Pet Hates re office etiquette

That reminds me of the German (and I think other languages too) way of telling the time where they say "halb elf" (half eleven) but it doesn't mean half past evelen it means half-way to eleven or what we call half ten! Wonder what the Canadian would make of that; are we living in the past and the German's forward looking with Americans living in the moment?

Clubman, your mention of the yanks reminds me of another pet hate (I have an endless supply). I HATE the way we are beginning to adopt the Amercian way of saying numerals instead of the proper date. It was happening before 911 but it's even worse now; instead of saying "31st of May", some say "thirty one five". I have to say that it's mostly accountants in my experience. Bloody accountants

Rebecca
 
People sending the 'Look at me I'm working' type emails - copying the world.......... just gets on my goat
 
...people who carry on conversations either side of lift, with one person blocking the door so it doesn't move until they are finished.. Grrr
 
People in other parts of the office having conversations and starting to whisper when I go past on my way to the canteen. It's not that I want to eavesdrop, it just seems rude, as if they think I'm some sort of spy when all they're talking about is how they can't hang out washing this weather and suchlike
 
This is a great thread just what LoS is there for. I agree with all of them so far except for textng that my car is ready that is brilliant!!
Another for the ranters is my US colleagues doing email the second they get up in the morning and again just before they go to bed to give the impression they work all freakin' day
 
Revenge...

[Should be in the Craic, I know, but...]

ONE-POINT OFFICE DARES
1) Run one lap around the office at top speed.
2) Groan out loud in the toilet cubicle (at least one other ‘non-player’ must be in the toilet at the time).
3) Ignore the first five people who say ‘good morning’ to you.
4) Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say, “Just called to say I can’t talk right now. Bye.”
5) To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.
6) When someone hands you a piece of paper, finger it, and whisper huskily, “Mmmmmmm, that feels soooooo good!”.
7) Leave your zipper open for one hour. If anyone points it out, say “Sorry, I really prefer it this way”.
8) Walk sideways to the photocopier.
9) While riding a lift, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.

THREE-POINT DARES

1) Say to your boss, “I like your style” and shoot him with double-barreled fingers.
2) Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask, “Did you get all that, I don’t want to have to repeat it”.
3) Page yourself over the intercom (do not disguise your voice).
4) Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle(there must be a ‘non-player’ within sight).
5) Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

FIVE-POINT DARES

1) At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if you actually launch into it yourself).
2) Walk into a very busy person’s office and while they watch you with growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.
3) For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as “Bob”.
4) Announce to everyone in a meeting that you “really have to go do a number two”.
5) After every sentence, say ‘Mon’ in a really bad Jamaican accent. As in “the report’s on your desk, Mon”. Keep this up for one hour.
6) While an office mate is out, move their chair into the lift.
7) In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly and mutter, “Shut up, damn it, all of you just shut up!”.
8) At lunchtime, get down on your knees and announce, “As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again”.
9) In a colleague’s diary, write in 10am: “See how I look in tights”.
10) Carry your keyboard over to your colleague and ask “You wanna trade?”.
11) Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person: “Do you hear that?” “What?” “Never mind, it’s gone now”.
12) Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, “I can’t talk about it”.
13) Posing as a maitre d’, call a colleague and tell him he’s won a lunch for four at a local restaurant. Let him go.
14) Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig, etc) during a very important conference call.
15) Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.
16) Hang a two-foot long piece of toilet roll from the back of your pants and act genuinely surprised when someone points it out.
17) Present meeting attendees with a cup of coffee and biscuit, and smash each biscuit with your fist.
18) During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the door.
19) Arrange toy figures on the table to represent each meeting attendee, move them according to the movements of their real-life counterparts.
 
Pet hate is when you go on a conference call for say an hour and one of the contributors (normally a yank) says "I hope you all got a chance to look at the presentation I sent out?". To which everyone says ina somewhat embarrassed manner "No, sorry". Then then waffle on ad nauseum and at the end ask "any questions" - answer is inavriably no or juts waffle. Then when you check your mail you find that they sent the presentation out just after the meeting started to ensure that no one had the opportunity to scrutinize the content.


Aaaaarrrgggghhhh!
Roy
 
- People on speaker phone in an open plan office - i don't want to hear your conversation!
- People in an open plan office who let their mobile ring forever on the highest volume setting
- People who barge into my office without knocking, grrrrrrr
 
Miner

I used to work with a guy who would leave his mobile on full volume and never answer it. One day he was away from his desk and after the phone rang for the 10th time without being answered, one of the guys took the mobile, a taped it to the back of a ceiling tile and replaced the tile.

It was sweet revenge watching the offender on his return look for his ringing mobile and not being able to find it.

C
 
I have found the easiest way to avoid all the above is never take any call that is patched through. Always get receptionist to put them through to voice mail and then screen your calls. Thats what voice mail is for. Nobody rings to give you something only to get you to do something for them! This can also be extended to the mobile phone.
I have a friend who ensures his voice mail is constantly full thus never has to ring anybody back. he reckons if it is important enough they wll call him back!
 
AAM contributors who quote long tracts of a post earlier in the thread before they give their own contribution, especially if the quote comes from a post in a short thread.
 

If someone leaves his phone on his desk and walk away and it rings when I am near it, I just turn the phone to Silent or switch it off.

They usually get the hint.
 
Westbound said:
What about those people who type really loudly, like they have lead in their fingers...

yes!! i hate that too, it drives me mental, why do they do it?? is it to prove to the whole office that they are busy busy busy! almost but not quite on a par with the person who always walks around with a piece of paper in their hand, do they not know that we know why they are doing it!! and i hate it when someone in the office says the dreaded words 'we'll have to go for a night out we havent been out in ages' why does there have to be 'office nights out' they are a torture, naturally i will socialise with the people i like and get on with, but the others....... dr moriarty i bet you could come up with some fantastic excuses for me!
 
They don't actually force you to go on the nights out, do they?