By , Nina Zipkin
Published August 01, 2016
It's happened to all of us. We find ourselves dealing with an irritant that makes us dread going to work, whether it’s a shouty boss, a judgmental co-worker or a mysterious lunch bandit. But never fear, Entrepreneur is here to help.
We got some advice about negotiating the social and political minefield that an office can turn into from workplace communication expert Janel Anderson; Julie Bauke, the chief career happiness officer at the Bauke Group; Heather Huhman, the founder and president of Come Recommended and Alison Green, the creator of the Ask a Manager column.
Related: 5 Culture Truths Every Company Needs to Learn
But regardless of the situation, all of our experts agree that the best way to deal with an issue is to address it head on, and be empathetic. "There are always two sides. Always start with kindness and understanding and assume positive intent," says Bauke. “The world would be a better place if we didn't think people's primary goal was to annoy us.”
Read on for 20 tricky work situations and how to deal with them.
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Perhaps you're in a meeting or giving a group presentation and one of your co-workers takes credit for your work. Your first inclination may be to see red and want to set the record straight, but an angry confrontation without concrete proof isn't a good look for anyone. Take a minute to step back and suss out whether you misinterpreted anything.
Huhman says it's important to remember that you won't always get credit for everything you do. And if you ask your co-worker why he presented the idea as his own, you may not get the answer you're looking for.
"If you don’t say anything, you can still position yourself as the expert on the topic, idea or project,” Huhman says. “Be prepared to answer questions in meetings and do a little extra legwork to show managers that you know your stuff and are a valuable member of the team."
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If you are losing your temper due to your co-worker's judgement about everything from your decision to not get married or how you arrange your desk, remember that it likely isn't just your habits your colleague has an opinion about. He or she is probably judgmental about everyone's life choices. "Don’t reciprocate their behavior and don’t take it personally," says Anderson. "I recommend staying persistently pleasant around them."
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If you are contending with a co-worker's smelly lunch regularly, Huhman recommends getting out of the office, because "you can’t tell people what to eat." Talk a walk, go grab a coffee during the offending colleague's lunch hour and just let it go.
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Bauke says to treat the offending scent like you would if someone had spinach in their teeth or their fly was open. If it was you, wouldn't you want to be gently clued in? The person could honestly be nose blind to it if he or she wears it all the time.
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Whether it's a reply-all situation, an accidental carbon copy (CC) or you think you're sending a text to your buddy but it goes to your manager, there is a myriad of ways that your boss could be on the receiving end of a message that was not intended for them. "If it happens, the best thing to do is to apologize sincerely for the error in judgment and say that you were blowing off steam, you’re mortified, and it won’t happen again," says Green. Moving forward, wait until you see your friend at happy hour to talk about the terrible day you had at the office.
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If you are involved with a colleague and it ends badly, behave as you would if it was going well. Focus on the work, not your relationship. And if at all possible, make a clean break.
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Green says that you are well within your right to politely ask the colleague in question to stop by saying something like "I’d rather not discuss politics/religion at work" or "We feel differently, and I'd rather keep our political viewpoints/religious beliefs out of our work relationship." But if the talk continues, then you should involve your supervisor. "In the case of religion in particular, your co-worker may be exposing the company to legal liability for religious harassment, so your manager would definitely want to know about it," says Green.
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Right from the start, Bauke says that you should "set very clear expectations about who is going to do what and what the timelines are." Get agreement from everyone involved and put it in writing. But if a deadline is blown, approach your co-worker, not from a defensive position at first, but a helpful one. It's true, they could be trying to get by with the minimum amount of work possible, but they also could be dealing with other stresses.
Bauke advises asking them about what's going on in a calm and open-ended manner. "You are more likely to figure out what's going on if you operate from a position of curiosity, not blame. Help them connect with the big picture." And then if there is a still a problem, reach out to your supervisor.
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If you think you are getting the short end of the stick with manager favoritism, before you go confronting the situation, first look at your own work and what you could be doing better. If after examination your record is pretty unimpeachable, go to your boss and ask for additional opportunities to help.
"The most important thing is to keep working hard and to maintain professional relationships with everyone on the team -- even the favorite,” says Huhman. “Continue to be a team player. But if the favoritism is really severe you may want to reach out to HR and see what can be done."
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"It's never okay to get drunk at a work function; it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing. On Monday you have to go back to work and face those people," says Bauke. She recommends that if you are at a work party and you do decide to imbibe, take one drink and carry it around all night.
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Before you jump to conclusions, figure out who exactly has access to the money. If you see something suspicious happens more than once, approach the person who has the primary responsibility for the safe or the drawer. Bauke says you can say something like "after hours I've seen people accessing it, just wanted to make you aware. I'm sure there's an innocent explanation just wanted to let you know." If there is a list of people who have a key or a code, that you didn't know of, then problem solved. But if it turns out that you do see someone who doesn’t have that access actually stealing, then report it.
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Anderson's advice is to simply mind your own business and try not to think about how others view you. You'll only make yourself miserable in the long run. "People who don’t have enough challenging work to do -- or those who are simply petty -- are going to talk about someone and sometimes it will be you. Recognize that the gossip says more about them than it does you, even if you are the subject," says Anderson.
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