Sound Off: Jerks at work

Jerks in the work place

Management in America doesn't seem to care if someone is a bully to their co-workers at all. We all have had to deal with them at one time or another. I personally think they should hold them responsible for their unprofessional behavior regardless of their work ethic or seniority. There are far too many jerks in American companies if you ask me. Why is it they can't seem to just show up and do their required duties assigned and just shut their nasty mouths? Disgusting treatment of co-workers and unprofessionalism should not be tolerated....period.

I might be considered a jerk

I might be considered a jerk at work towards one coworker, even though I get along with everyone else. However, I find it frustrating to work with this guy who won't try. I tried showing him stuff and he wouldn't listen--kept asking the same questions over and over again.

I know I shouldn't worry about what someone else does, but it does make extra work for me because the manager dumps his tasks on me and I find it frustrating. It also doesn't help that our mutual manager is a bully. I have concluded the only policy is total avoidance of this coworker.

I want to start off by

I want to start off by saying that there are many, many wonderful teachers. However, speaking from personal experience, there are a lot more jerks teaching school than there are in the workplace. There are an unbelievable number of junior high and high school teachers who never learned to properly and consistently discipline students. A few years ago, my son's parochial school principal started bullying students and told my son he was obstinate and then asked if he knew what that meant. My son had complained that his homeroom teacher was taking phone calls for loans during classes and giving everyone As so their parents wouldn't know he wasn't grading tests. The principal told me this was "OK because he was a Christian." The principal turned out to be an alcoholic--I had to put my son in a different school. When I reported this man to the school board and elders of the church, no one wanted to confront him. I finally had to report him to the school accrediting agency and told everyone that I took my son out of school because the principal was an alcoholic who was not getting help and was bullying the students. Of course I had gone to him in private first, and then talked with him in the presence of the school counselor. What do you suppose happened? They transferred the principal to the parochial high school and made him head basketball coach!!
Then I heard from several parents who had removed their children from the school the previous year. The principal had called one of the single mothers to tell her that she was a backstabber who had taken a knife and pulled it down his back because she had put her sixth grade daughter in another school! She was too embarassed to tell anyone, but when she found out what I had done, she called to tell me her experience.
However, what about all the boys and young men who have observed that jerky behavior gets alcoholic bullies promoted?
Sometimes, though, jerks are just not people pleasers, and we need to be willing to differentiate between honest confrontation and irresponsible behavior. Is a jerk someone who is telling us the truth we don't want to hear? Minimizing concerns causes problems too.
My humble opinion is that everyone needs to have exposure to a 12-step program. I strive for humility rather than humiliation and always question my motives. Still, the guy who's responsible for property management at our townhomes is a real jerk, as is the assistant manager. And the Algebra I teacher who told me that I would have to call the math instructional specialist to find out my son's actual grade on the math achievement test because she didn't know how many points each question was worth. I'll spare you the details.
Anyway, I'm making it a priority to fight bullying in schools--even if the newspaper adviser is mad at me because I told her putting a picture of an underage poker player in the school newspaper was irresponsible. If he were drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes, would his picture have been in the paper? Isn't playing poker for money and having an article written about poker parties in the public school newspaper glorifying jerky behavior?
Yours for responsible behavior

Yes there have been many

Yes there have been many inept managers and bad workers in my life. But as a meditation student, I am grateful they exist to help me become a better person. I cannot change them, but I can change my attitude towards them . They are among my teachers and I have nothing but gratitude for them. Once I think the above, my sense of peace changes.

I would like to thank Thomas

I would like to thank Thomas Hoffman and Robert Sutton for their article on this topic. As Robert referred to, we are making strides in the U.S. to provide recourse for employees and employers to rid themselves of these people who intentially ruin the health and careers of their coworkers in the workplace. New York is one of twenty states that have or are seeking legislation to address this issue. For more information into the depth's of what workplace bullies bring to their employer and how they willfully damage their employees, go to NYHWA.ORG.

If you are a person who has experienced workplace bullying, also known as Psychological Violence in the workplace and are willing to tell your story to legislators, unions and women's groups among others, please send an email to info@nyhwa.org. If you are a New York State resident, we would welcome you to speak to legislators who are aware of this issue for new legislation being drafted in 2007. If you are not from New York, NYHWA has close relationships to the other nineteen states who are working on similar legislative efforts and work closely with the Workplace Bullying Institute who we would forward your name to for states that do not have an active organization on this issue.

Mike Schlicht
State Coordinator
New York Healthy Workplace Advocates

Sadly, this kind of behavior

Sadly, this kind of behavior appears to be happening more and more these days. How about asking a co-worker to respond to a call from an in-house client about a fixing a program that HE had created and getting the response of, "and what's wrong with YOUR computer?"

Our company has lost it's

Our company has lost it's will to police these idiots. They not only go unchecked but control a great deal of influence effecting far too many careers and lives. PC has literally removed the spine that wove common sense together and made the work place a pleasure to work in. Now are large number of good engineers are just lowering there heads and pretending it doesn't exist or they leave. Morale and productivity is absolutely affected and after decades of being in the industry I'm personally dismayed at the lack of leadership and find a lot of management subscribe.