In any workplace, professionalism, and maturity are essential for maintaining a positive and productive environment. However, there are times when a co-worker’s behavior falls far from these expectations, leaving their colleagues to cope with immaturity in the workplace. In this collection of stories, employees reveal the immature antics they’ve had to endure from their co-workers.
From petty revenge to constant gossiping and attention-seeking behavior, these stories showcase the challenges faced by individuals who must navigate through the immaturity of their colleagues. Prepare to be astounded as we delve into the experiences of employees who have encountered the epitome of unprofessionalism. These stories serve as a reminder that maturity, respect, and professionalism are crucial elements for a harmonious work environment, and shed light on the unfortunate situations that arise when these traits are lacking.
All content has been edited for clarity.
That’s A Valid Question
“A girl at my work asked if I could write a document for her because she didn’t have time. I was also swamped but I handle stress better than her so I said okay. When I was done I sent it to her in Word format that she could edit herself.
A couple of minutes later, she sent it back to me in an email and asked me to correct a single mistake (I had typed the number 30 but it should have been 28).
Her email said, ‘You put the number 30 where it should say 28. Please fix it and send it back.’
I fixed it and sent it back to her in an email that asked, ‘Wouldn’t it have taken less time if you had just changed that when you saw it rather than write me an email about it?’
She didn’t talk to me for a week and a half.”
Not A Co-Worker Being Hypocritical
“A lady I work with caught me on Reddit one day and started lecturing me about how unprofessional it is to be on websites that aren’t work-related.
Skip ahead a few hours, I walk to her desk to ask a question, and she’s got Facebook and several online shopping websites open. Doesn’t even try to hide it or be stealthy about it.”
I Did Not See That Coming
“Ugh, don’t even get me started.
The girls I work with have all formed their own little cliques, which in itself wouldn’t be bad but then they make fun of each other and everything becomes a popularity contest. I kid you not, threats like ‘Then I won’t talk to you for a week’ are serious business. If there isn’t some sort of world-shattering drama going on around the workplace, you’d worry that someone died.
The guys aren’t much better. You can always hear them on the other side of the room, yelling and laughing about things like poop. There aren’t that many of them, so they’ve formed a clique counter to the girls that honestly do nothing but rough-house and pee on the floor. In fact, just the other day I had to put them all in time-out for like, half an hour. The crying and screaming were crazy.
Working at a daycare though, I guess that’s pretty typical.”
Sounds Like A Fun Workplace
“My boss, a woman in her 60’s, needs constant recognition and reassurance; not just for her work product, but also for her personal appearance, etc.
One day, she came in and I said, ‘Hello’ (without really looking up) as she walked by my desk en route to hers.
Not 10 seconds later, she was back, yelling, ‘Haircut! Haircut! HAIRCUT!’ while pointing at her head frantically.
Apparently, I was supposed to have noticed and commented on her (identical) hairstyle within 30 seconds of her walking through the door. She was huffy about it for days.”
At Least He Got What Was Coming To Him
“We had a guy who was from New York, his mom was supposedly a lawyer and his dad a doctor. Because of this, he felt the need to make it very apparent to everyone that he came from money and was better than us.
We work in IT, so almost all of us like video games, card games, etc. He would just stroll over into the middle of the conversation, pull his face back like he just smelled a skunk, and interrupt: ‘What are you guys even talking about?’
We’d tell him and he would just roll his eyes and walk away.
One of my friends that grew up in the country mentioned a ‘cattle car.’ D*uche McGee walks up and says ‘What? What even is that?’
We tell him and he makes this big production that he’s from a wealthy family in New York and still doesn’t understand. I’m like, b*tch, it’s a cattle car. the two most descriptive words for it are in the godd*mned term.
Eventually, someone noticed him looking up other job prospects during work hours, and said, ‘You don’t seem to want to work here anymore so we’ll oblige you.’ Fired. I was stoked.”
Maybe A Little Insecure
“My co-worker is 48 and massively jealous of a younger woman who works here (29). The younger one was talking to our boss and the older one kept walking by so the younger one and the boss moved to the boss’s office to continue talking.
While they were gone I caught the older one in a closet with her ear to the wall trying to eavesdrop.
The closet borders the boss’s office.”
This Sounds Straight Out Of The Office
“A co-worker (female) and my boss (male), both 40 years old, routinely hit, slap, and screech at each other all day like third graders. I just looked behind me and I’m pretty sure I saw them kicking each other, like some sort of sad, office Street Fighter.
Another co-worker gets so mad that she bangs her fist on the desk hard enough to shake my cubicle walls.
Other, sane coworkers and I have talked about instituting time-outs. We have this thing we call Shi*ty Co-Worker Bingo, where we keep track of this stuff for sh*ts and giggles. It doesn’t really do anything but gives us a sense of grim satisfaction, but still.”
It’s Called Asserting Dominance
“Every time my boss has to fart, he will roll his chair over to mine, let one rip then scoot right back behind his desk.”
She Sounds A Bit Jealous
“I’m the IT Director for a group of auto dealerships, but I started as a receptionist at one of them. The Office Manager/Controller was the direct supervisor for the receptionists, and ever since I moved up (I make more money than her) she frequently ‘forgets’ to sign checks to reimburse me for various work supplies, and insinuates that we should move to a third party consulting for our IT support needs.
Last year, she also withheld five thousand dollars from me because the invoice for ten new business computers was mistakenly addressed to me and not to the company.”
This Job Sounds Really Serious
“I work in a VERY small town about an hour away from where I live. There are no stoplights and there is a dollar store and a grocery store and a gas station. The rest of the town is residential. The woman who works in the office with me lives in the area.
She literally sits at her desk and reads books, clips coupons, balances her checkbook, and does crossword puzzles all day. Every day she takes extra long lunches (we get 30 minutes she takes nearly an hour) and comes back with her lunch and the newspaper.
I wait an additional 30-45 minutes when she gets back for her to eat before I can clock out for my lunch. She then waits for me to clock out and decides to go outside and make personal phone calls on her cell phone or goes and runs down the hall to talk with so and so about whatever gossip they have to share about everyone in town, leaving me in the office with my lunch at my desk answering phones and tending to walk-ins while I’m supposed to be on lunch.
We generally aren’t a busy office, but the mentality just gets to me. We have a supervisor, but she is afraid to tell this woman anything at all.”
If Only There Was Something She Could Have Done About It
“I’m in IT for a financial company. A secretary here refused to attend any of my training or meetings and then would have the most ridiculously bullsh*t questions and would send them all ‘priority.’
This woman was so dumb she asked me what headphones were when I told people they could listen to a webinar at their desks if they didn’t want to join us in the conference room.
On her last day, she told me she repeatedly threw me under the bus (she worked for the CEO) because she was ‘frustrated with her own lack of understanding of the tech systems.'”