5 Signs You May Be a Bad Coworker

Reader Comments
Back to blog

My job requires that I be diverse and I do so with no problem.Everyone deserves equal respect when it comes to race,religion,etc...There is that language barrier that sometimes puts a person in a challenging position.By that I mean my job never required me to speak any language other than english.I recently discovered that one of my coworkers uses this language barrier to his advantage.I was not assigned to train this coworker,but offered any help I could.A challenge....OH Yeah!As time passed I began to notice that very few if any others were helping him.After giving it some thought I realized why no one was helping him.He could not understand any english if it related to hard work.For example...more than a few times I noticed he needed to be told how to perform certain tasks that maybe the trainer missed...or so it seemed.If it required a little extra effort or prolonged the task,he totally insisted he did not understand.I wittnessed several other situations with the same outcome.I am truly convinced now that he milks the language barrier for all that it is worth.In doing this he can limit how hard or should I say how easy he chooses to make his day.As time passed I learned how other workers found this to be the case.Now he spends his day quietly and alone doing as little as possible,always banking on the language barrier to rescue him if called down for poor performance.I hereby remove myself from this annoying situation!Get with the program you coworker you!!!

Elizabeth Jennings of SC 11:31AM May 13, 2010

It can be irritating seeing the same person in your office daily consulting on every single matter. It is good on the other hand to find people who provide solutions and then just ask for your comments. I like working with people who provide ideas not wait to be provided with ideas like they do not think but only receive

kaoli 11:06AM May 04, 2010

Can be a combination of alot of "other factors", can be the "race card' or not cleaning after yourself. Here in california, depending on the job, just speaking english is not good enough, you got to be able to get along well with others that speak another language(english not being one of them). By law, you can't be discriminated, but you got to prove it. Nowadays, it would be difficult to have another employee back you up, especially when their job might be on the line too. Also, most employers want the 'bottom line' to be appeased, so its easier to let the english only speaker go, wrong as it may be. Managers in diversified job settings, most of the time don't like to rock the boat. they just put on your performance review: underacheiver. So, either learn a language or look for another job/career.

oscar of CA 7:21PM April 28, 2010

You play the ____ card. It's race or religion or sexual preference or gender and you play it for all it's worth. As in, "Oh I only have to do this part of my job because I'm_____", or "So and so is complaining about me because I'm _____" or lastly "I got a poor review because I'm ______". Discrimination does happen and it's not okay, but if you are constantly complaining about how being persecuted is affecting the way people perceive you are doing your job then you really ought to make sure it is actually a case of discrimination and not that you are simply under-performing. People who abuse discrimination as a way to excuse their poor job performance make it impossible for those who are actually being legitimately discriminated against seriously.

MBeth of MA 6:56PM April 28, 2010

I have worked with several, several people in different job settings and these people would not clean up after their selves. In my experience with this, I have been blamed many times over when I didn't even make the mess. As well, I have not been blamed, but had to clean up after a messy coworker and do my job as well. This makes me furious! The coworkers cleaning up after you are not your maids! Besides, this makes the business run slower when someone is left to multi-task between cleaning up after you and doing their job too. It's an easy fix: be considerate of your fellow coworkers and clean up your messes.

Courtney of NC 1:16PM April 28, 2010

you should add "you sexually harrass other associates" at my work, theres an associate that will say stuff to and about any female associate that looks even somewhat good. or "you're a manager in a location with 'equal opportunity' but fail to mention you have to be dating a manager, have large ta-tas or threaten to go to corporate and complain about how you being ugly is holding you back to get anywhere" I've been there a year, can take care of multiple things at once and am one of the best and most reliable people in my department, ive even had several other departments try and take me but are told they dont have anyone to replace me...and they wont even give me a raise or at least more than 25 scheduled hours!!! talk about b.s.

Ashley of OH 2:21AM April 28, 2010

Unfortunately circumstances in life affect the work place. In my experience I've found two different responses to "life difficulty" brought into work: 1) compassionate coworkers who care about your well being (these are healthy "normal" people) 2) malicious coworkers who use your difficulty to advance their position in the company (these are VERY unhealthy "not-normal" people). What to do? Work on your personal problems at home. Don't share your personal problems with anyone you don't know VERY well and COMPLETELY trust. Seek counseling, do yoga, exercise, eat right...anything besides allowing your coworkers too far into your personal life.

Anonymous of TN 11:43AM November 19, 2009

This is part of her serial MO:
1. You dump last-minute work on people when you could have avoided doing so. There will always be projects that pop up at the last minute, but don't be the coworker who sits on something and doesn't assign it out until late in the game. You'll come across as inconsiderate, and maybe disorganized, too.
Will cut her some slack since everything gets dumped on her and she is extremely extremely overloaded, but ... some of that work is major & yet minor info is given and we think she's given us what we need then it takes 5 X as long to do because you find out what she was really thinking and and and

S-anonymous at famous museum of NY 3:28PM November 14, 2009

Approaching a co-worker directly about a problem isn't necessarily a good idea. At my previous job, responses to direct confrontation ranged from "Who the f*** do you think you are? You can't tell me what to do !" to slashed tires. HR was worse than useless.

Jennie of VT 12:20AM November 14, 2009

Did you ever notice when you post or bring in an article like this to a staff meeting to try and engage those guilty of one or usually all of the above 5 points, they look around wondering who this could possibly be. They never seem to get it and if you actually try to have a private conversation, one on one with that person you you fear loss of your job by violating them in some way. I just can't seem to win!! Anyone else?

3kidneymom of NJ 6:54PM November 13, 2009