I think the rudest habit at work is talking & eating at the same time.
It’s like, for real dude, I can wait. Finish your chicken ceasar salad & we’ll talk about the upcoming presentation after lunch.
Jiminy Christmas, people.
Study Reveals 10 Most Terrible Office Behaviors – Yahoo! News
Out of 30 examples of rude behavior, survey respondents most often indicated the following 10 as most offensive in this order:
1. Discrimination in an employment situation
2. For commuters, erratic/aggressive driving that endangers others
3. Taking credit for someone else
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#10 drives me berserk – and makes me glad I don’t have a BlackBerry. Everyone I work with who has access to e-mail via a mobile device has turned into an information zombie who never listens to you with more than half their attention. I can’t stand it.
I occassionally work in a law firm that is the poster child for terrible office behavior.
My “favorite”: It was my birthday and I brought homemade cakes to the office. I put them in the kitchen and everybody from my department was invited to help themselves (that’s the custom in German offices – usually someone collects money for a present and then the birthday kid brings cake or champagne in return). Anyway, this one lawyer whose office was right next to my (open plan) desk went into the kitchen and I heard him ask whose birthday it was. Someone said “Karin’s” and he proceeded to pile his plate with cake. He then went by my desk, mouth stuffed with cake, looked at me, looked away and went into his office. No thank you, congratulations or Happy Birthday. Just chewing. I cannot tell you how pissed off was at that lack of common courtesy.
Regarding the eating and talking thing: When I worked full-time I sometimes ate lunch at my desk, but made it clear that it was my lunchtime and that I didn’t want to be bothered for the next hour. Well, my boss and colleagues still came and “just” wanted to ask me if I’ve done XY or seen XY file and I was like “Dude, I’m trying to read and eat here, dammit!”. So I was forced to escape to the emergency fire escape stairwell so that I wouldn’t be bothered. It seemed that my colleagues WANTED me to eat and talk at the same time.
AJ – #10 drives me crazy, too, except I’m thinking about getting a blackberry. Isn’t that odd? I’ve been bb-free since June and I’m less organized than ever before! In many ways, though, it’s probably a good thing.
Karin – That’s so rude (re: cake). Obviously, that lawyer was a jack-ass. I think you’re right that people WANT YOU to eat and seem productive at the same time. Also, I think there’s an expectation that YOU ARE WORKING AND AVAILABLE if you’re at your desk. This is why, even if I had nothing to do at lunch, I went out. Sometimes I took a nap in my car. I just needed a break.