Navigating Quirky Coworkers: Tips for Maintaining Sanity in the Workplace

  • Thread starter lisab
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In summary, most people who work with me say that they work with a quirky coworker, but I haven't met him yet.
  • #1
lisab
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I'm lucky that, in general, I work with people who are easy to get along with, fun, and really smart. But, in any crowd there's always that one, isn't there...?

Currently I work with a guy who whistles ALL THE TIME...poorly. I can usually avoid him but not always.

In my previous workplace, the quirky one was the HR manager. She would sit at the back of the room during safety meetings and pop her gum every 4 seconds. And she was a manager?

My worst quirky coworker was a guy I worked with several years ago. He had memorized all of Chris Rock's routines and would constantly act them out, every day. This was harder to put up with, since the instruments had to stay in the lab, and I couldn't take my work elsewhere. People would tell him to knock it off, we all know Chris Rock's routines...it was like he couldn't stop himself, and couldn't interact with people any other way. The guy had issues.

Anyone work with quirky coworkers?
 
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  • #2
lisab said:
I'm lucky that, in general, I work with people who are easy to get along with, fun, and really smart. But, in any crowd there's always that one, isn't there...?

Currently I work with a guy who whistles ALL THE TIME...poorly. I can usually avoid him but not always.

In my previous workplace, the quirky one was the HR manager. She would sit at the back of the room during safety meetings and pop her gum every 4 seconds. And she was a manager?

My worst quirky coworker was a guy I worked with several years ago. He had memorized all of Chris Rock's routines and would constantly act them out, every day. This was harder to put up with, since the instruments had to stay in the lab, and I couldn't take my work elsewhere. People would tell him to knock it off, we all know Chris Rock's routines...it was like he couldn't stop himself, and couldn't interact with people any other way. The guy had issues.

Anyone work with quirky coworkers?

AHAHAH chris rock routines. I am sure that goes real well in the work place, n'word this, f'word that, f' f' f', ahhahaha.
 
  • #3
lisab said:
I'm lucky that, in general, I work with people who are easy to get along with, fun, and really smart. But, in any crowd there's always that one, isn't there...?

Currently I work with a guy who whistles ALL THE TIME...poorly. I can usually avoid him but not always.

In my previous workplace, the quirky one was the HR manager. She would sit at the back of the room during safety meetings and pop her gum every 4 seconds. And she was a manager?

My worst quirky coworker was a guy I worked with several years ago. He had memorized all of Chris Rock's routines and would constantly act them out, every day. This was harder to put up with, since the instruments had to stay in the lab, and I couldn't take my work elsewhere. People would tell him to knock it off, we all know Chris Rock's routines...it was like he couldn't stop himself, and couldn't interact with people any other way. The guy had issues.

Anyone work with quirky coworkers?

I guess I never told you that story about the "cropduster" I had to share an office with? :yuck:

I also had a whistler next door who drove me crazy. I complained and complained and complained. My boss finally went over and talked to him and things got better.
 
  • #4
Cyrus said:
AHAHAH chris rock routines. I am sure that goes real well in the work place, n'word this, f'word that, f' f' f', ahhahaha.

We would always worry what he might say when tour groups came through.
 
  • #5
Math Is Hard said:
I guess I never told you that story about the "cropduster" I had to share an office with? :yuck:

I also had a whistler next door who drove me crazy. I complained and complained and complained. My boss finally went over and talked to him and things got better.

Cropduster? Did he have an ordor issue?
 
  • #6
lisab said:
Cropduster? Did he have an ordor issue?

I think it was a digestive problem. Or maybe dietary. Too many beans or something.
 
  • #7
Math Is Hard said:
I think it was a digestive problem. Or maybe dietary. Too many beans or something.

So he was an awful whistler too?
 
  • #8
lisab said:
Anyone work with quirky coworkers?

Most of the people where I work say they work with a quirky coworker, but I haven't met him yet.
 
  • #9
I don't have any quirky coworkers, I'm the quirky coworker. :biggrin:

I've had a few in the past, but I think I've blocked them from my memory, because no specific examples come to mind.
 
  • #10
lisab said:
I'm lucky that, in general, I work with people who are easy to get along with, fun, and really smart. But, in any crowd there's always that one, isn't there...?

Currently I work with a guy who whistles ALL THE TIME...poorly. I can usually avoid him but not always.

In my previous workplace, the quirky one was the HR manager. She would sit at the back of the room during safety meetings and pop her gum every 4 seconds. And she was a manager?

My worst quirky coworker was a guy I worked with several years ago. He had memorized all of Chris Rock's routines and would constantly act them out, every day. This was harder to put up with, since the instruments had to stay in the lab, and I couldn't take my work elsewhere. People would tell him to knock it off, we all know Chris Rock's routines...it was like he couldn't stop himself, and couldn't interact with people any other way. The guy had issues.

Anyone work with quirky coworkers?

I had one who dried her pantyhose in the film drier in my Medical Illustration department. It was this metal mesh (not really) support stuff that just reeked up the whole room to high heaven. She was English of course. I never figured out why it smelled so bad in there until I caught her having morning tea waiting to finish dressing and start the day.

I can't say I'm any better. Sometimes I'd type with my nose after a long night of too much fun. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkhjkkkhhhhhhh
 
  • #11
lisab said:
Anyone work with quirky coworkers?

Yes, my coworker brings dead bodies into the office.
 
  • #12


HAHAHAH.
 
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  • #15
baywax said:
I can't say I'm any better. Sometimes I'd type with my nose after a long night of too much fun. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkhjkkkhhhhhhh

You must have a pretty big dimple in your nose. I can't get from k to h without hitting the j.
 
  • #16
My office at my old job was next door to an office room that was jinxed. All the guys (managers) who worked in that office didn't more than 5 years or so, but one in particular was downright weird.

This weird guy would walk from his office to the computer room which was across the hall from my office, and he would stop in the doorway of my office, sigh, and say "yep, yep, yep, . . . <sigh>" I usually refrained from responding because it would usually invite an inane comment. :rolleyes: He was finally let go, because no one could work with him, and even though he was a manager, someone usually had to direct his work, and that was often me.
 
  • #17
it seems as if we each come bundled with our own slightly different "operating systems," doesn't it? i suppose the trick is to get compatible versions under one roof working together. at least that's what they tell us. occassionally, however, there's a slip up and you get one that's 'special.'

we had one years ago that had a big outside interest in gardening and started a lot of seeds and cuttings indoors, in the office, in their cube. come to think of it, it was actually fun going there and seeing all that green popping up. it was kind of a relaxing change of pace. come to think of it, maybe more offices should apply the concept.
 
  • #18
runner said:
it seems as if we each come bundled with our own slightly different "operating systems," doesn't it? i suppose the trick is to get compatible versions under one roof working together. at least that's what they tell us. occassionally, however, there's a slip up and you get one that's 'special.'

we had one years ago that had a big outside interest in gardening and started a lot of seeds and cuttings indoors, in the office, in their cube. come to think of it, it was actually fun going there and seeing all that green popping up. it was kind of a relaxing change of pace. come to think of it, maybe more offices should apply the concept.

Ha. You've reminded me of another quirkiness in an associate worker.

I was in the Movie Biz for 6 years and one of my Teamsters always brought his little dog to work. There was no way to part him from it and the Teamsters can be very protective of their own. One day things got very bad because the dog was "going" all over the very expensive stuff I was hauling to a very expensive set (with Sidney Poitier and Tom Beringer). That wasn't the worst of the quirkiness... this professional, highly trained driver of trucks (teamster) also ran out of gas along the way. This was bad because we were renting a whole Freighter to anchor just within camera shot of our set for $10,000 every 6 hours. Arf.
 
  • #19
Astronuc said:
My office at my old job was next door to an office room that was jinxed. All the guys (managers) who worked in that office didn't more than 5 years or so, but one in particular was downright weird.

This weird guy would walk from his office to the computer room which was across the hall from my office, and he would stop in the doorway of my office, sigh, and say "yep, yep, yep, . . . <sigh>" I usually refrained from responding because it would usually invite an inane comment. :rolleyes: He was finally let go, because no one could work with him, and even though he was a manager, someone usually had to direct his work, and that was often me.

:rofl: That reminds me of one of the muppets...one of them would say nothing but "yep yep yep"!

Oh, I just remembered a really creepy guy I used to work with! When a "new" woman was around, would follow her while jingling the change in his pocket. As he did this he would sort of...um...well, no other way to put it...grunt. Yuck.
 
  • #20
lisab said:
:rofl: That reminds me of one of the muppets...one of them would say nothing but "yep yep yep"!

Oh, I just remembered a really creepy guy I used to work with! When a "new" woman was around, would follow her while jingling the change in his pocket. As he did this he would sort of...um...well, no other way to put it...grunt. Yuck.

Jingle Jingle Jingle...HHHHHRUMPHHHHH...... <shakes head side to side> huh?
 
  • #21
Ivan Seeking said:
Yes, my coworker brings dead bodies into the office.

What is your cat's title or position?
 
  • #22
Title: Grand overlord.

Position: Anywhere it pleases.
 
  • #23
When I was in IT I think I met some of the most awkward people ever. They took quirky to a new level.
 
  • #24
mirroredfire said:
When I was in IT I think I met some of the most awkward people ever. They took quirky to a new level.

Were they the kind of people that were very vague and left you hangin?
 
  • #25
moose said:
Were they the kind of people that were very vague and left you hangin?

Sometimes it was that, like really short statements that would make you be like uhhhh... okaaayyy.

A lot of laughter over stuff that wasn't really funny, I realize in some instances when you know a lot more than someone else something can be funny to you and not the crowd, but that wasn't what was happening here... it was just weird. I know a few engineers and none of them are like these people were.
 
  • #26
mirroredfire said:
Sometimes it was that, like really short statements that would make you be like uhhhh... okaaayyy.

A lot of laughter over stuff that wasn't really funny, I realize in some instances when you know a lot more than someone else something can be funny to you and not the crowd, but that wasn't what was happening here... it was just weird. I know a few engineers and none of them are like these people were.

Wow, I don't know exactly why but that made me laugh so hard I choked!

I think the next time I'm in a meeting I'll use, "Uhhhh...okaaayyy." :rofl:
 
  • #27
lisab said:
:rofl: That reminds me of one of the muppets...one of them would say nothing but "yep yep yep"!

Oh, I just remembered a really creepy guy I used to work with! When a "new" woman was around, would follow her while jingling the change in his pocket. As he did this he would sort of...um...well, no other way to put it...grunt. Yuck.

Playing pockey pool, perchance?
 
  • #28
My whistling coworker was fired last week...I am no longer Whistler's Coworker...
 
  • #29
lisab said:
My whistling coworker was fired last week...I am no longer Whistler's Coworker...
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6785/pyrodancepleaseft2.gif [Broken]
 
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  • #30
lisab said:
My whistling coworker was fired last week...I am no longer Whistler's Coworker...

What did he get fired for?
 
  • #31
Cyrus said:
What did he get fired for?

He was repeatedly AWOL. It was a justified firing - he had a lot of warnings.
 
  • #32
Quirky co-worker? How about a married guy with 2 kids who would go to his mother's house to spend the night and sob uncontrollably because he went rabbit-hunting with a co-worker and he didn't shoot a single rabbit and the other guy did? He got into the monument business - headstones on the front lawn - despite the fact that he was making over $60K/year (1980's dollars) as a lead operator on the paper machine that I worked on. We lead-operators (machine-tenders in PM lingo) made more money than our bosses and our bosses' bosses, primarily due to all the forced overtime we had to work. Anyway, that fellow was quite overweight, and every single day, he brought nice fatty, sugary cream-rolls to work for his lunch and breaks and he washed them down with Diet Pepsi (I guess they cancelled) and he constantly spoke in a plaintive high-pitched whine. After ten years for that company, I was vested in the retirement plan, and I decided to find a new line of work.
 
  • #33
I have had plenty of quirky coworkers but I don't mind quirky. It's the downright crazy ones that bother me.

I worked with a guy for almost three years that should have been fired at least ten times over. Every time they brought him in for a meeting over a write up he would pull out his very best Johnny Cochran impersonation. He probably got away with so much because no one wanted to deal with him. His offenses: Calling our supervisor a "ghetto n****r" (he would have been fired in a heart beat if he wasn't black himself). Getting a haircut from three female students on his lunch break in a security restricted area. Allowing students to drive around in his car to pick up food and snacks for him. Failing to mention a felony on his record which would have resulted in his not being hired. Disappearing for hours at a time and not answering phone or radio. Looking into the personal affairs of students and even calling their parents to have discussions with them (we weren't even allowed access to students person information). Reading another employees emails. And the list goes on and on...

Another more recent coworker apparently would walk around the property stomping on snails (not just stepping but stomping) and reputedly accepted sexual favours from a tweeker who was stalking her ex boyfriend in return for not calling the police on her.

I'll stop there since I don't think I could top that last one.
 
  • #34
TheStatutoryApe said:
I have had plenty of quirky coworkers but I don't mind quirky. It's the downright crazy ones that bother me.

I worked with a guy for almost three years that should have been fired at least ten times over. Every time they brought him in for a meeting over a write up he would pull out his very best Johnny Cochran impersonation. He probably got away with so much because no one wanted to deal with him. His offenses: Calling our supervisor a "ghetto n****r" (he would have been fired in a heart beat if he wasn't black himself). Getting a haircut from three female students on his lunch break in a security restricted area. Allowing students to drive around in his car to pick up food and snacks for him. Failing to mention a felony on his record which would have resulted in his not being hired. Disappearing for hours at a time and not answering phone or radio. Looking into the personal affairs of students and even calling their parents to have discussions with them (we weren't even allowed access to students person information). Reading another employees emails. And the list goes on and on...

Another more recent coworker apparently would walk around the property stomping on snails (not just stepping but stomping) and reputedly accepted sexual favours from a tweeker who was stalking her ex boyfriend in return for not calling the police on her.

I'll stop there since I don't think I could top that last one.

Wow, SA, that makes for a tough work environment. Definately a sign of very poor management. I hope there are good people there that offset the crazy ones.
 
  • #35
lisab said:
Wow, SA, that makes for a tough work environment. Definately a sign of very poor management. I hope there are good people there that offset the crazy ones.

It was. I don't work there anymore. More because my boss was no sweetheart either. All of my other coworkers were great though. We had to stick together or it would all have just been too much to deal with. The one I mentioned had another outlook. He figured if he could play everyone against everyone he would wind up on top. He eventually, fortunately, decided it was better to have an ally and started being nice to me.

I still work at the same place where the second guy worked but I think that he was fired or quit. My bosses there and most of my coworkers are very nice.
 
<h2>1. What are some common types of quirky coworkers?</h2><p>Some common types of quirky coworkers include the "Chatty Cathy", the "Complainer", the "Micromanager", the "Slacker", and the "Know-it-All".</p><h2>2. How can I maintain a positive relationship with my quirky coworkers?</h2><p>One way to maintain a positive relationship with your quirky coworkers is to try to understand and empathize with their quirks. Communicate openly and respectfully, and try to find common ground and ways to work together effectively.</p><h2>3. How do I handle a coworker who is constantly interrupting me?</h2><p>If a coworker is constantly interrupting you, try to politely and assertively communicate your boundaries. Let them know that you need uninterrupted time to focus on your work, and suggest a specific time or method for them to approach you with their questions or concerns.</p><h2>4. What should I do if a coworker's quirks are negatively impacting my work?</h2><p>If a coworker's quirks are negatively impacting your work, it may be helpful to speak with a supervisor or HR representative. They can help mediate the situation and find a solution that works for everyone.</p><h2>5. How can I maintain my own sanity while working with quirky coworkers?</h2><p>To maintain your own sanity while working with quirky coworkers, it's important to set boundaries, practice self-care, and have a support system. It may also be helpful to find humor in the situation and focus on the positive aspects of your job.</p>

1. What are some common types of quirky coworkers?

Some common types of quirky coworkers include the "Chatty Cathy", the "Complainer", the "Micromanager", the "Slacker", and the "Know-it-All".

2. How can I maintain a positive relationship with my quirky coworkers?

One way to maintain a positive relationship with your quirky coworkers is to try to understand and empathize with their quirks. Communicate openly and respectfully, and try to find common ground and ways to work together effectively.

3. How do I handle a coworker who is constantly interrupting me?

If a coworker is constantly interrupting you, try to politely and assertively communicate your boundaries. Let them know that you need uninterrupted time to focus on your work, and suggest a specific time or method for them to approach you with their questions or concerns.

4. What should I do if a coworker's quirks are negatively impacting my work?

If a coworker's quirks are negatively impacting your work, it may be helpful to speak with a supervisor or HR representative. They can help mediate the situation and find a solution that works for everyone.

5. How can I maintain my own sanity while working with quirky coworkers?

To maintain your own sanity while working with quirky coworkers, it's important to set boundaries, practice self-care, and have a support system. It may also be helpful to find humor in the situation and focus on the positive aspects of your job.

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