New annoying colleague

Bassmansam · 20 Oct 2018 at 13:03

moogle said:
Sounds annoying, in my previous team I had a new team member who used to initiate inane/irrelevant conversations and whine about the work. Luckily I didn't have to manage him so I could just ignore and be blunt. This guy sounds like he just talks differently because of how/where he was brought up, still annoying though.
But surely wouldn't all this have been flagged up at the interview???? If he said 'sup man' at the interview that'd be him marked as a no unless he was technically really good.

i didn't interview him, he was interviewed by manager and one of the team leaders, I wish i was on the interview i would have seen straight through him i'm sure.

MOOGLEYS · 20 Oct 2018 at 13:06

Sounds like management are a bit soft just tell him to stop acting the Pratt and get on with his job.... Or is that offensive I have no idea anymore tbh...

Rroff · 20 Oct 2018 at 13:11

MOOGLEYS said:
Or is that offensive I have no idea anymore tbh...

It is probably offensive these days.

I'm having to deal with it a bit at the moment as I'm not naturally a people person but currently in a position that requires managing people. not by choice but after a string of inept people in the role I stepped up rather than see yet another time waster filling the space.

bsoltan · 20 Oct 2018 at 13:15

We had a placement student in from Uni who was like this. They're just not used to working in an office environment where everyone gets their head down and works.

It should be brought up one on one with them if they don't realise it themselves, they soon should if everyone else's reaction is the same way as yours and are dismissive of his attempts at conversation or casual vernacular.
Most likely he is just trying to be friendly probably the same way he was at his previous job or with friends but everyone does have to react to their new workplace in a way.

wolfie138 · 20 Oct 2018 at 17:38

rebel rebel said:
A lot of abuses went on in the 90s. I was a postman for a while and used to get fireworks fired at me, you would be walking along in the basement and a rocket would get fired along the corridor. Another job I had, whilst loading or unloading the van they would throw a cs gas cannister in and shut the door.

yep, it's actually a little known fact that delivery companies regularly use CS gas cannisters on their rounds.

stuman · 20 Oct 2018 at 17:46

Your office sounds like it might need an injection of energy.

You all sound like soulless automatons.

SexyGreyFox · 20 Oct 2018 at 17:59

I had an annoying colleague from May 2017 to May 2018 and I ended up walking out twice with stress.
It was January this year when I walked out of work again so the Managers decided to swap desks around so I didn't sit near him and they put him on a capability study.
On his first test he failed it miserably - he had to photocopy around 400 A4 pages and put them in a Lever Arch file, it took him 3 days - seriously 3 days for a 1 hour max job.
He was asked to photocopy a 10 page letter and save it to a named file and password protect it - it took half a day.
It was May before they got rid of him and he shortened my lifespan by 10 years without even knowing he had done anything wrong - he was always in another world.

Uther · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:09

He's come from a totally different work environment, most manual type jobs are nowhere near as anal as offices (I've worked in both, hated the office) so he'll either settle down eventually or leave when he realises how boring and old before your time you all are.

He could be just not comfortable around people and trying too hard.

Tek81 · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:14

Professionalism > personal feelings. From the perspective of someone who has worked with hundreds of other people over the years, my advice is to recognise the situation as an opportunity to learn how to get along with abrasive personality types. May I ask what age bracket you fall into, op?

easyrider · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:16

Just tell him...honesty is the only option...

Rannoch · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:21

easyrider said:
Just tell him...honesty is the only option...

I agree, tell him or he will just get worse.

xb8browney · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:22

He sounds great.

dowie · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:26

It sounds like quite trivial stuff, are you uncomfortable just telling him he's being annoying and to talk less? I mean that is all that it sounds like you need to do.

mmj_uk · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:27

As OP described him it reminded me of the doctor from Idiocracy.

Bassmansam · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:33

bsoltan said:
We had a placement student in from Uni who was like this. They're just not used to working in an office environment where everyone gets their head down and works.

It should be brought up one on one with them if they don't realise it themselves, they soon should if everyone else's reaction is the same way as yours and are dismissive of his attempts at conversation or casual vernacular.
Most likely he is just trying to be friendly probably the same way he was at his previous job or with friends but everyone does have to react to their new workplace in a way.

tek81 said:
Professionalism > personal feelings. From the perspective of someone who has worked with hundreds of other people over the years, my advice is to recognise the situation as an opportunity to learn how to get along with abrasive personality types. May I ask what age bracket you fall into, op?

29

mrk · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:36

Bassmansam said:
"ooooh myyy"

Bassmansam · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:37

dowie said:
It sounds like quite trivial stuff, are you uncomfortable just telling him he's being annoying and to talk less? I mean that is all that it sounds like you need to do.

Yeah my team leader said give him one nore week, so i agreed. This supervising a staff member is all new to me and i haven’t really come across someones thats so hyper/ constantly talking.

We do have a laugh in the office but we know wr have to work for the majority of the time. Something he hasn’t grasped yet.

rebel rebel · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:46

wolfie138 said:
yep, it's actually a little known fact that delivery companies regularly use CS gas cannisters on their rounds.

Let me guess, you didn't contribute to the thread at all, you just wrote a snide comment to me?

That incident was at a commercial cleaning firm actually.

Scam · 20 Oct 2018 at 18:46

Bassmansam said:
Yeah my team leader said give him one nore week, so i agreed. This supervising a staff member is all new to me and i haven’t really come across someones thats so hyper/ constantly talking.

We do have a laugh in the office but we know wr have to work for the majority of the time. Something he hasn’t grasped yet.

Some people are very sociable in the office and still work 10x harder than others who sit quietly for 8hrs a day on the internet. That's worth bearing in mind. Is he actually slacking at his job? There's a difference between asking someone to keep it down a bit so you can concentrate, and telling him to shut up and actually do his work.

The fact that you've never managed anyone too means you should tread a bit carefully.

dowie · 20 Oct 2018 at 19:00

Bassmansam said:
Yeah my team leader said give him one nore week, so i agreed. This supervising a staff member is all new to me and i haven’t really come across someones thats so hyper/ constantly talking.

We do have a laugh in the office but we know wr have to work for the majority of the time. Something he hasn’t grasped yet.

It is probably partly because he's quite new, trying to impress or just simply doesn't know how to behave in an office/hasn't fully appreciated that he needs to get his head down and do some work too! I don't think it would be uncalled for for you to just tell him to tone it down a bit, you don't need to make a big deal of it.