Lazy, Unhygienic Colleague - I need to move :(

bc dub

Nevermind. I realise now that this was not a suitable post for this board. Oh well!

LaFuton

hello Patrick Bateman Jr

Fann Linn

I'm normally too busy myself to be looking at what my work mates are upto.

bc dub

Fann Linn wrote: »

I'm normally too busy myself to be looking at what my work mates are upto.

Me too. But as I said this person is within eyeshot of me.

TheMilkyPirate

bc dub wrote: »

I feel that working with someone like this is causing me untold stress

No, you are causing yourself untold stress.

I honestly can't tell if this is a piss take or not. You sound like a nightmare to work with.

bc dub

bc dub wrote: »

Me too. But as I said this person is within eyeshot of me.

An unfortunate side effect of the open plan office.

Could you put some kind of barrier or partition between you and him?

All i see in work is the tops of people's heads because of my monitor.

SteelyDanJalapeno

What kind of office layout allows somebody to be in your direct eyeline, do you not use a monitor, have you no partition?

SteelyDanJalapeno

What about those blinkers they use for horses?

bc dub

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

What kind of office layout allows somebody to be in your direct eyeline, do you not use a monitor, have you no partition?

Essentially, no. There’s a partition. I can’t see their chest, but I can see their head in full. I have a monitor which does not block out the view of several colleagues.

One eyed Jack

bc dub wrote: »

I've started to document everything which I deem unsatisfactory form a colleague.

Have you documented your own careless spelling errors?

I could be your work colleague from that description, it’s good to know I’ve been able to stifle the noise when I fart, but you should probably document that too.


You sound like something that rhymes with managerial role alright.

bc dub

TheMilkyPirate wrote: »

No, you are causing yourself untold stress.

I honestly can't tell if this is a piss take or not. You sound like a nightmare to work with.

I’m being serious. Maybe it’s hard to put into words the continuous distractions. Or maybe their insufficient output is difficult for strangers to grasp. Maybe I’m the problem. But I’m good at my job and I try to be play a part of a team. I’ve had no issues prior and nobody has had any issues with me.

Stheno

bc dub wrote: »

I’m being serious. Maybe it’s hard to put into words the continuous distractions. Or maybe their insufficient output is difficult for strangers to grasp. Maybe I’m the problem. But I’m good at my job and I try to be play a part of a team. I’ve had no issues prior and nobody has had any issues with me.

Could you not just ignore them?

Staplor

I had a similar situation, you've spoken to management, they've chosen to do nothing.

Now learn to accept that this person does nothing, it's not fair, but that's life. This person isn't upsetting you, your opinion of this person is upsetting you. Start assuming they do nothing at all, then when they so much as answer the phone, they'll have gone above and beyond.

punisher5112

Leave a note on their desk....

You know it's them leaving snots and nails all over the floor.....

Also I.T have informed them of a lot of personal use on this computer....

listermint

bc dub wrote: »

I’m being serious. Maybe it’s hard to put into words the continuous distractions. Or maybe their insufficient output is difficult for strangers to grasp. Maybe I’m the problem. But I’m good at my job and I try to be play a part of a team. I’ve had no issues prior and nobody has had any issues with me.

You need to ignore them.

If you think you are good at management roles you would have already realised this.

If you are bad at management roles you would have started taking notes of everything this person does.




Hmmm

Fritzbox

bc dub wrote: »

So one of my colleagues is extremely lazy. They're there about a year and sit within eyeshot of me. I am constantly distracted by their actions, while being consistently disheartened to see them on non-work related websites, their phone or just doodling.

I've started to document everything which I deem unsatisfactory form a colleague. They're on their phone once every 15 mins, which they don't need for work. I can hear them putting it down on their desk, and also tell by the angle which their neck is at, it's clear that they're not 'working'.

They pick their nose, roll it for extended periods of time and flick it over their shoulder. They bite their nails and flick them also over their shoulder, regularly leaving a trail of fingernails at the side of their desk and dotted around the bin right beside their chair. This is all happens within eyeshot and I find it very hard to concentrate because of how often it occurs.

To add to their physical behavior at their desk, when I walk past their PC they are regularly having multiple conversations with friends on FB, browsing Reddit, reading tabloid sites and last week I saw them doing an online survey on a website that pays you to do surveys. Equally, they will sit with magazine leaflets and colour them in with biros, like a coloring book, which they regularly spend >15 minutes to complete.

I have a managerial role but they are not in my department. I have mentioned their behavior to them - jokingly at first, and more seriously recently but they don't care. When their boss is occasionally in the office they are not much better, but their boss doesn't seem to care because they do the stuff that the boss just hasn't got time to do. The main problem is that when they've done the few tasks required of them, they will happily sit idle and offer no initiative or additional work to the wider team.

I feel that working with someone like this is causing me untold stress, while being unfair to other members of the team that sit near us. Another colleague told me that they once saw this person watching a Netflix show on their phone and, when they 'attempted to embarrass them by calling them out', the colleague laughed and just turned down the volume.

I absolutely love my job. But I am not able to come into work and do a good, hard day's work because I am being consistently distracted. We are all so busy, I think it's grossly unfair that this person is given such an easy time when everybody knows they're not pulling their weight. Far from it. I need to put in for a transfer, be it a desk or location. We have several offices in the city which I could easily work remotely from. But how should I go about requesting this? Do I write a letter, or do I request a meeting with our group manager. I have a great relationship with the group manager. But I've expressed my dismay in the past and was told that it 'could be fixed' but as of yet, some 3 months later, it's got worse if nothing else.

I don't want to turn this into a serious matter which goes beyond my manager. Ideally I would like them to take action, but not just because I'm complaining. A transfer request could open a can of worms, but failing that and if nothing is done I will be left with no option but to look at my options elsewhere. Which really annoys me because, as I said, I love my job and I know I'm well thought of by all because I just want to work hard and the see the company do well.

Ugh. Any help, tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Reading this, I get the impression their is more than one person sharing a desk, telephone and monitor - I'd probably become lazy and unhygienic too if I had to work under those conditions.

bc dub

bc dub wrote: »

I’m being serious. Maybe it’s hard to put into words the continuous distractions. Or maybe their insufficient output is difficult for strangers to grasp. Maybe I’m the problem. But I’m good at my job and I try to be play a part of a team. I’ve had no issues prior and nobody has had any issues with me.

You say you and your team are busy. Could you ask his manager if he could help you with something thereby giving him something to do?

Do you know the nature of his work? Ive had jobs where it maybe looked like I did nothing but my primary role was to man the desk and respond or react to an alert that comes in. There were days when I spent the day on boards because no alerts came in.

punisher5112

Keep disinfecting his keyboard, mouse and phone...... Watch he be sick more then ever ....

bc dub

bc dub wrote: »

Essentially, no. There’s a partition. I can’t see their chest, but I can see their head in full. I have a monitor which does not block out the view of several colleagues.

Something doesn't quite add up here. You mentioned you can see the angle of his phone? And him colouring into magazines.



I'm trying to figure out what kind of office layout you have that you can see all these things, while having a partition, and have a monitor in front of you, yet he is still within 'eyeshot' of you.

punisher5112

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Something doesn't quite add up here. You mentioned you can see the angle of his phone? And him colouring into magazines.



I'm trying to figure out what kind of office layout you have that you can see all these things, while having a partition, and have a monitor in front of you, yet he is still within 'eyeshot' of you.

It's the same person....

Multiple personalities....


Some office have very low partition and some are squeezed in close together....

thecowgoesmoo

I could understand if the person was on the same team as you but there not.

Just get on with it.

_Brian

Have to say as a manager having a conversation with an employee with poor hygiene standards was the toughest conversation.

Fellow employees mad a complaint and it had to be dealt with.

Poor chap was mortified and it was never an issue again.

Stripes11

Just wondering if you work on different teams how can you tell that this person isn't doing their job to a top standard? If they've been there for more than a year surely their manager would have noticed by now if they weren't delivering on what was asked of them due to other activities eg. Being on phone? I only ask as I know with some roles the work may be go from being very full on to being slow at times.

Maybe they are just very efficient or maybe they find themselves without anything to do at times ? As someone else suggested it might be a good idea to ask them if they could help you with something.

Stripes11

Stripes11 wrote: »

Just wondering if you work on different teams how can you tell that this person isn't doing their job to a top standard? If they've been there for more than a year surely their manager would have noticed by now if they weren't delivering on what was asked of them due to other activities eg. Being on phone? I only ask as I know with some roles the work may be go from being very full on to being slow at times.

Maybe they are just very efficient or maybe they find themselves without anything to do at times ? As someone else suggested it might be a good idea to ask them if they could help you with something.

Completely agree. As I said earlier, I had a job where my job was to man the desk. I requested a wireless headset after a 9 hour call I was on, led me to be dying for the loo and couldn't go. Another time I dropped off the call for 5 minutes to collect my pizza at the front door, because once I stepped in the lift my headset lost connection. Luckily no-one noticed in that window.



The hygiene issue might be an issue, but someone picking there nose, really is not worthy of a meeting with management. Unpleasant, but thats people for you.



To the OP, again, can you erect some kind of partition so he is not in your eye line? That might help matters.


Unless, the issue for you is that there's someone not working when they should be, and in that case the problem is really with you.

pinkyeye

Jesus, I don't blame OP from dropping out of this thread altogether.

Someone who doesn't do any work and is unhygienic is suddenly OP's problem?

I'd have a problem if I was working hard and someone else was watching Netflix etc.?

Jesus lads, get a grip, this is work problems. If someone is not doing any work that is a problem, no matter what department you're in or whether or not someone is in your team.

Someone watching Netflix or browsing their phone during work is total bull****. Not acceptable.

LoughNeagh2017

Most people here wouldn't know a hard days work if it bit them on the backside, they are able to post on here during work hours whereas if you worked in manual labor you would get told off for checking the time on your phone. I have came to the conclusion that office jobs are referred to as "good jobs" not because of the money but because of the slackness of them.

_Brian

LoughNeagh2017 wrote: »

Most people here wouldn't know a hard days work if it bit them on the backside, they are able to post on here during work hours whereas if you worked in manual labor you would get told off for checking the time on your phone. I have came to the conclusion that office jobs are referred to as "good jobs" not because of the money but because of the slackness of them.

Manual labour isn’t the only hard or real work out there, that’s something some of the the lower class workers tell themselves to ease the pain of abject failure.