Happy Hump Day! & Angry Co-Workers!

Really? Hump Day?! Who came up with this? In fact, I never even know of this phrase for Wednesday until I started working at my current job in 2007. Imagine my surprise when a sweet 61 year old woman says, "Happy Hump Day!". Oy gevalt is all I thought. But the fact remains: We are at the half-way point of the week. What better feeling than knowing you've passed the mark and are on the decline to the weekend.

But my blog isn't all about just wishing about the weekend. My focus is on the workplace and how it affects all of us within it. For Wednesday, we are all starting to feel that way of wondering if we've accomplished what we've set out to do and are hoping we have enough time left to get our tasks done for the week.

However, I would like to talk about co-workers today. Specifically, co-workers who have been out for a few days, you had to cover their work, and then they return to criticize the work you've done. I'm sure you're familiar with these people. Sometimes they are happy-go-lucky employees, but in my case, they are annoying and unhappy employees. Just recently, I had a co-worker who was out for two days. During that time, I entered her orders and responded to her e-mails (on behalf of her). Yet, she comes in today and immediately starts dissecting all I did wrong.

Now, I appreciate constructive feedback, but it was more along the lines of "Why did you enter those orders already? They aren't due to the customer until such and such date." Are you serious? Are you asking me why I entered the orders as soon as they came in, as I've always been instructed to? Gee I don't know; maybe to get my work done so I can continue keeping up with all the work coming in at the beginning of the year.

So how to go about dealing with these people? How do you not let them get under your skin and in your mind? There's many options you can do, the most obvious is to just be the better person. But what happens when that doesn't work out? Do you speak back, ignore her, or tell someone? One article I read is the following: Rise Above the Fray: Dealing with Difficult People at Work.

How about you? Have you ever dealt with a similar situation? What tactics and methods would you recommend? Post your thoughts.

In the meantime: OY VEY!