No matter what you do for a living, you’ll come across people who seem to think it’s their job to make yours harder.   Whether you spend your days in a warehouse, an office, a kitchen or at home freelancing, they’re out there, waiting to drive you to fits of singing the “Day-O!” song as you count the minutes until you are done for the day.

Inspired by the famous self-help book by Stephen Covey (which I’ve never read, actually), here are seven things people do that are detrimental to your work ethic.

1—Being reactive

Proactive folks will seek out ways to do things in a timely manner.  Reactive ones are oblivious until stress forces them to act.  If you’ve asked them sixty times to order supplies and end up with nothing at deadline time, it’s hard not to rip their heads off.

What You Can Do:

Document, document, document.  Email them your requisitions, and keep a copy of their replies.  Then you’ll have time-and-date-stamped proof that you didn’t drop the ball.

2—Not seeing the big picture

Sometimes  people will focus so hard on the details that they lose sight of the overall goal.  Let’s say you’re part of a sales team that has to send out a literature packet to 100 people.  You know what supplies you need, and you’re ready to go.   Then your boss tells you, “I revamped the whole thing, and I told them you’d ship in three days!”

 

Before you strangle him, remember I can’t afford to bail you out.

When this happened to me, there was nothing I could do.  My then-boss ended up grabbing other people off their jobs to help.  I don’t think he understood what he did.  I almost wished I had missed the deadline, just so I could point out how unrealistic that was.

What You Can Do:

If your boss is like this, the best strategy is prevention.  Plan for additions to your project, because anything that ends up in committee will bloat faster than a walrus with the bends.  Give him status reports with lots of detail, including projections of completion time.  Bosses love that.

3—Procrastination

Writers do this to themselves.  It’s easier not to do the boring article or edits.  “My TV show is on, I have to run to the bank, my back hurts from sitting all day.”  Coworkers who delay sending you documents and answers can make you want to rip your hair out and set it on fire.

What You Can Do:

Bug them until they give you what you want.  Do it politely, even sweetly and they’ll eventually cave.  There’s a Spongebob episode where Squidward tries to take the day off under the guise of running errands and drives himself crazy imagining Spongebob’s continuous “Did you finish those errands?”  Set up your coworkers’ minds the same way and they will conform to your every whim.

4—Being selfish

It’s not all about you, buddy.  Taking credit for other people’s work, never helping them with projects, and always stealing the best red pens out of the supply closet don’t make you cool.  That only makes you an asshole.

What You Can Do:

You need to thwart this person before he can undermine you.  Slip the office wretch a buck or two to save some red pens back for you.  Speak up when Selfish McSelferson steals your proposal:  “Excuse me, but I believe you forgot to mention we both worked on that ‘Bring Back Firefly’ presentation.”

5—Not listening to a damn thing anyone says

Anyone with a boss who says they have an open door policy knows what this means.  They saaaay you can bring them any concerns, but when decision time rolls around, workers’ input is nowhere to be found.

To be fair, a lot of employees just use this to bitch.  And surely you’ve dealt with a teammate either at work or recreation that won’t listen to anything anyone tells them, to the detriment of all.

What You Can Do:

Well, it would be nice if you could tie the person to a chair and beat them unmercifully with a keyboard, but you can’t.  Treat them like the children they are.  When you must tell them something, make sure you have them repeat it back to you.  And like #1, document everything.  When they whine “But I didn’t heeeeeaaarr youuuuu!” point to your email / memo / skywriting.

6—Trying to do it all alone

Whether they’re trying to impress the boss or afraid to ask for help, people who try to do it all will invariably fail.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed at crunch time.

What You Can Do:

If you’re snowed under, delegate.  The next time someone asks if you need something, say “Yes, please, would you kindly take this pile of finished clown permits over to Bobo? Thank you.”  Ask others if you can help them.  They’ll remember, I promise.

7—Coming to work sick

The seventh habit Mr. Covey mentions is balancing and renewing your health and rejuvenating yourself.   People who come to work when they’re sick are useless Typhoid Marys.

What You Can Do:

If you possibly can, stay home.  There’s no balance there; if you don’t give yourself time to heal, you’ll just get worse.  Not to mention your flu is the gift that keeps on giving.  See this Mythbusters results page, third item down, if you need any more proof.

Stuck being around a sick coworker?  Wash your hands frequently, use alcohol-based sanitizers (NOT antibacterial Triclosan–that junk makes superbugs) and don’t touch your face!

Don’t know anyone like this at work? Then it might be you.  We spend so many hours on the job and most of us don’t want to be there.  Use that time to be constructive, not destructive.