Happy Cranky Co-Workers Day!

Did you know that today, October 27, is a holiday? That’s right – it’s Cranky Co-workers Day! I\’ll bet you didn\’t even know that day existed. In honor of Cranky Co-workers Day, I’ve decided to do a top ten list based on things I’ve observed over my years of both being cranky and making others cranky. I’ve discovered that most of these "cranki-nators" fall into one of three categories – office etiquette, e-mail issues, and meeting mishaps.

 TOP 10 THINGS THAT ARE CAUSING YOUR CO-WORKERS TO BE CRANKY 

Office Etiquette

1. Dealing with office smells. There’s someone on my floor who cooks bacon in our microwave every morning. Seriously! How am I supposed to concentrate when I smell bacon? Even if I’ve eaten a four-course meal for breakfast, the smell of bacon is enough to have me salivating like Pavlov’s dogs in a matter of seconds. It’s too much.

But bacon isn\’t the only smell you have to deal with in offices – too much perfume, burnt coffee, etc. What’s the smell that puts you over the edge?

2. Loud talking, thin walls. This is another zapper of productivity for me, although I am sure I am one of the worst offenders in my office. Sometimes it’s the person who talks on speaker phone to the person who is right next door. Really?? How hard is it to just walk down the hall? Or just wheel that office chair a few feet and talk face to face and save the rest of us from hearing both sides of the conversation IN STEREO!  

Maybe it’s the office DJ who assumes just because his favorite music is "Top 40 Country" or "Hits of the 70’s and 80’s", yours is too. Or maybe it’s Christmas music in July?

Or maybe it’s the hallway meetings that happen right outside your office door?

What is it that gets you? Or what are you guilty of?

(I must confess: I\’m a speaker phone talker, but I do try to avoid talking to people right down the hall from me on speaker phone. I am slowly repenting and changing my ways. Slowly.)

Email Issues

3. USING ALL CAPS WHEN YOU EMAIL SOMEONE. There’s nothing like getting yelled at over email to put you in a bad mood.  Just don\’t do it. Don’t yell over email. It’s not nice. DON\’T DO IT.

4. Being the dreaded "reply-to-all"er.   This one annoys me every time. Especially when the reply-to-all just says "Thanks." I\’m all about saying thanks, but don\’t clog up my inbox with unnecessary emails. Can I just say that I\’m a new person after Google introduced Priority Inbox? I LOVE IT WITH CAPITAL LETTERS – YES I AM YELLING THAT I LOVE GOOGLE PRIORITY INBOX. Just be careful with your reply-to-alls. It could make someone (like me) cranky.

5. Emailing a question that has already been answered in the previous email.  See example below:

ME: Can you please send the box to the address below? 

One Lifeway Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234

OTHER PERSON: I\’ll send it – Can you send me the address?

ME: SEE PREVIOUS EMAIL

I write "see previous email" in all caps because i am yelling. I\’m getting cranky just thinking about this. And I\’m betting none of you are going to want to work with me after this post.

6. Not replying to my email when I know you are in the office because you have been posting stuff on Facebook about being at work all day. Enough said.

Meeting Mishaps

7. Being the Fidgeter – This is one that I am guilty of. Sitting still is not something I\’m really good at. Or standing still for that matter. I\’ll be rocking back and forth, checking my phone, clicking my pen, swinging my legs, taking my shoes off and putting them back on. I know it is annoying. I\’ll try to stop. Just don\’t give me a pen that clicks next time. 

8. Not keeping your electronic calendar up-to-date – Be kind to your co-workers who have to spend hours looking at 10 people’s calendars to schedule a meeting. If you are available, don\’t block off the time. And if you are busy, block off the time. 

9. Meeting Monopolizers – There’s one in every meeting. The side-tracker who steers you away from the meeting topic to discussions about things other than what the meeting is about. I think many of us are guilty of this, including myself. Maybe we should all make a pact to give each other a signal to help stop meeting monopolization. I know, WE COULD SEND THEM A TEXT IN ALL CAPS. 

And finally, the #10 thing that you are doing that is making your co-workers cranky is. . . . 

10. Being the Prankster! Maybe you dumped an entire box of shredded paper in your co-workers office. Or you put post-it notes or aluminum foil all over their desk or their car. Maybe you filled their office with balloons. Or maybe, while they were on vacation, you took tiny cups and filled them with just a little bit of water and put them all over the floor of their office so when they got back from vacation, they saw this (true confession: I was the one responsible for this prank):

That’s why your co-workers are cranky.