Are You The Office Jerk? 5 Things That Make People Hate You

Let's face it, no one really wants to be the "Office Jerk". The problem is that the stress of working in a closed environment with people from wildly different backgrounds, with very different personalities can be tough. Sometimes, the jerk is just someone who doesn't seem to understand how to behave in polite company and other times, it just a person who hates their job and tries to get a little entertainment by terrorizing their co-workers.



On the other hand, sometimes the jerk is simply someone who doesn't realize that their behavior is annoying others. Personally, that's the kind of jerk that scares me the most. It makes me worry that maybe I am the jerk sometimes. After all, if they don't notice, maybe I wouldn't either.



To help make sure that none of us are jerks, the Wall Street Journal recently offered a list of things that cause your coworkers to dislike you. Take a look and see if you are the office jerk:

1. Sucking up to the boss - This one should be obvious, but it must not be, because at every job I have worked at, there has always been that person who insists on sucking up every chance they get. I don't mean that they are polite to the boss or even a little chatty. This refers to blatant brown-nosers. 
2. Negativity - There isn't much that can drive me crazy over the long haul as a negative co-worker. You know the one - no matter what the new policy is or what project you're working on, they have to criticise and complain about the work, the boss, the company and so on. If you listen to what they have to say for just a couple of minutes, it becomes clear that they have serious issues with authority and seem to think that they are owed a job. The problem is that when you have to put up with them on a regular basis, you find yourself feeling negative and angry as well.
3. Messiness - Don't you hate it when you go into the break room and find a pile of dirty dishes and counters covered in sticky stuff? Having a slob in your office is hard to cope with and no matter how many times you ask, they don't seem willing to clean up their act. If you don't want to be the office jerk, try to pick up after yourself and keep your space tidy.
4. Poor cubicle etiquette - The partitions that make up your cubicle aren't walls and they aren't soundproof. What's worse is that, often, they aren't even attached to a wall. This means that the person in the next cubicle that enjoys loudly talking about their personal problems and often slams their chair into the partition can really interrupt your work flow. When you're working at an office that has cubicles, be aware of how your actions are impacting your neighbors.
5. Not fitting in - This one doesn't make someone a jerk, it just means that they aren't the right person for the job. When accepting a new job, it's important to understand the corporate culture. Not everyone is going to be a good fit with each office. For example, I am not a fitness person. I don't like spending hours and hours outside and I don't know the first thing about hiking. If I were to work for Nike, L.L. Bean or Land's End, I probably wouldn't fit in. The fitness and outdoor nuts would have trouble relating to me and I wouldn't understand them either. Finding a culture that fits your personality is important for long term job satisfaction.

Hopefully this list made you laugh and you may have even recognize a few of your co-workers in here. What other things do you think people do at work that can cause them to be the office jerk? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.