😒 Yes, your co-workers are irritating

Do you find your co-workers grating? Turns out, that might not just be a you problem.

A recent survey of ~3k employees from resume platform Kickresume found that 85% of employees have dealt with an annoying co-worker, with 58% reporting reduced productivity as a result.

That's a pretty high number that likely indicates many of us are annoying one other.

What do these annoying co-workers do?

The survey named the five most irksome behaviors:

• Stealing credit for other people's work (33%)
• Micromanaging (32%)
• Frequent complaining (30%)
• Invading personal space (30%)
• Lunch theft (27%)

Some of these issues are obviously mitigated by working at home — it's hard to steal your co-worker's lunch from their own fridge. (Also, can we just point out how baffling it is that adults who aren't the Hamburglar still do this?)

But 33% of Gen Z respondents said remote work had increased irritating behaviors, possibly due to many younger employees starting their careers over Zoom amid the pandemic and the rise of remote work.

The pandemic…

… may also be why people are feeling more annoyed than ever.

Misconduct solutions company Work Shield found that co-worker complaints spiked at the onset of the pandemic and as workers returned to the office. Work Shield CEO Jared Pope told Fast Company he thinks it's because "people forgot how to act" around others.

Meanwhile, work friendships are fizzling out as employees struggle to bond in remote or hybrid settings.

There are numerous think pieces about whether that's a good or bad thing, but it likely means we've lost the co-workers with whom we'd typically vent, leading to issues festering until a complaint is made.

What do experts suggest?

Obviously, harassment should be reported to supervisors. But if you're just annoyed, consider looking within and examining your own emotions and responses. And if that doesn't work, try approaching the co-worker directly — not with anger, but with curiosity and empathy.

• The Spanish government discovered an employee had been skipping work for six years while recognizing him for his dedication to the job. Joaquin Garcia, a 69-year-old building supervisor at a water treatment facility in Spain, managed to rake in ~$242k for six years of work he didn't do, thanks to a miscommunication between two local departments that resulted in neither one overseeing his work. (Shout out to bureaucracy.) Ironically, the OG quiet quitter was being nominated for an award for his 20-year tenure when someone finally took notice.
• We wish we were joking: AI is funnier than humans, according to a new study. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, asked 105 participants to provide their funniest responses to a series of prompts, then had 200 judges assess the human answers against ChatGPT-generated ones. The result: AI punchlines won out ~70% of the time. Admittedly, not all of us are funny.
• This Trader Joe's pantry staple is banned in South Korea, where it's considered a drug. The country is cracking down on narcotics-related products, which includes foods that contain poppy seeds — like TJ's Everything but the Bagel seasoning — given their use in opium production. Though such products have been banned since 2022, the popular seasoning is specifically being called out at airports, as travelers apparently can't live without it, which we suppose makes it addictive though maybe not a drug. (Note: Eating the seeds, even a lot of them, can't intoxicate you, but it can result in failed drug tests.)