A great co-worker is priceless – they make your work better, create a good work environment, and make you look good in front of the boss. A bad co-worker can make your life painful, make you dread work, and can derail your career.
But there are a bunch of types of bad co-workers.
Here’s my top 5:
1. Slacker – You’ve been assigned a project with Bob. You both should share 50% of work. But he is the slacker – he never does his part and then right before the big meeting/deadline – he comes to you and asks if you can help him. This is not Reality Bites – slackers are not cool.
2. Star – He/she is the golden child of the office and knows it. They make sure to take all the plum assignments, take credit for all the work you did together, and generally looks down on you.
3. Inviter – He/she wants to do everything with you. Want to go get a coffee? A movie this weekend? Lunch? Talk for an hour about the latest gossip? Nope…leave me alone. If we weren’t co-workers, I wouldn’t hang with you.
4. The Complainer – The spirit of life has been sucked out of them. Everything sucks and they want to tell you about it. Why the office used to be better 5 years ago? Why the boss is horrible? Why the work is meaningless? Nobody likes Debbie Downer.
5. Full of Smoke – This person looks good on paper. They seem nice, they seem to know people, they seem knowledgeable. But the confusing thing is they are “full of smoke”. It may take awhile to figure out but they actually don’t know what they are talking about. They give misinformation. Their supposed friends don’t even know them.
What did I miss? What are the other worst types of co-workers?