Get a Life!: More pet peeves

Self-absorption and lack of respect top the pet peeves of many feds, judging from comments on this blog. Those qualities are seen in the lack of customer service today; customers have to wait while salespeople talk on the phone to friends, for example. Putting your BlackBerry on vibrate --  and not pressing mute while talking with friends during a conference call are other annoyances.

It’s also a lack of respect when people invade your personal space at the office, hovering at the edge of your cubicle while you talk with someone else in person or on the phone. Many of the comments point to culprits in the “me” generation.

You are not alone. A CareerBuilder recruiter did an informal survey of bosses' pet peeves and came up with:

1. Abusing sick leave.


2. Out-of-control cubicles (too many decorative enhancements).


3. Extended smoking breaks.


4. Eating during meetings.


5. Poor table manners, if eating, during meetings.


6. Selling stuff at the office.


7. Chronic complainer.

• The Thrower – anyone with the tendency to hurl objects across the room when they are frustrated.


• The Excusifier – “That’s okay, go ahead home, I’m going to stay and alphabetize the expenditure files from 1987.”


• The Eat-Through-The-Meeting – “I think if we (GULP) increase productivity (CHOMP) through motivational programs (BITE) we can get (CHEWING) ahead of the (LOUDER GULP) competition.”


• The Pacer – If you have to watch this nervous person cross in front of your field of vision one more time today, you’re going to set up a trip wire.


• The Stock Checker – Your seventeen shares of tech stocks are not going to do any better even if you check the market on your cell phone or online every eleven seconds.


• The Fake Laugher – That gut-wrenching guffaw in response to a boss’s joke.


• The Dozer – Waking up with a snort and finding your chin on your chest when you look at your manager looking back at you.