Worst co-workers ever

Nufkin

Good co-workers are worth their weight in gold. Bad ones can destroy a department.

Readers told me about their worst experiences with co-workers. I selected these 10 tales of colleagues no one should ever be forced to work with again.

The Exhibitionist

Gillimmott: One of my co-workers showed me her bare chest (after a full 5 days on the job!). It wasn't even sexual: I'm female, too, and she kept bragging about how she was accustomed to sleeping with male co-workers and customers. Not surprisingly, she turned out to be severely unhinged, manipulative, bullying and an outright liar. I left that job because of her. To this day I don't know why she never got fired -- maybe she showed her chest to our boss, too?

The Stinker

Juni: The data entry staffer who I supervised was very good at his job but smelled like cigarette smoke more than anything I have ever experienced before, worse than a '60s airport lounge, worse than the worst old-man bar you've ever walked into. His eau-de-nicotine was so strong that I had to ask him to move his workspace to an unused office. When I did, he shrugged and trudged off to his new workspace without a peep because he knew. He knew!

He was laid off about three months into the job because we restructured our department. His being laid off had nothing to do with his job performance -- which was frankly very good. Though I could barely get through a 10-minute supervision with him without gagging. His work was good, he rarely made mistakes, and he had a pleasant attitude. But when he left, we had to fumigate the workspace and actually had to throw out all of the equipment (chair, desk) because no one could get the smell out. It even permeated his computer. We had the IT guy take it apart to try and clean it, it couldn't be cleaned, so we tried parting it out as spare parts, but everything smelled so bad that we had to drill them and recycle.

The Pushy Non-recycler

Msgogo: The first task she gave her intern was going around with a big box of dead batteries, throwing away a few in every trash can. Because she heard "It's ok to throw batteries out, you don't need to recycle them. But you should only throw away a few at a time." So she then scolded the intern for only throwing them away in office trash cans, saying she meant all the trash cans in our building. She then followed our intern out into the museum to supervise the throwing away of batteries into every trash can in our building ... which were then recollected and thrown in the same Dumpster at the end of the day. 

The TMI Owner's Daughter

CB: I worked for a small privately owned staffing company. My manager was the owner's daughter.  She was a mess. And I'm fairly sure on drugs. She would come in late and ask me to lie to her mother -- who called every morning to make sure we were there on time -- about where she was. She would claim to be really tired and lie under her desk, which was literally up against mine, wrap herself in a blanket and take naps. She would bring her daughter to work with her and make me lie to her mom about it, or worse, make me entertain the kid while she and her mother had drag out fights on the phone. Within the first 2 weeks I knew all about her abortions, hectic relationships, bowel issues, and details of her mother's sex life I never wanted to know. She also claimed I was "luckier" than she was and would hand me handfuls of change (pennies, dimes and nickels) when I left for lunch so I could buy her lottery tickets. Needless to say, I was out of there in less than 6 months and surprised I lasted that long

The Convenient Illness Sufferer

Jay: The absolute worst co-worker was the receptionist we had for a couple of years. If she was assigned a special task by one of the execs, she would make a big deal about she was "on it!" and then she would mysteriously have an allergic reaction to something. Her "cleaning lady" notified her that her daughter's hamster died, so she had to rush out and pick her daughter up from school to tell her and explain the Circle of Life. She would claim that her blood sugar dropped, and then we'd find her sleeping on the floor of one of our conference rooms. (She was hung over). The excuses got more and more ridiculous. She conveniently had food poisoning over lunch after being reprimanded earlier that morning for yet another late arrival or for not completing regular duties by the deadline set. She would stop employees and guests when they walked by her desk and tell them in great detail about her therapy sessions, weekend parties, her daughter's escapades and cute quotes. We all eventually learned how to avoid the front desk completely until she was finally let go. She was perfectly healthy as long as she didn't have to do anything other than answer the phones and show up 30 minutes late and take extended lunches. She was also notorious for blaming her lack of quality work on others and was often found sobbing in a manager's office about how terribly she was being treated by the other employees and that's why she couldn't work.

The Serial Killer Spotter

Jeanne: I had a doozy of a co-worker. She had multiple issues but this was the worst. In a shared office, someone arranged the pushpins on a cork board to make a smiley face. She went to HR claiming that out west some serial killer had used smiley faces to show he was the killer, so now she knew the guy who played with the pushpins wanted to kill her. It caused a lot of problems.

The Thief

Lisa: The worst co-worker I ever had was when I was 18 and working at a fast-food restaurant. The co-worker, also 18, had gotten fired from her other part-time job for stealing. She then needed more money and decided that I should lose my job so she could have my hours. She took money from my cash drawer so it would look like I had stolen, told managers lies about me, and defaced a work-safety sign and blamed it on me. Given that I'd gotten 2 performance raises in 6 months and had never shown up drunk like she had, management did not believe her, and she was fired.

The Software Pirate

Leslie: At my first job out of college, a coworker insisted to management that he needed all kinds of pricey, high-end software to do his job, especially video- and photo-processing tools, even though his job did not entail either creating videos or manipulating photos. (But it was a new position and he came highly recommended, and the management didn't really know what he would need, so they approved everything.) When IT came to install the software on his work computer, he always told them that he was in the middle of something important and that he would do it himself later. They would leave the installation disk and key, and he would take it home and install it on his personal computer. I found out when he offered to let me take one of them home for my own computer.

When he was finally fired, management discovered that he had, of course, done none of the work he was hired to do.

The Blackmailing Attacker

RIleyLeah: The worst co-worker I have ever had was a major liar. Everyone knew about it but would not do anything about it due to her seniority. She would also terrorize employees or blackmail them -- she would pick certain types of people, usually people who did not like conflict. I learned of this through other people, and soonshe selected me.

She would withhold documents that I needed to do my job. When I tried to talk to her about it, she would yell and curse as loudly as she could until I would leave her desk. If I complained to the boss about her, she would act "sweet," as if she did not do anything and would say that I was the "aggressor" who was "harassing her." In an effort to keep things "even," the boss would then reprimand me due to her allegations, even though he knew that I was not the aggressor.

Finally, one day, the co-worker actually tried to attack me physically, and another worker stopped her. If the other worker were not there, I'm not sure what the outcome would've been since I've never been even close to a fight before. I complained about this, and guess what? She lied and said that I was harassing her, even though there were witnesses who saw at least part of her attempted assault. Furthermore, because we were on secured property, if she had succeeded in fighting me and if I would've had to tried to restrain her in self-defense, we both would've possibly spent the night in jail. She continued to threaten me until I eventually quit the job.

The Shooter

Anonymous: I worked in a sporting-goods place where a co-worker lectured us in the break room on racist subjects and dry-fired the guns at the women on the staff. (This was potentially dangerous, since occasionally returns had rounds in them.) The boss couldn't do anything since the guy had threatened to beat him up if he did

Have you had a coworker like one of these? Or worse? Add your story in the comments.

Have a workplace dilemma? Send your questions to [e-mail].

[Jwiatko]

So I currently with with a lady who is twice my age and yet she acts like we are in high school. I have worked there for 41/2 years (to her 4) and I can honestly say I have never met or seen anyone this bad in my life. She has gotten her car reprocessed, violated the HIPPA laws to the point where we she has jeapordized the practice, constantly complains about debt when the day before her compulsive spending was not an issue to her, and now the moment I have had it is when she broke into my Facebook account to see how many people I have blocked, which of course was only her because by choice I don't associate with people like this on a personal level. I am not religious but I do believe in karma and I believe one day her time will come. Did I mention that she hasn't paid her taxes in years.... How does this woman exist in an office where she handles the owners money all day!!!!!! She has told me repeated times her husband is a loser, yet he works and slaves over her for what reason I have no idea (comfort) and now that I am getting married and I don't want any help from her she hates me for that. She makes my life miserable every day because I don't want her a part of my special day. No words can put even a dent in what this woman is capable of' this is just a taste.

[onchomz]

well..used to be a supervisor for these two snake ladies. one of them was my former high school senior. they always blame me for anything i didnt do and accused me for slacking off. they spoke bad about the director, his wife, and his parents and parents in law as well while kept smiling their deadly poisonous smiles. they always asked my boss to choose, whether to keep them or fire me -_-
in the end i found out all evidences and they stole money from the company in big amount, along with their chat history stored in their pc. before my boss could lay them off, they ran to competitor's company.. lol
such a wonderful personality my former boss' was, he kept his compassion even to those traitors, and no law force being contacted.

[LisaCameraReviews]

Had a coworker who habitually came in one or two minutes late...would then quickly put her things away...show up on the floor. After the briefing she would have to 'go to the bathroom'...which would take her twenty to thirty minutes...this would entail a walk down to the restroom, past the coffee shop, talk to some friends, then back to work. This was complained by the others many times...a thorn in everyone's side. Management did Nothing. Still does nothing.

[mostinterested]

I once had a manager who oscillated between being needy and pestering me with requests and questions and being a bully when, in his opinion, he had to affirm his authority (the same insecurity, if you ask me, but in a different disguise). Childish, really, but eventually I quit because of that guy, couldn't stand it anymore. Speaking of childish - the idea that unbalanced, unreasonable behavior in a manager (or any person, for that matter) is just a slip into infantility is quite popular and some workplace experts are writing about it, like Stanley Meyer, or Lynn Taylor whose book, Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant, I found to be very useful (if only I had it back then, before quitting the job).

[billmichael]

In my thirty plus years working, I have discovered one thing to be absolutely true. Troublemakers are highly experienced at keeping themselves out of trouble while getting you into trouble. They are dangerous alone but invincible when surrounded by a clique. Choose your battles carefully because, unfortunately, some managers or HR people will go for the easy solution which means they will fire you first instead of taking on a professional troublemaker.

[HandyAndy5]

I once worked at a wealthy suburban Chicago IT firm with a woman who liked to screw with people and she was really, really good at it. She was also, apparently, possibly even extorting money from the tech staff (some of whom made in the six figures). She spent her time trying to determine if I was "greedy" (probably to go in with her) then, when it was apparent that I wasn't, she threatened the life of a very troubled tech co-worker and told me that if I reported her, she would make sure he killed himself and I would then "commit suicide out of grief and guilt".

By that time, she had totally undermined me at work. I was fired and I couldn't effectively tell our supervisor what happened. I was completely banned from communicating with them. (From what she said previously, I certainly wasn't the first employee she had completely screwed.) I then was stuck with PTSD and spent all the money I earned there on treatment. The therapist I then saw, who specialized in traumatic disorders, was only a couple of blocks from the office and ended up trying to argue me out of suing the company. (No ethics there either, huh?)

Lesson learned: if you are approached by anyone at work to do illegal things, get evidence, report it to the police and find yourself another job as quickly as possible.

[fedup12]

Had a girl in my office:

Wouldnt wear shoes
Yelled and cussed at almost all other employees and customers.
Made every excuse to try and miss work. We heard it ALL.
Was the TMI queen. We all knew about problems in the most personal regions of her anatomy.
Never followed the dress code. See shoes plus other things
Late a lot.

She lasted 2 years after one of the guys she used to yell at a lot became boss.

[Cybrarian_ca]

I had a co-worker (large, male, & with serious mental health issues) who physically threatened two people in the office - one of whom was very far along in her pregnancy!

[mcguinn53]

I last worked at the worst place, I didn't have just one bad co-worker, I had a clique of them, they were in there with the supervisor every day complaining about someone in our group or the other people. The supervisor was the worst one, she would sit in her office and talk to her clique members about the managers and even her own workers. She and her little clique talked so bad about one girl who sat outside the supervisor's office that this girl needed to go to counseling she badmouthed another one so bad she had a nervous breakdown at work. It was horrible you never knew if you would hear your name coming out of that office. Last I heard the supervisor got demoted but still talking smack about people, they need to get rid of her!

[plw73]

I had a manager that just about everyone in 3 different divisions of the organization despised. He thought he was a paragon of professionalism, but in fact he had zero social finesse. Within the first 8 months of working with him, I had gone to upper management because I sincerely believed (and still do to this day) that there was something neurologically wrong with him - perhaps early onset Alzheimer's combined with some strong OCD/Autistic-like tendencies. He couldn't remember what instructions he'd given us on projects and routinely contradicted himself 3 or 4 times in every conversation. He'd take 2-3 pages of notes on a 5 minute meeting, but he couldn't even take the notes accurately. Upper management started checking in with me about what was going on with various projects which led to several instances of his yelling at me that I was trying to get him fired. As he was my supervisor, he took his angst out on my performance evaluations, and I then had to figure out what to ignore and what to dispute. In some ways, I feel sorry for him - he was always the last to get a joke, but then he'd laugh the loudest to make sure everyone knew he'd understood what was funny. He also didn't seem to realize that upper management was desperately trying to nurse him through his last 6 years to retirement while still making sure the projects were done to standard. He'd been kicked off of several organizations' sites because he antagonized the people we were trying to set-up projects with, but he didn't like it when management approved my going alone. I hung on for 3+ years because of the current economy, but ultimately I couldn't take the emotional/verbal abuse anymore and quit. A year later I'm still trying to find a job because most places just can't believe that someone would be that bad.