Workplace Woes

Have you ever had to work with someone who was just...difficult to work with? Sure, every office has its share of bad apples, but these coworkers can be annoying, draining your energy, and affect your performance.

Coworkers can either make or break your work experience, and if you happen to get stuck with one of the bad ones, it can be hard to persevere and keep your sanity intact.

The Jerk We Worked With

This is me (pictured left) and my coworker, Penny, in our office space.

She worked at a different office before we took her in. The hiring agency told us she was young; however, she came with a great positive attitude and energy for the role. It had been months of looking for someone for the job, and we finally felt we had found the perfect candidate.

Now don't let the cute face fool you. Her entire resume was a lie.

Why It Was So Difficult to Work with Her

From day one, we caught her sleeping on the job. We knew it had been a lot of travel from Texas to our office in Seattle and figured she was still adjusting to the time change and new scenery.

We gave her a free pass. After all, it was only the first day.

But then it only went downhill from there.

Then she had these bursts of energy where she would run around the office. We figured she had too much caffeine, but it was odd, to say the least. We were on a call with our development team, and she was running in the background. We had to explain everything, completing derailing the meeting and running over our scheduled time.

One more time, we gave her a chance. We had our first team social of the month to come together and relax during uncertain times. But, unfortunately, she was the only one on the team not to show.

We get this image sent to our team chat with a message, "sorry rough night last night, overslept!".

We quickly realized we were way out of our dept with her.

How She Made Our Lives Hell

Not only did she refuse to do most of her assigned tasks, but she also shirked off work onto others. She was equally incapable of doing anything independently, preferring to demand an assisting hand for every action she attempted.

Finally, her communication skills were abysmal, making it impossible to understand her. If she felt ignored, she would frequently interrupt team calls by yelling over everyone to make herself heard.

It was time to get management involved.

How Things Turned Around

So, we had to bring in a manager to support her on her day-to-day tasks and learn to be independent in her role. We also trained ourselves to understand better her communication skills (I mean, it was like she was speaking another language!).

We encouraged her to take up new roles outside of work where she could contribute more meaningfully (even if it was an extra responsibility at home) to grow both personally and professionally. As a result, she went to networking events to be around colleagues her age to learn from, and she eventually made some new friends.

This way, not only were all our needs met, but everyone was also happier in their daily routine!

How We Are Surviving

Did she completely turn around her performance? Not exactly.

To much of the office's delight, she has stopped running and squealing around the office at inappropriate times. She continues to arrive late and sleep through all of the meetings and most of the afternoon.

Penny has been with us for nearly two years now, and we wouldn't change a thing. Even if that does mean she is the worst coworker in the world.