# Dear Irritating Ignorant Coworker **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210 "2006-09-10T21:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![naotalbah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@naotalbah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naotalbah)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/41 "2006-09-22T17:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Cite? [/QUOTE] well, your asking me to prove a negative here, which is a little tricky, but I will do my best. I am assuming Kiz is in the US- if she isn’t, all bets are off. I am from California, land of employee friendly laws, and here is our anti-harassment law > [@Cal Gov Code § 12940(j)(1)](#): > > {it shall be an unlawful act} for an employer, labor organization, employment agency, apprenticeship training program or any training program leading to employment, or any other person, because of \*\*race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, or sexual orientation, \*\*to harass an employee, an applicant, or a person providing services pursuant to a contract. If harassment in general were forbidden, why would these bases be specified? Likewise, the federal anti-harassment law, Title 7, says > [@42 USCS § 2000e](#): > > (a) Employer practices. It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer– > (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s\*\* race, color, religion, sex, or national origin\*\* “Hostile work envionment” is a phrase from case law (and I think the federal regs as well, but I haven’t checked) that refers to discrimination that does not result in a tangible job action like getting fired or not getting promoted. See _Faragher v. City of Boca Raton_, 524 U.S. 775. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/42 "2013-09-23T01:47:23Z")
I apologize for zombifying a very old thread: I just wanted to ask **kiz** to tell us what eventually happened? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/43 "2013-09-23T01:52:21Z")
Oh man I was reading this and saw it was a zombie (that I had first posted to. Huh!) and was all like “omg omg omg I hope the crazy co-worker found this and bumped it!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/44 "2013-09-23T15:25:39Z")
Holy crap, I’d forgotten about this thread! I just found the notification in my inbox :boggle: Coworker was transferred out of the department maybe a year or so after I’d written this? She was going through a very rough personal patch at the time and was taking it out on everyone. During that year-or-so she’d been suspended a couple of times and was threatened with being fired if the behavior continued. Transferring her, to TPTB, seemed to be preferable to firing. The position has limited contact with others, which at first infuriated her, but somewhere down the line she changed her tune somewhat. I don’t know if it was counseling or being threatened again with being fired or what, but she finally learned to keep her personal life out of work. We’re on what I call “cautiously friendly” terms now. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/45 "2013-09-23T18:17:00Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > \ she finally learned to keep her personal life out of work. We’re on what I call “cautiously friendly” terms now. You’d almost think that would be something adults should instinctively know. ☹ ETA: Glad to hear she’s not making your life miserable any longer, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/46 "2013-09-23T19:01:36Z")
What **Cat Whisperer** said. I’m glad that my shrieker\* and my complainer\*\* are two different people. I’m also glad that I haven’t had to deal with either of them in about five years. \*apparently she lost her concept of “inside voice” while working around heavy machinery. \*\*one time, I had been put on quality control and she complained about me pointing out her errors - to the point of threatening to go to the union. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/47 "2013-09-23T23:12:52Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > I don’t know if it was counseling or being threatened again with being fired or what, but she finally learned to keep her personal life out of work. We’re on what I call “cautiously friendly” terms now. Does this mean that she’s still going through the same turmoil as seven years ago, but she’s not taking it out on her co-workers? Or that things are more manageable for her these days? Or that, because she’s not bringing drama into work any more, you don’t really know? Reading over that, I can see how it may come across as snarky. I don’t mean for it to; it’s perfectly valid for you to want to choose for yourself in whose life you will have intimate knowledge of the details. All I know is that from what you were writing in 2006, I wouldn’t have wanted to trade places with her on a bet (and my life in 2006 wasn’t anything to write a MMP about). Personally, I hope her life just has less drama. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/48 "2013-09-24T00:18:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You’d almost think that would be something adults should instinctively know. ☹ You’d think so :nodding: At the time she was on the verge of seriously snapping, though, and given what I know about her background, I can sort of understand why she took it out on everyone. Didn’t make it right in any way, shape, or form though. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/49 "2013-09-24T00:24:08Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Does this mean that she’s still going through the same turmoil as seven years ago, but she’s not taking it out on her co-workers? Or that things are more manageable for her these days? I want to say it’s more manageable these days, but then again she always has some kind of turmoil going on. > [@](#): > > Or that, because she’s not bringing drama into work any more, you don’t really know? I think she’s keeping it quiet and/or only sharing it with a few people as opposed to everyone and their brother. > [@](#): > > Reading over that, I can see how it may come across as snarky. I don’t mean for it to; it’s perfectly valid for you to want to choose for yourself in whose life you will have intimate knowledge of the details. All I know is that from what you were writing in 2006, I wouldn’t have wanted to trade places with her on a bet (and my life in 2006 wasn’t anything to write a MMP about). Personally, I hope her life just has less drama. My mother’s dementia was at its height in 2006, so I was probably as wired as my coworker was. I just didn’t explode all over the place. I know what happened to her at the time I originally posted this, and there’s no way I’ll share it because it’s not my story to tell. I doubt her life is drama free – it’s just on the low-down now. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/50 "2013-09-24T02:13:39Z")
Now that it’s 7 years after the incident, I think that knife throwing event should have resulted in a criminal complaint against her for assault with a deadly weapon. And reporting it up the chain of command. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/51 "2013-09-24T17:10:29Z")
[quote=“Sean\_Factotum, post:4, topic:372210”] …Bring a squirt gun to work. …QUOTE] Fill it with urine. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/52 "2013-09-24T22:56:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Now that it’s 7 years after the incident, I think that knife throwing event should have resulted in a criminal complaint against her for assault with a deadly weapon. And reporting it up the chain of command. A couple of people IRL mentioned that at the time. I didn’t want to add to what was going on with her, so I never considered it. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/53 "2013-09-24T23:30:56Z")
While IIC may not have handled the situation well, two things stood out for me when I was reading the revived thread: “Management’s always taken her “mental innocence” into account for almost everything, though.” “According to our disability insurers, I cannot work one minute past when I’m scheduled to punch out; if I’m in the middle of something, I have to drop it, leaving it for whoever else is there to finish and/or clean.” Both of these are nearly guaranteed to foster employee resentment. No one likes to feel like they’re on the losing end of favoritism. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210/54 "2013-09-25T12:41:55Z")
> [@OleOneEye](#): > > Both of these are nearly guaranteed to foster employee resentment. No one likes to feel like they’re on the losing end of favoritism. We have new management that has a no-tolerance policy. I daresay if she was now the way she was then, they would fire her, no questions asked. The dropping-everthing-to-avoid-OT thing…well, that’s a given in this industry. If you’re the low person on the totem pole, you’re also the clean-up person. Ideally one should budget their time so they have time to clean up their own mess, but it doesn’t always happen like that. And yes, I was that low person on the totem pole many many many many moons ago, just in case you’re wondering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-irritating-ignorant-coworker/372210.md?page=2)