Tag Archives: Toxic culture

Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Article by an Annoyed Employee in IT..

You can pick your friends; you can pick your job. But you can’t pick your colleagues any more than you can the next assignment to come down from upper management. It’s no surprise, then, that not every colleague is a good one.

The first, and by far the best, kind of co-workers are the nice ones. You know, the ones who are always quick to offer you a hand whenever you need one. They’re friendly, helpful, and normal to your standards. With them, everything’s peachy! You have absolutely no complaints when it comes to the nice co-workers. Heck, they may be the only aspect of the workplace that’s keeping you sane!

The next category is toxic co-workers. They may be disguised as nice co-workers or even weird, annoying, or obnoxious co-workers, but they actually belong in a whole different category. Those co-workers are out to intentionally or unintentionally hurt your career, and you need to avoid them at all costs. 

Greed, laziness, selfishness and backstabbing behaviors are an all-too-common part of many company cultures. Often, the people who personify these behaviors within organizations step on the colleagues who are just trying to put in an honest day’s work—so they can get ahead or get out of pulling their load—and it’s time to call them out.

The backstabber: Watch out for this one – he might appear to be on your side, but behind your back he will bad mouth you, lie about you and may be out to destroy you. The backstabber tries to make himself look good at your expense – by making you look bad. Pay attention to how you feel around this person and what you hear; seek clarification if you’re getting mixed signals.

The Politician. Promotions based on merit are not what these schmoozers believe in. Instead, they participate in office politics—popping in the boss’s office every five minutes, declaring their indispensable worth. The Politician is consumed with company politics. Her work life becomes a game in which she is constantly trying to “win” the next job, the next promotion, the next project. However, she spends little or no time fulfilling her current responsibilities.

The time sucker: This is someone who doesn’t think about the schedules and time of others. This employee will simply show up at your workstation to ask questions and go on tangents, with no consideration for your time, prior commitments, deadlines, etc.

The gossiper: Keep in mind that those who gossip to you will gossip about you. It doesn’t hurt to listen to what you hear – just don’t participate in the conversation. Often, the industry grapevine is true, but the gossiper tends to exaggerate, so beware. Some people feel they’ll make themselves look better by spreading information, especially about someone else. The good news is that most people catch on to this tactic, but not always before damage is done.

The Taskmaster. Have you ever come across someone at work who spends all of his time worrying about what everyone else is doing, while at the same time complaining that no one else in the company ever does anything and that he is saddled with all the work? This is the Taskmaster. Taskmasters are quick to assign tasks to other people to avoid having to do anything—and yet as soon as a task is completed, somehow the Taskmaster is there to take credit for getting it done. The Taskmaster constantly works to create the perception that he is so busy that he just couldn’t possibly work one more thing into his day.

The credit-robber: There are people who take credit for other people’s ideas in order to shine the light on themselves, no matter whom they steal from to do it. The credit-robber usually steals the spotlight when you least suspect it, and in front of others. Being caught off-guard makes it difficult to know how to respond and, by the time you catch your breath, you’ve lost your moment.

The unsupportive supervisor: This is a tough one: When you don’t have your supervisor on your side, you’re on your own. Many supervisors feel threatened by their staff; some thrive on the power they feel from making others feel small. You must be very careful when the problem is your supervisor – as with any negative scenario, you need to take a step back to evaluate the situation and do everything you can to protect yourself.

For most of us, working in an office can offer a pleasant, exciting, and motivating path to a successful career. However, sometimes we encounter unprofessional, unhappy, and downright hostile colleagues. When there are unhealthy people within your organization, you’re not just fighting the market and your competitors, you’re now fighting internal battles between teams and individuals just to get something done.

You can pick your friends, you can pick your job. But you can’t pick your colleagues. It’s all up to us how wisely we react and handle the Toxic Co-workers at work environment.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below.