Discussion on:

Who's the most irksome employee? Let's take a vote

Waiting for the information hoarder on the assignment & try to reason with the know-it -all. I get replies like "who are you gonna tell"

I think you missed a category. This is the co-worker, especially in IT, that has zero technical knowledge and tries to overcompensate by using buzzwords and cliches in every sentence. They are the first people to pick up on new sayings and use them extensively. You have to be careful that management, who may not be technically savy but afraid to admit it, look to this person as an expert because of what they are spouting.

I saw an ad on the tube this weekend. A bunch of people are headed for a mandatory employee meeting, and one of them is handing out square cardboard cards. Another asks, "What are these?" The reply: "Buzzword Bingo".

I used to do this ten years ago. I was at a Fortune 100 company and one of our VPs would have a town hall every quarter where we would talk about results, issues and so on. He would always talk about industry trends and he was a great reader. So naturally it was a perfect event for buzzword bingo. Thing was - he knew it. We didn't have cards but we had lists in our head.

One time he encouraged greater participation in the discussions by handing out playing cards to people who asked questions or made comments. Best poker hand at the end won.

My team all participated and at the end, they all handed their cards to me. He decided to reward the creative approach and the whole team got dinner out together.

James

Yes, we have all played Buzzword Bingo in meetings. Now you have to imagine that there are people whose whole existence is one long protracted cliche or buzzword. They managed to work in their new buzzword into every conversation.

Sad..

Can I have a checkbox instead of the radio button please.. haha!

Missing category-- THE SLACKER
They're the one who can't seem to get any job done by themselves. Every job becomes a mountain and they need someone behind them to push them along or a person in front to pull them along. Either way, the majority of the work they are assigned is done by others.

If you're unfortunate enough to be put on a project with them, you either have to work twice as hard (with no credit for your extra work) - or your name is on a failing project.

Worst one I ever worked with(not in IT, used to take corporate files out of the file room and lock them up in his office. He also kept corporate information on his personal drive (spreadsheets we needed for billing etc.) He went on a month long vacation to Asia and I spent most of that month trying to convince IT to give us access to his online files, convince security that I really did need to take a crow-bar to his filing cabinet, and explaining to my supervisor that I couldn't do my job because I didn't have the information.

No doubt that the slacker is at the top of the list.

I think I'd have to put the Know It All right under that. Had one, a self-proclaimed JCL expert, who had to call me every night in the middle of dinner with a JCL problem. I started turning the bell off and that cured him.

Another one, and I'm not sure what to call them other than Charletan, is a person who does not possess many technical skills, but reads enough articles to know a bunch of "buzz words," then uses those buzz words along with any of the knowledge he can leech off of you to make themself look like an expert to the big boss. We have a manager like that here and all he does is screw things up. The really sad thing is that the CIO has no applications background, so he falls for the act hook, line and sinker. I guess we could call this person "The Actor." All act, no substance... plus he takes all the credit for anything good.

Sheesh, they all can be bad at some time. My vote for worst would be rumormonger/backstabber.

The scapegoater is the worst member of any team. If you're
looking for ways to place blame on others rather than how to
take responsibility for your own actions, YOU are the most
irksome member of your group.

The untreated ADD afflicted coworker has to be the worst. The one who forgets most things, loses things, can't find anything, never finishes tasks, never put away the things they get out to use and ask your help on every one of the above. Have you seen this? What was it the boss wanted? Do you know where I put that thing?
You know the one. They just drive you crazy.