Pet Peeves About Work

I hate:

• …that when you fall asleep on your keyboard, your face gets quilted.
• …that my keyboard isn't drool-proof.
• …that I can no longer see what's going on behind me because my new monitor has a no-glare screen.
• …that there isn't any part of my monitor to clip my bicycle mirror to, and people laugh at me when I wear my helmet at work.
• …that the woman from QA always interrupts me whenever I'm interrupting her.
• …speakerphones that won't let you interrupt while someone at the other end is talking.
• …that Windows crashes so often.
• …that Windows doesn't crash often enough to be a reliable excuse for anything.
• …that when you set the cell phones they give us on vibrate, you can still hear them.
• …that my boss gives me bad advice that I have to follow.
• …that when I follow my boss's bad advice and the thing implodes, it's my fault.
• …that when someone calls me on a bad cell phone connection from under the airport public address system, I have to make up both ends of the conversation.
• …that to tell whether the sun is shining I have to badge out.
• …that nobody knows what business casual really means.
• …that meetings start and end on the hour, with no time in between, so all our meetings start late.
• …that I get more email than I can possibly read. If anyone really wants to reach me, they text me.
• I hate that nobody knows
  what business casual
  really means…that I get more text messages that I can possibly read. If anyone really wants to reach me, they call me.
• …that I get more voicemail than I can possibly listen to. If anyone really wants to reach me, they send me email.
• …when they change a procedure nobody ever actually followed to some new, more complicated procedure that nobody will ever actually follow.
• …when people CC me so I'll know that one of my direct reports screwed up again. Do they think I don't already know?
• …when my boss tells me what she firmly believes, then asks for my honest opinion.
• …that our whiteboard markers are always dry. I think they must come that way out of the box.
• …when someone puts me on speaker and it's just us on the call, I know they're doing something with their hands but I can't imagine what.
• …when I have to drop the 17 things I'm doing to get training in managing multiple tasks.
• …when a drop dead showstopper problem that I've been busting my tail to resolve for three weeks is suddenly reclassified as noncritical just after I fix it.

I'm sure you have some pet peeves of your own. Don't send them to me. I hate that. (just kidding)  Top    Next Issue

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