Study Reveals 10 Most Terrible Office Behaviors

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A coworker who takes credit for someone else's work or rattles off obnoxious jokes is engaging in one of the top 10 most offensive workplace no-no's, according to survey results released this week.


These and other workplace misdeeds earned spots on a "Terrible Ten" list of rude working-world behaviors. While discrimination topped the list as most offensive, other highly ranked job-related transgressions occur beyond the office entrance, such as crazy driving.


"The research suggests that people are bothered more by the transgressions of coworkers and strangers than by those of family and friends," said study team member P.M. Forni, director of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, which began in 1997 to evaluate the significance of manners and civility in contemporary society.


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’s work


4. Treating service providers as inferiors


5. Jokes or remarks that mock another, including remarks about race,
gender, age, disability, sexual preference and religion


6. Children who behave aggressively or who bully others


7. Littering or spitting


8. Misuse of handicapped privileges


9. Smoking in non-smoking places or smoking in front of non-smokers without asking


10. Using cell phones or text messaging in mid-conversation or during an appointment or meeting

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...eveals10mostterribleofficebehaviors&printer=1
 
7. Littering or spitting
:waitasec::D
That made me laugh. I worked in an office and never saw anyone litter or spit.
 
7. Littering or spitting
:waitasec::D
That made me laugh. I worked in an office and never saw anyone litter or spit.

I work at a radio station, that's sort of expected there, I think, lol!
 
I'm confused about this list being the most terrible office behaviors but #6 is talking about children being bullies!

Then again....a lot of employees I used to have or worked with were WORSE than children. :D
 
6. Children who behave aggressively or who bully others

What does this have to do with office work except that kids' behavior is a distraction?
 
I'm confused about this list being the most terrible office behaviors but #6 is talking about children being bullies!

Then again....a lot of employees I used to have or worked with were WORSE than children. :D

I'm guessing people bring their kids into work for short periods sometimes? Dunno. *shrugs*
 
That list is really stinky ...

Aggressive driving? Why would that be limited to office workers,that would be anyone,no matter what career,driving in rush hour.

Children who behave badly? When was the last time you saw children bullying in the office?

Littering or spitting? I can't imagine where they found the statistics for that one.

Believe me I can write a book on office behaviors,and that list wouldn't even come close to my top 10,except for maybe the use of cell phones.
 
The kid one is more like office workers who drag their three kids to work and let them run wild throughout the building yelling. And let them loose in the breakroom where smashing ketchup packets and pawing through the fridge are common pasttimes. That used to drive me nuts.

People where I've worked used to get in trouble all the time for littering -- throwing cigarette butts on the ground. Anything else was OK to toss apparently. But management didn't want to put ashtrays out because they were unsightly. Smokers weren't sure what to do!
 
Eating food from home in a sloppy gross manner (as opposed to rolls or something that is being served/ offered) at a meeting. I had a colleague who would bring in oatmeal, runny eggs with ketchup, huge bowls of yogurt in which he mixed all kinds of stuff - all while we were in a meeting. It was gross. He slurped and talked with his mouth full, licked the bowl, etc. I could not believe our boss never told him privately at least, to stop. It just about made me sick, I'm not kidding.

Eve
 
People that don't shower for days on end and eat beans without Beano. Or wear 4 layers of perfume.

Capps, I'm with you. That is one stupid list.
 
I don't know where the heck this study came from..... I just read (in a newspaper) about another study, that said obnoxious &/or excessive cell phone usage is now the NUMBER ONE annoying behavior for 1/3 of all employees. Heck, I bet this would be up there as the top pet peeve of ALL people everywhere (not just employees at work!)
The article talked specifically about people who were addicted to gabbing on the damn things all day long, talking TOO LOUDLY...and annoying ringtones.
might I add to that.... answering the cell phone in a store, in front of the clerk, or worse, a LIBRARY... and then on top of that having the absolute nerve and lack of consideration to talk loudly on it!!... I'm sorry,, but that is totally unacceptable!!

Come on people... just show a little common etiquette!!!!!
 
It isn't just in the work place or places like restaurants and libraries, and it isn't limited to technology.

Etiquette (manners) is in such decline these days, and a whole generation has grown up not realizing what kind of a bad impression they make on people. Their parents didn't teach them how to behave in public, and many people just don't know how to be polite.

I remember my mother was a stickler on things like saying 'please', 'thank you' and 'you're welcome', using Mrs. and Mr. to address adults, and the proper way to eat at the table. If she were alive today, she'd have a fit over the sloppy way most people conduct themselves.

I try to do the same with my own children, but I'm probably as guilty as the next guy with not following through. When the kids' friends go around calling each others' parents by their first names, it's very hard being different.

Sometimes you feel like the destruction of civilization won't depend on the big things. It will come down to how we treat each other as human beings.
 
I can think of a few that bother me more than anything on that list...and most of it is just cubicle etitquette.

- talking loudly with a bunch of other co-workers right outside your cube
- clipping your fingernails at work. personal hygiene should be taken care of at home.
- reheating smelly food and then eating it in your cube, particularly leftover seafood. reheated salmon is foul smelling.
- wearing too much perfume, cologne, or scented lotion. some people are easily irritated by this or even allergic.

That's what bothers me the most. This list has it all wrong.
 
Yes!! We have a nerd here who clips his nails at his desk. It's so annoying, I have to stop myself from going over there and jabbing the damn thing in his eye.

I must have a very low tolerance for even the slightest annoying behavior because people at work are constantly on my nerves.

angry022.gif
 
it use to be a problem with radio's on every desk,and all day long you would hear 7 different types of music at the same time. Now it's personal CD players while they're wearing ear buds,and you have to just about stand on top of them to get their attention.

I hear ya Paladin,about people talking loudly just outside your cubicle,it drives me nuts too!

Some people act like work is one big coffee klatch ...I don't know how they ever get anything done.But then again,why should they worry,when they have someone like me,with a strong work ethnic,to pick up the slack!
 
Some people act like work is one big coffee klatch ...I don't know how they ever get anything done.But then again,why should they worry,when they have someone like me,with a strong work ethnic,to pick up the slack!

Well put, I couldn't agree with you more - drives me nuts!
 
Gum popping is the absolute worst!!!! And cooking popcorn in the microwave.

I like micro popcorn and I like to heat up my healthy leftovers (often seafood) but I have stopped because I have heard people complain about the aroma of these things and I don't want to be an offender. It's a hassle too, because as a teacher I only get a half hour for lunch and now I run out and get something not as healthy and more expensive when I crave something hot in the winter (8 months out of the year here:rolleyes: ).

Eve
 
I like micro popcorn and I like to heat up my healthy leftovers (often seafood) but I have stopped because I have heard people complain about the aroma of these things and I don't want to be an offender. It's a hassle too, because as a teacher I only get a half hour for lunch and now I run out and get something not as healthy and more expensive when I crave something hot in the winter (8 months out of the year here:rolleyes: ).

Eve

I think schools often heat up popcorn as a snack for the class so I don't think much complaining could be had there...
Why not bring something else to work rather then running out? There must be something healthy and warm you can cook other then seafood?
Like soup or a frozen meal?


About the child thing... I thought that one was odd as well....
But then I thought about it and decided it must mean ... the boss brings in their child and the child is a total brat!
Kind of like ...... "My dad is the boss, so you can't tell me anything!"
Or employees afraid to correct the bosses child?
 

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