You Know the Type, I'm Sure

Okay - I ask everyone out there.... who has a stupid co-worker story? Oh wait! I DO!!!

Get this... I work on a team of three people - there is me, our coordinator and a manager. We are a small department but we accomplish the amount of work a 5-6 person team would. Anyway, we sit in a cube-farm at work. We share a cubicle-wall with some HR people who talk about things I KNOW I shouldn't be hearing about. And katty-corner to my cubicle is another department pocket of cubicles that I will refer to as "The Others." I am actually quite friendly with a couple of the "The Others," but I have to say, half that team has some serious personality conflicts with A LOT of the other people at my company.

It's also important to note that my department tries desperately to keep drama to a minimum.

So, last Friday I took a vacation day, and my co-worker worked at home that day, so 2/3 of our department was out of the office. On Friday, my manager, who was in the office, was approached by one of "The Others" about the telephones at our cubicles. More specifically, that our telephones ring when we are not at our desks and it annoys her. So, she told him to instruct us that we should always put our phones on a 'direct-to-voicemail' setting when we are away from our desks.

Okay...

FIRST: We don't get many phone calls.
SECOND: Why is this person concerned about my phone anyway?
THIRD: Does this person not have enough of their own work to do that they must go nit-pick and nose their way into other people's business?
FOURTH: Does this person not understand Market Researchers and the sick type of humor we have when it comes to things like this?
FIFTH: Does this person just not realize who she is messing with?

Given the fact this particular individual has given my coordinator-colleague problems in the past, and that she has been a weird b-yatch to me and a few others I'm friendly with, for reasons unknown to us, I will not let an opportunity go unadressed.

So, I turned the ring volume up to the highest setting on my telephone and got to back to work.

Well, let me just tell you, the phone-gods answered my prayers and my phone was ringing off the hook today! And, in true passive-agressive Washington-woman style, I let the effer ring the full 4 rings each time before I picked it up, just before it went to voicemail. It was loud too and I KNOW she could hear it.

I'm sure you all have this type of co-worker at your current job, or had one at a prior job. You know the type, right? The sneaky, back stabber who doesn't step up to help others unless there is something directly in it for her. The type that isn't solution-oriented and prefers to go to management instead of talking things through with the colleague first. The type that blames others or tries to snitch on them. The type that is the first out the door in the evening and has really, really bad hair.

I am looking forward to the rest of the week in the office now!