Imagine someone poking you repeatedly with their finger. You ask them to stop, but they grin and keep jabbing at you. If you grew up with a sibling, this should be easy for you to picture.
It’s the ultimate little brother weapon for a reason: every annoying action in the history of that sibling rivalry is channeled into the tip of the finger and put to work in a concentrated form.
Dealing with a frustrating person or situation grinds on the psyche over time, and we become vulnerable. We find ourselves with a heightened sensitivity to annoyance.
Savory Suffering
At work, it might be the squeak of your neighbor’s office chair, the light in the hallway that needs to be replaced, or the smell of the break room. Maybe it’s the annoying company-wide emails, the jargon of the industry, or the mere mention of a difficult client.
Ever see this on the way to work?
The office can be the perfect storm of frustration and potential annoyance, and it’s easy for the little quirks of the workplace to symbolize everything that’s miserable about the job.
When you find yourself at a place where the sound of your cell phone ring stresses you out, the overwrought signature of a co-worker really annoys you, or the thought of your company’s widgets makes you want to scream, you know a change is needed.
Losing Your Mind? Stop it!
Maybe you need a vacation, maybe you need counseling, or maybe you need to find a new job. Certainly, though, you need to find a way to keep the frustration at the root of it all from continuing to spread through you, deeper into your life.
Then again, perhaps I’ve over-thinking the matter. Throw the phone in the pool, destroy the copier with a baseball bat, and publish an article on the dysfunction of your industry. If that doesn’t work, then you can try the vacation, introspection, and new job route.
If you enjoy reading this blog, why not tip the author?
9 responses so far ↓
1 Leann I Am // Aug 24, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I can still smell the breakroom at my old job when I think about it. Now, I stay home with three kids and often miss the ups, downs, praise and criticism a job in the outside world provides.
I’ll go back someday and I’m sure I’ll miss this when I do. The grass is always greener, right?
2 Bush Mackel // Aug 25, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Sprinkling in little vacations from work, even if it’s just making a 3 day weekend here and there does the trick for me. Another thing I do is desperately trying to avoid contact with people that annoy me.
3 Melanie // Aug 25, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Grown man. Baby talk. On cell with grown woman. Want. To. Die.
4 Scott M // Aug 26, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Lunch with 4 beers and a good book.
Everything looks rosier after that.
5 All Those Little Annoyances at FreshBlogger // Aug 27, 2007 at 9:26 am
[…] another great article from Chuck at I Hate Your Job: Death by 1000 Cuts: Annoyance at Work. The little things that annoy you are often the worst things. Remember the straw that broke the […]
6 Ray Dotson // Aug 27, 2007 at 9:28 am
Great post, Chuck, and so true! I’m with Scott M: That’s good medicine for a bad day.
7 Ashley // Aug 27, 2007 at 5:47 pm
http://www.speeds-cartoons.com/images/images60/construction.jpeg
Chuck-
This is similar to your picture, but I stumbled across it a few weeks ago and couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe it’ll make someone else laugh, too.
Thanks for helping me keep the annoyance at bay…
8 Carlos Castellon // Sep 28, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Hi. I was in a similar situation two years ago. I actually began to hate the Nokia default ring tone (sorry). I was preparing to move when another division told me that they had a vacancy. Of course, a job is not without its ups and downs but nothing (so far) can compare to my own two years in the Fourth Circle. Whew.
9 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 2, 2007 at 11:28 am
@Carlos– I hated the Nokia default ring tone too! Glad/sorry you’re able to relate.
Leave a Comment