Mannerisms

Mannerisms
By Doug Hickok

Sometimes when I do trainings for managers, one of the exercises I have them do is write down one thing that someone does at work that drives them nuts. I thought I would share some of those things with you today.

“He repeats things over and over and over again!” says one comment card. (Speaking of which, how many “over and over and over’s” do we need here??) This is a good reminder that hitting the nail once is usually quite enough.

“She complains constantly about the free breakfast.” She’d probably complain about the free hundred dollar bills, too. Some people aren’t happy unless they are miserable.
“She clicks her tongue while thinking”, says an HR manager. Are you sure she’s thinking? That could be the sound her brain makes when it gets stuck. OK, this is actually what I call a ‘spacing tic’; a noise someone makes to fill up a silence. It’s probably more common for people to say, “Um… er… uh…” or something like that. Clicking wins the “Master Irritator Award”.

Then there are repeated words or phrases that would be fine to hear once, but when they become a habit, oh how annoying: “Every time he talks about his spouse he refers to her as, “My wife the R.N.” He’s either proud that his wife is a nurse or he’s worried that you’ll confuse her with one of his other wives if he doesn’t narrow it down.

“Crunching ice in her cubicle while working”, this card says in a scrawl. There’s a homicide waiting to happen here. When you’re in a sea of cubicles, the unspoken rule is to indulge only your silent habits. This person is blowing out the nerves of everyone within earshot, and somebody ought to give her the word. Do so kindly at first, but strongly if necessary, since she seems to be either totally oblivious or extremely malicious.

Then there’s the person who inflicts an unwanted nickname: “He calls me “Angel”. In this case you can be direct (recommended), as in: “Please don’t call me “angel” again – I find it to be offensive.” Or, you can cunningly think up a nickname he’ll loathe and reply with that. “OK, Donkey Boy.” (Not recommended.)

I’ll close with my personal favorite. “There is an individual who shoots across the office to other employees, which is very disruptive to everyone.” Shoots? What, spitballs, bullets? Yes, shooting across the office would be pretty disruptive.

So, gentle readers, let’s take a little look inside to check ourselves out for mannerisms that might be driving people around us nuts. Winning the “Most Hated” award at work is not a good career move.