Annoying Coworker- uhhh. disruptive to personal life

i2012do

I have the world's MOST annoying coworker. She is kind of new, she started in February.She basically like really pumped up her resume and got this job she isn't really qualified for.

Everyone else in theoffice is pretty similar in professional demanor and how we work with our clients and customers. She on the other hand is rude, speaks loudly, and interupts people.

Just this morning my boss and I were discussing upcoming orders nad sales statistics, not anything this coworker is involved in. She interupted my BOSS! then went on to step inf ront of me and discuss two upcoming projects- that are TOTALLY unrelated to what we had been discussing. Sometimes, I think she just shouts out facts to act like she knows something.

Yesterday was my grandmothers funeral and a really horrible day all in all. I checked in on email for work a few times in the morning and then put up my out of office. SHE KNEW that it was my grandmothers funeral. and during the day emailed me NO LESS than 15 times-- including to ask if i needed ink or toner. and if i thought that my office was warmer and if i needed a fan!?!?! So also emailed me to ask me time sensitive questions adn when I wouldnt rreply she would right back "guess you aren't available, I;ll have to ask the boss and tell her you couldn't provide me the information"
 I was really upset because I had the day off, but did need to be on my phone for an important work email- so I had told my boss I would check in perioidically. But this was for ONE specific email and this employyee  basically crammed my inbox with so many emails and forwards.

The most annoying part is that last Tuesday I was out of the office ot deal with family stuff, my nana's estate, close up our rental home since we werent using it because of everything going on etc- and she called and texted and emailed me a ton. I ignored her and the next day I said "when i am off, i am available for emergencies only"

today i came in the office and asked her why she sent all those emails i said "as stated i was available for emergencies and you constantly sent me reminder emails all day-- you KNOW that my email is on my cell..and that i was checking it for an important email to come in-- so i had to shift through and read tons of your emails while looking for that email to come in"... she goes "Well i figured you wouldn't check it, its not my problem that you did, and also i sent those reminders to you so you wouldnt forget to do stuff today or i wouldnt forget to tell you".

I don't need a micromanager. I have worked here for 3 years and my boss appreciates my work. I have never needed someone to "remind" me of anything- that is why we have Outlook, and Sharepoint,a nd a company calendar. I don't need specific reminders from the new girl!

I am really worried that during my wedding/honeymoon she is going to constantly do this again. So I told her toda y"during my wedding, I am turning off my phone beginning on Thursday and will NOT resume receiving work emails until when I am back in the office. IYoull have to use other resources to answer your questions".....

She gave me a nasty look and rolled her eyes.
If she had the audacity to contact me repeatedly during my grandmothers funeral- and not apologize then i am sure shell do it for the wedding.

I know i am just going to have to ignore her emails- but it doesnt mean it isnt going to annoy me. I have thought about blocking her email while i am away! lol.

I am not sure how else I can try to say to her that she can email me for emergencies only and that doesn't include ink or toner!

i2012do

As a side note I just want to say that usually my boss is pretty unemotional and doesnt really ask about what is going on in our personal lives (which is hard to do in a 4 person office!)But.. she emailed me last night and said
"I want to extend my condolences to your family. I also want to apologize on behalf of Sara, as she should not have been emailing you repeatedly throughout the day"

Ajoyd

So is this person essentially your peer, as in you both report to the same boss? Your boss should really be the one to reign this in, it is totally obnoxious an inappropriate.

Good for you for not strangling her this morning.

i2012do

She is my peer, and we both report to the same boss. I guess I have seniority here- but she shouldn't be micromanaging me etc.And when my boss is out, I am the one left in charge. There are only 3 of us, and the other girl is part time.

iriscarmendiaz

I have two pieces of advice for you.

1) I think you should let your boss know what's going on.

2) You need to use your work email service (outlook, gmail, whatever) to put up an OUT OF OFFICE notice. That way, it automatically gets sent to every email that comes into your office. Some systems (like outlook) allows you to set one for internal emails (within your company) and one for external emails (if clients email you). Also, you can set it to be active either for a certain period of time, or until you take it off when you return.

You can say something like "I'm out of the office from X date to Y date, and I will respond to emails in the order they were received after Z date. For emergencies or urgent requests, please contact Person ABC at (XXX) XXX-XXXX."


I really hope this helps.
That way, if they send your 600 emails, they get that annoying message 600 times.

spazticrexe

I am on a number of different projects at work and I use the rules functionality in Outlook pretty heavily to sort project emails into different folders. I'm actually a contractor, and I really dislike getting emails from the company I contract though, so I have a rule sorting any email from their domain into a specific folder, just so it isn't mixed in with everything else that's actually important to my job.

Maybe for the wedding you could sort her into her own folder? At least then they'd all be in their own place for you to delete

i2012do

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_august-2012-weddings_annoying-coworker-uhhh-discruptive-to-personal-life?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:1fb748ee-7a4e-40eb-b4b4-e553486f4cacDiscussion:9dbdeecc-a533-4cb4-bb0b-9646b3484fd4Post:2dc360d5-4823-4b4c-b7d4-3d393356b01b">Re: Annoying Coworker- uhhh. disruptive to personal life</a>:
[QUOTE]I have two pieces of advice for you. 1) I think you should let your boss know what's going on. 2) You need to use your work email service (outlook, gmail, whatever) to put up an OUT OF OFFICE notice. That way, it automatically gets sent to every email that comes into your office. Some systems (like outlook) allows you to set one for internal emails (within your company) and one for external emails (if clients email you). Also, you can set it to be active either for a certain period of time, or until you take it off when you return. You can say something like "I'm out of the office from X date to Y date, and I will respond to emails in the order they were received after Z date. For emergencies or urgent requests, please contact Person ABC at (XXX) XXX-XXXX." I really hope this helps. That way, if they send your 600 emails, they get that annoying message 600 times.
Posted by iriscarmendiaz[/QUOTE]

I wish this helped.... but I DO have up and out of office. I put it up yesterday after I checked in and then I had it up until I got in today!!
It doesn't deter her!! I even have one set up internally!

i2012do

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_august-2012-weddings_annoying-coworker-uhhh-discruptive-to-personal-life?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:1fb748ee-7a4e-40eb-b4b4-e553486f4cacDiscussion:9dbdeecc-a533-4cb4-bb0b-9646b3484fd4Post:a2817176-b2aa-40d1-8bd7-11a2a39b91ac">Re: Annoying Coworker- uhhh. disruptive to personal life</a>:
[QUOTE]I am on a number of different projects at work and I use the rules functionality in Outlook pretty heavily to sort project emails into different folders. I'm actually a contractor, and I really dislike getting emails from the company I contract though, so I have a rule sorting any email from their domain into a specific folder, just so it isn't mixed in with everything else that's actually important to my job. Maybe for the wedding you could sort her into her own folder? At least then they'd all be in their own place for you to delete :)
Posted by spazticrexe[/QUOTE]

Hi this is amazing advice. I have NEVER used this feature.
If you use this feature on your outlook on your PC, does it automatically set it up to go to a specific folder ALSO on your iphone/smart phone?
Because that would be AMAZING.

Also, I tink if i could sort her emails while I am out to go into a certain folder- I could give her a visual of how she is blocking up my email when I am out- so that It makes me have to search on a tiny phone screen to get to the "good stuff"

I'm going to work ont his and figure it out- that is a great solution for her.

As for her interupting, talking louid (just today after I wrote tis she sat at my desk for 25 minutes chomping on gum, going through her clients samples of art work and sorting them-- because my desk is like a workshop station for you to do your projects at--- NOPE)... I am just going to ignore her rude behavior.

Her favorite phrase is "NO ONE TOLD ME THAT" uh or  "NOT UH"

lb1212

Sorry to hear about your loss!  It's a real dummy to think asking you about your toner level while you are at your grandmother's funeral is completely inappropriate! It stinks that for now on (as long as Sara's working there) you're going to have to set up filters for any personal time you take! 
 I would speak with your boss,  but from the email she sent you, she is already aware of the issue. 
I like the "out of the office" automatic replies, but aren't there other ways Sara could communicate with you?  I know she's wanting to "not forget" to ask/remind/annoy you when you returned to work, but a note on your desk/mailbox would accomplish the same thing.  To me, and I get paranoid sometimes, it appears that she's trying to set up evidence of what she "does" - in her mind a good thing, but in all actuality will backfire. Hopefully, she'll soon be fired!  

i2012do

I just set up the rule!! its that any email she sends directly to ME (and not CCing anyone else) goes directly into a folder for her! I want to see how it works. Because her ananoying emails almost 99% of the time are just to me!!
You aren't paranoid LB1212- that's exactly what she is doing.
We are slow now, but i'm pretty busy since i'm preparing projects and trying to get ahead since I'm going to be out for 3 weeks... so I have been busy. I also work on special projects for my boss that she isn't involved in. So she thinks because SHE isn't busy- no one else is! And she shouts things out that have nothing to do with what people are talking about just to sound "involved" in the convo!!

I agree- I am going to tell her to write me stickies or keep a notedbook going of things to review while I am gone.

Thanks for all the good avice ladies

spazticrexe

It may be a little passive agressive, but when you do your out of office you can also do a response that is specifically geared to her.

There's a rules button in the lower left corner Out of Office assistant pop-up.

Hope the rules work the way you need them to on your phone!!

ETA: OH, there's also one little thing... I know sometimes my rule setup will automatically add the "on this computer only" rule - I usually go back and delete it, so you might have to too.

HTH!

iriscarmendiaz

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_august-2012-weddings_annoying-coworker-uhhh-discruptive-to-personal-life?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:1fb748ee-7a4e-40eb-b4b4-e553486f4cacDiscussion:9dbdeecc-a533-4cb4-bb0b-9646b3484fd4Post:20437c38-cba9-49c2-83bc-f79bd1829337">Re: Annoying Coworker- uhhh. disruptive to personal life</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Annoying Coworker- uhhh. disruptive to personal life : I wish this helped.... but I DO have up and out of office. <strong>I put it up yesterday after I checked in and then I had it up until I got in today!! It doesn't deter her!!</strong> I even have one set up internally!
Posted by i2012do[/QUOTE]

Yikes. She's one persistent [insert bleep-worthy word here].