It was a dark and stormy night on the job site…
Well, perhaps “horror stories” is the wrong term to use. We should leave those to Stephen King. But we’ve all had some co-workers who, for a variety of reasons, have made our work experience a living nightmare. Mike showed us on a recent episode of Dirty Jobs that he gets along swimmingly with his crew. Sure they have some bumps in the road but quite often these have more to do with the conditions of the jobs themselves then with crew. It’s one thing to clean out the sewers, it’s another to take a camera down there to record that! But what about your own job? What category does might your co-workers fall in?
1) THE CLIFF CLAVIN SMART ALECK
You remember mailman Cliff Clavin from “Cheers.” He seemed to know everything about anything but none of it was useful. This is the type of worker that can bring any project or discussion to a screeching halt by throwing in their “two cents.” A lot of time they really have noting to add other then a distraction. Of course you could combat the Cliff Clavin Smart Aleck by out trumping his “two cents” with your own useless trivia. Chances are it’s going to be a losing battle.
2) THE GREAT HOUDINI
This is not a worker who can perform magic on a piece of equipment to get it running. That would be the Great MacGyver. No, the Great Houdini is the worker who pulls a disappearing act every time the work needs to get done. Who knows where they end up? They could be catching 40 winks in their truck. They could be reading the sports page In thier “office.” The bottom line is that they are no where to be found when they are really needed. The typical response when they return and are confronted about their disappearing act usuall is “What are you talking about? I was right here.”
3) THE FINGER POINTER
This type of co-worker could also be known as the company rat. But it’s not just worker who likes to cozy up to the boss by telling them who is taking longer at lunch or who is leaving early. The Finger Pointer is also the type of co-worker who never accepts responsibility for their mistakes and is quick to “point the finger” onto someone else. You can flush out the Finger Pointer the next time something gets screwed up. When you ask “who did this?” the Finger Pointer will be the first one to chime in, “It wasn’t me.” Just remember Shakespeare’s immortal words “Methinks the finger pointer doth protest too much.”
4) THE SLUG
There are other names that would apply to this type of co-worker: slow poke, sloth, lazy, procrastinator. You get the general idea. This is the worker who takes an inordinate amount of time to complete the simplest of tasks. When confronted, the Slug will usually defend themselves by saying that just want to make sure they’re doing the job right. You can’t really offer find offense with that but it would be nice if they could do the job right as fast as everyone else!
5) THE COMPLAINER
Much like the Cliff Clavin Smart Aleck, the Complainer can suck the energy right out of a room. The Complainer accomplishes this by finding a problem with everything. Nothing is ever right for the Complainer: it’s too hot or too cold, the hours are too long, the pay isn’t enough, the lunch wagon stinks, the boss doesn’t like me, and on it goes. If on that rare day that the Complainer has nothing to complain about it usually means they are about to go on vacation. Just don’t be around when they come back.
So, tell us who you work with. Maybe you’ve got a new category to add to the list. Leave out the names but spare us no details!
— Meyer
