I guess the title says it all. Things that gets on managers’ nerves but as much as we love to tell you off, we understand the little things brings a tiny piece of paradise to you at work. Just please don’t go overboard, eh?
Eating at your desk
Employees usually reason it out as productive as they can eat and work at the same time. Cuts down the time, commuting to and fro from the cafeteria. However, a good manager will tell you that he rather you take your lunch elsewhere. For good reasons too!
1. Food attracts the undesirable
Ever wonder where the ants, roaches even rats came from?
2. Unbearable Smell
Some food smell is just disagreeable to others’ noses. And we are just too polite to ask you to eat in the toilet.
3. You make me Hungry
I can smell that delicious whiff of your chicken soup but I am skipping lunch because I need to rush this report for my bosses. You and your chicken soup is making me and my tummy miserable!
4. It’s for your own good too
Everyone should take a break away from their desk and stop staring at the computer screen all the time. It’s healthy to take a walk, stretch your limbs and socialize with your colleagues.
Personal Jungle
A cute doggie calendar, a ‘World’s Best Mum’ and two photo frames worth of your grandkids smiling at you, make your work day breeze through with ease. That’s okay, sweet and endearing even. But it gets too much when I can’t see you even when I am standing right in your cubicle. You seem to be lost in the jungle of soft toys, furry pens, seven Starbucks tumblers, another seven bouquets of dead flowers and countless of photos sticking all around your computer screen. One would wonder how you manage not to be distracted.
Don’t get too attached
After a while, our cubicles becomes our second home. Especially with our personal jungle listed above. There are times managers would ask you to shift your seats or reshuffle your cubicles. While we understand it is a hassle to move everything and you really like the Feng Shui of your desk, don’t get dismayed and look from a positive point of view that it might be a good chance to sit next to someone else you haven’t bonded much lately.
Everything Confidential
Us as managers, we will love to share what is going on with the upper-level management if it allows you to understand the bigger picture and ease your work processes. However, there are times certain information are confidential and perhaps kept even from us as a middle management. These are trying times where we truly seek your understanding to go along instructions until we are able to reveal the full picture to you.
Abuse of Leave
Yes, your annual leaves and medical leaves are an entitlement. But please don’t abuse it. It gives us a huge headache whenever someone on the team abuses those leaves. A good example would be someone who called in and plead for urgent leave every single time he had an argument with his girlfriend the night before or someone who called in sick twice every week. Whenever we grade your appraisal, we tried hard not to take that into consideration but calling in sick while posting your colorful nightlife on Facebook the night before isn’t a good idea.
Leave the Virus at Home
That being said, if you are sick, please stay away. I once had an extremely sweet and hardworking staff, she would hardly fall sick but when she do, she totally refused to see a doctor or rest at home. She would bring the virus to work and infect at least half of the team. Ultimately, the only thing I could do is to issue a verbal warning every time she turns up to work sick and order her home.
Any irk you observe during work and would love to share? Come and join us down in the comments below.
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I totally hate people ‘decorating’ their desks with soft toys, frames and God knows what!
I once had a colleague who had a set of Kung fu Panda toys arranged at her desk… It was totally unprofessional and equally distracting at the same time, worst being because of the seniority of her position, no one dared to tell her this! Totally irks me out!
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Haha! Totally could see the Kungfu Panda series collecting dust and causing allergies!! I used to have a boss who loves to decorate all her bouquet of flowers around her office room, we are talking about more than 20 of them!!! Her husband just sent bouquet after bouquet, whether it’s her birthday, Valentine’s Day or even Easter and Christmas!!
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That’s SO unprofessional 🙄.. Keep the romance limited outside the office. It totally gives a bad impression of the person plus it’s totally annoying to the rest of the office staff…
What if someone is allergic to those flowers? What if bees start buzzing in…😂😂😂
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That’s not the worst I’ve seen. I have seen a cubicle infested of roaches and my boss had to engage a pest company to clear it out!!! Shocking, I know!!
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Haha, must have been delightful for his subordinates!😂😂😂
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Reblogged this on wwwpalfitness.
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Great tips…
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Thanks, Daisy!!
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soft toys on the working desk can irritate anyone! I hope people are taking note of it.
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Not many people knows that soft toy in office is a breeding ground for viruses.
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I totally agree with the points on food and eating at your cubicle. Not only can the smell of food is distracting, sometimes if your colleague might come up to you when you are lunching at your desk and ask you about work stuff – and you might not be ready to entertain at all and your colleague might feel bad.
Also agree with the if you are sick, go home mentality. Spreading germs is one thing, but hearing your colleague sneeze and cough all day is another, and it’s distracting – and nursing your colleague just dampens productivity.
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I once seen a whole team of 20 folks down for two weeks because someone came back to work even he knows he had measles. That was totally inconsiderate!! The whole office had to be closed for a day and scrubbed down. Urgh!
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An excellent list. I don’t mind most of these but see many getting abused at times. Cheers.
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Thanks!! Sometimes I am able to look the other way but sometimes it just irks me no end.
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I know exactly what you mean
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Great minds think alike!
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On target, though as a consultant, it can be fun meeting with someone in their “decorated” cubicle rather than the drab antiseptic meeting room 🙂
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Hahaha!! Means you probably can see through their personality easily through their soft toys!
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Yes – the cuddly ones and the miniature
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yes, the cuddly ones and the miniature racing cars 🙂
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Haha. Imagine pairing a grumpy face with Pooh Bears all around the desk!
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I’m following every single tip you have mentioned for quite a long time. Especially, the last one 🙂
Health is worth 1000 blessings, you know.
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Millions of blessings 🙂
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Thanks, Kally!!
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Reblogged this on Ancien Hippie.
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Usually the strong smelling food gets to me. While I understand people wanting or needing to eat at their desk, I can’t help but think of some newspaper articles I’ve read that tell if just how germ-filled office desks can be :o!
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Oh yes, I think the most germ filled item is our keyboards!!
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Hi again. Thanks for coming past my place! 😉
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You’re most welcome!! Looking forward to great posts from you!
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😉
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