# Screw You, Co-Worker from Hell! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-co-worker-from-hell/4006 "2000-01-14T19:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-co-worker-from-hell/4006/21 "2000-01-22T14:08:00Z")
Next time you’re sick, go to work anyway and infect everyone. Then when you’re sick again there’ll be no question! 😃 There was one guy at work who went out on disability with a “bad back”. He showed up at the company picnick at Knott’s Berry Farm and was riding the roller coasters. They sacked him as soon as they legally could after he got off disability. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-co-worker-from-hell/4006/22 "2000-01-22T19:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Canthearya: > \*\*I believe the problem has been solved. The thing that bugs me the most is that my co-worker lied to me about answering the phone. I **know** it was him. There were only two people here that day and the other guy is great. This statement leads me to conclude that you have _not_, in fact, checked with Mr. GreatGuy to ascertain that he was _not_ the person who answered the phone. Until you have, you invite the reader to conclude that, in actuality, it is _you_ who are being the inconsiderate and thoughtless person, and just perhaps the alleged Co-worker-from-Hell is, indeed, innocent. If you came to me, as a supervisor, and complained about CFH _without_ having done this, and I subsequently discovered that it _was_ Mr. GG, **you** would be the one due a reaming. IOW, cover your ass, and don’t start throwing stones until you’ve also checked the screens over your windows. > [@](#): > > My philosophy on problems with co-workers is this: 1. Try to solve the problem myself, without a third party’s intervention. In my opinion, this is only fair. Maybe the guy just made a mistake. 2. If the problem happens **again** , I’ll bring it to my boss’ attention. Trying to solve the problem yourself without an appropriate 3rd party either as witness or mediator may be a mistake. You think _you_ have a Coworker-From-Hell because, apparently only once, he allegedly mishandled a phone message for you. Try working around a guy whose body odor _would literally make a man (me) gag!!!_ Try it for _months_ on end! And the _real_ kicker is, I’m not one of the unlucky who had to share an inner room of cubicles with the guy – I just had to occasionally get caught downwind from him on the way to/from a meeting, held in a conference room twice the length of a man and narrow enough to reach from wall to wall, with a conference table in the middle. I mean, people, I walked into the guy’s cubicle one day before I realized just _who_ it was that had passed down a hallway, leaving a scent like a mooose in heat, and gotten out of sight while their reek still hung in the air. I took a breath to begin speaking and _my throat literally **spasmed** _ :eek:. And believe me, I’ve smelled some funky aromas in my time. I put a bottle of _Ban_ deodorant on the guy’s desk one afternoon while he was away at a meeting – for those, he always managed to clean himself up, apparently, because I can’t imagine an end-user sitting in a room with this guy and not wondering WTF!! It made no difference. I tried sympathizing with the guy, I thought perhaps he was silently suffering from depression, which I know from personal experience can cause some people to “let themselves go”, hygienically, but this guy never showed any other signs of that. Instead, he’d come in fresh as a flower on Mondays, and by Wednesday or Thursday – look, one time he must have gone to the mens’ room before me, and left, and yet when I came in several minutes later, I could _still_ smell the guy so strongly, I turned around and went to the next-nearest john. Another time I was unfortunate enough to actually _be_ on the john when the sonofabitch came in and sat in the next cubicle. I didn’t have to look – his _smell_ literally rolled off his body like an invisible fog and under the partition into my stall. It’s a helluva world where a man can’t so much as pinch a loaf without being disturbed by a co-worker’s body odor! :mad: Finally, I couldn’t take it and went to my supervisor to ask to be taken off the project I was on with the guy, and thank God, the super agreed. I also told him the guy in question might be seriously depressed, and should be approached from that viewpoint; but I wasn’t willing to endure it anymore out of a sense of compassion, rightly or wrongly placed. Oh, and maybe I should point out – the guy was a contractor, and with the passing of Y2K, he’s gone. > [@](#): > > . . . the co-worker in question is passive-agressive, so he doesn’t treat me badly in day-to-day activities, only behind my back. In order for you to say this, I assume this is _not_ the first time you’ve had a run-in with him over something like this. If so, could you mention/describe some of them? A consistent pattern of such behavior would add weight to your belief that he is the one who answered the phone. > [@](#): > > I think the fact that I confronted him may have scared him. Indeed. And, if I was vociferously attacked by a coworker for doing something I knew I hadn’t, I might be a tad disconcerted, myself. I might _also_ start keeping a log of my own, or make a log-entry type report to the supervisor, just to engender credibility with him/her in the event something similar happened again. * * * And your whiny, crybaby, half-assed opinion would be . . . ? ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-co-worker-from-hell/4006/23 "2000-01-24T14:26:00Z")
I said: > [@](#): > > I believe the problem has been solved. The thing that bugs me the most is that my co-worker lied to me about answering the phone. I \*\*know it was him. There were only two people here that day and the other guy is great. **Monsieur Papoon** replied: > [@](#): > > This statement leads me to conclude that you have not, in fact, checked with Mr. GreatGuy to ascertain that he was not the person who answered the phone. It was the weekend when my friend told me about the way he answered the phone. Monday morning, I walked into the office and the only person here was my co-worker from Hell (CWFH). You’re absolutely right, I had no proof that it was him who answered the phone, but I **did** have it narrowed down to him and my other co-worker. They were the only two in the office on the afternoon in question. So, I said “Someone answered the phone…” and he denied it. I told him that I didn’t know who it was, but that it had to be him or the other guy, and that I would talk to the other guy when he got in. I did. I’m sure the problem is cleared up now. He’s been blowing sunshine up my skirt ever since I confronted him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-co-worker-from-hell/4006.md?page=1)