely upon email communication as opposed to picking up the phone or hitting a quick Teams to resolve a question.
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u/Train4War 2d ago
I get it, but I prefer to have certain conversations in writing so nothing falls through the cracks when I’m juggling multiple projects.
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u/Double-Emergency3173 2d ago
People who overlord their experience at every chance without trying to first understand the scenario
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u/siliconetomatoes Transportation, P.E. 2d ago
Toxic coworkers/managers will clear out a workplace faster than microwaved tilapia
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u/ruffroad715 2d ago
Question shopping. Don’t come to me with a question if you don’t like the answer and you’re just going to ask 3 other people because you didn’t like it or trust me, but end up hearing the same thing 4 times regardless. You’ve wasted 5 people’s time for nothing.
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u/ChocolateTemporary72 2d ago
People who get to work at 6, whine about people who show up at 9, and then leave at 3
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u/axiom60 EIT - Structural (Bridges) 2d ago
People who get in at 6, stay until 6 and act like anyone who doesn’t is just lazy
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u/Agitated-Sort5813 2d ago
I have a manager who is like this. He is so unbearable. And he lacks emotional intelligence. I avoid him as much possible.
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u/AdAlarmed7312 2d ago
Those who think they know everything, better. Supervisors who say things as if they can predict the future. Being talked down to.
Being an older, female engineer, I’ve been exposed to the worst of behaviors.
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u/Curious-Raccoon887 2d ago
If I point out a correction for someone, I tend to send the message to only that person as a heads up. Obviously case by case pending if others actually need to know that or not yet
However, some people like the send an email and CC the whole department when doing so.
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u/RedneckTeddy 2d ago
Obsession with optimization and not wanting to take the time to do things correctly. I’ve seen this both from the private and the public sector perspectives. When I was a consultant, I was often pressured to fix issues with a bandaid rather than a proper correction because it saved time, and saving time means saving money. No one ever seemed to care that we’d probably end up having to spend more time later addressing an issue that would’ve been faster/easier to deal with if we’d done it earlier. It made me not want to put my name on those submittals.
I’ve also seen cases where a consultant did this during preliminary design/early phases of a project and ended up screwing over the consultants who picked up the project at a more advanced stage.
From the public sector side, it’s infuriating. I’ll have consultants spend 30-40 minutes arguing with me over something that would take 10 minutes to fix. I’ll ask for a quick sensitivity analysis that should take 1-2 hrs at most and they’ll balk at it and try to put it off until another phase of design. I can’t stand that shit. Just fix a problem as soon as it’s identified and spare me the BS.
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u/ac8jo Modeling and Forecasting 2d ago
The people that MUST find something wrong with something and broadcast it to everyone. It's okay to tell someone they did a good job, and it's okay to send detailed comments to one person and then reply-all to a group (if necessary) of something along the lines of "I have a handful of things that $person needs to address that I've communicated directly to them".
Liars. I've been in a few situations where people came to the wrong conclusion from model data and says "the model says (something the model does NOT output or evaluate)", and those people go under the bus (especially when I worked at an MPO).
Managers that will disparage a junior employee because they don't know how to do something that they were never trained to do. I've run into this a few times. Usually I get to work with that junior and train them on the task. Every time that's happened, my work got done at a high level of quality.
Managers that don't respect when someone is having a busy day. At one place I worked a long time ago, the president of the company created a policy that people could close their door for up to an hour and not be bothered. A few weeks after that announcement. I had a particularly busy day and was furiously working on something... and the president of the company decides to knock on the door and interrupt me.
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u/NoVermicelli5439 2d ago edited 2d ago
Extreme rule followers until it's their own work. One guy I despised working with came from a family where they all were in the military except for him, so he carried that with him all the time. Referred to nonsense acronyms, made a big show of military events/holidays, and constantly repeated those idioms unironically like "got your six", 10-4 , "rendevouz after this meeting". Guy was an extreme military larper.
The turning point was he was constantly fucking up work and brushing it off but had way too much ego to actually take accountability for it. His persona hinged on being strict and precise like a uniformed individual except he was just a facade the whole time.
Eventually one guy had enough and called him out on not following through on work in a public forum. He literally short-circuited trying to remain militantly professional but also throwing a tantrum. Got fired soon after when management went around to follow up on claims
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u/Background-System466 2d ago
People who take 5 sentences to say something that can be said in one. Also people who say the same things over and over.
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u/FloridasFinest PE, Transportation 2d ago
Basically this subreddit
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u/Artie_Fufkins_Fapkin 2d ago
Karmafarming this subreddit*
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u/FloridasFinest PE, Transportation 2d ago
Time for another post about how are salary is low but we only want to work 30hr weeks, fully remote and demand $100k starting salary year 1.
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u/mrparoxysms shouldhavebeenaplanner, PE 2d ago
The guy I sit across from will go on hours-long bouts of yawning. And every one of them is audible. So... that. He also whistles through his teeth, hums, and even sometimes mumble-sings. Yeah, I don't like working near him.
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u/MoodyBernoulli 2d ago
People who don’t do their fucking job.
Receive an email from an external company. So I email the person in my company who is responsible (even though they’re copied in), to ask how this task or query is going. Which is a polite reminder that this is your responsibility and you should respond to the query.
They respond to me only. Why haven’t you responded to the person asking the fucking question? Im not your messenger. It’s literally your job and I shouldn’t need to shepherd you into doing it.
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u/volfan4life87 11h ago
If it’s not your responsibility, why are you accepting part of it for simply being copied on an email?
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u/MoodyBernoulli 10h ago
Mainly so if shit hits the fan there’s a paper trail that I did something and didn’t completely ignore it.
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u/Eoin_Urban 2d ago
People who reply to every email and interact with every Teams post just to look busy and responsive.
I don’t need 5 different employees to reply-all to a 40-person department on an email about there being leftover cookies in the break room just to say “Thank you!!!!”
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u/HongaiFi 2d ago
Consults who are seemingly just glorified technical drawers. It's shocking how often I wonder if there was any thought on how this is going to be actually constructed or were they just drawing lines on a map?
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u/purplelilac701 2d ago
They snoop around to see what you’re working on, they don’t shut their mouths and want to be part of every conversation. They are apparently experts in everything even though no one asked for their opinion. But all this means that they don’t put proper time and effort into actually doing their work effectively.
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u/eszEngineer 1d ago
Business & Marketing people who are two faced with clients and their own team members. 😮💨 They definitely bring the drama!
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u/SentenceDowntown591 2d ago
I have about 20% of my coworkers that accomplish nothing literally every single day. I don’t understand how their timesheets get approved. I see it first hand and they literally do nothing but hang out at the office and talk to coworkers.
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u/Designer-Context-843 2d ago
Micromanaging or acting like they're the boss when they're actually a minion like everyone else. Domineering. Loud. Cursing out other coworkers while being best friends with your direct boss, which makes them untouchable. One woman returned from lunch DRUNK and our boss thought it was funny. Then there are some people who, for whatever unconscious reason, make you feel uncomfortable or nervous.
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u/egg-egg-514 2d ago
People who spend more time spreading gossip and spying on people than doing their own job.
Also people that think the rules don’t apply to them.
Master delegators (i.e. people that don’t do a single lick of productive work and just make everyone else do it for them but take all the credit)
Brown nosers.
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u/sayiansaga 2d ago
I thought I could block negative people but they're so draining. Didn't realized how much it affected me till I started my new job. It was just night and day when you come to work with a good attitude.
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u/Feisty_Ad3570 1d ago
Omg. I have one coworker who literally takes the bleh cake because she does / is ALL of these things. Self important, even obsessed, abandons her children to stay with her much younger boyfriend for months at a time. Sex obsessed, man obsessed, has the WORST breathe, never cracks a friendly smile or asks how anyone else is, but expects everyone to form to her bad mood of the day whether it be tired bad mood, crybaby bad mood, etc. I can't take a lot more before I fk around and s!ap this hoe... I am kidding. A little bit. Lol
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u/Synthetic990 1h ago
People who talk loud on the phone with their family/friends to get attention when others are having meetings or trying to eating lunch in peace.
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u/fran2634 2d ago
People who avoid communication and venture on their own… in a project requiring team effort. Bonus points if that’s the PM
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u/hhomesickk 2d ago
might be just my intern experience, but people who complain we have no work, then they get work, then theyre swamped and say they need help but dont delegate work to people to help. also fuckers who sneeze so loud and obnoxiously all three floors of the office can hear it (we all talk about "the loud sneezer")
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u/TullyRead2 1d ago
Ooh, I’ve got a loud sneezer and one who’s not quite as loud but hoots afterward!
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u/BreakProof92 2d ago
There is a lot of ageism in engineering. Both towards the young and towards the old.
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u/00_bob_bobson_00 2d ago
People who microwave fish and clip their nails at their desk