There’s always that one coworker who’s so motivated that it hurts, even though they’re trying to be a good person. As much as you want to be happy for them, it gets weird sometimes. Here are eleven things these coworkers do that drive others up the wall. Do you know anybody like this?
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1. They give a TED talk every morning
During your morning team update, they’re pacing and using corporate phrases to explain the chart they’ve put up. There may even be a handout. As a result, you end up feeling like you’ve accidentally watched a TED talk about Q3 sales targets that you never actually signed up for. But you’re unfortunately going to have to listen to it all anyway.
2. They volunteer for pointless tasks
There was a time when the folder system made sense, but not anymore. This coworker has optimized it in a way that means you can’t find anything. It’s all because they took it upon themselves to reorganize everything & to just help. Yet it feels like they’ve done the exact opposite of help.
3. They set 7 AM meetings
It’s not clear who these early morning meetings are for because it’s definitely not for the people still brushing their teeth. Yet, somehow, these people wake up at 5:30 to do yoga & write in a gratitude journal before deciding on the meeting time. Most people are still trying to open their laptops.
4. They finish group projects first
As soon as you blink, they’ve completed the whole project, perhaps even uploaded it & named every individual file. Everyone else’s working out what the project is. But this kind of “motivated” worker claims that they simply had some free time at the weekend to sort everything out. Did they really have the same amount of time that you did?
5. They claim to love Mondays
It should be a legal requirement to sigh at anyone who openly admits that they love Mondays in the office. People like this are irritating beyond words. Really, everyone else is wondering why their coffee tastes so bad & what they actually did at the weekend. Yet these workers are bouncing around with way too much energy. Stop it.
6. They have a to-do list for everyone else
A few dedicated workers have color-coded checklists for everyone else to follow, even if they didn’t ask for it. Nobody did. Still, they’ve likely mapped out your entire week because they’ve become everyone’s manager in spirit. It’s really quite scary how quickly things change. And there’s nothing you can really do about it.
7. They reply to emails within seconds
It doesn’t matter if you send an email at 11:48 PM because they’ll respond at 11:49 with a fully formatted message that includes bullet points. They’ll send another at 6 AM that asks if you had a chance to review. Seriously, it’s not even light outside. Unfortunately, people like this are entirely incapable of gaining any sort of perspective on things.
8. They clap when things get done early
You’re forced to be in a clapping circle once your team finishes a task ten minutes ahead of schedule, almost like a performance review. It’s enough to make you want to hide away until everything calms down. Nobody needs a round of applause for pressing the “submit” button, yet this person wants everyone to think that they should. Should they?
9. They always send motivational quotes
Nothing is more corporate than receiving a message at 7 AM about how successful people never sleep. But you haven’t even looked at your phone this early yet. Of course, you could try deleting this message, but the fact of the matter is that it’ll be back again tomorrow.
10. They overuse corporate phrases
These coworkers will use & misuse corporate jargon in every single conversation you have with them. It turns every little task into an event, whether that’s something as simple as checking the Wi-Fi password.
11. They do frequent check-ins
While they might mean well, motivated coworkers can’t seem to let other people breathe. You’ll tell them that you’re working on a problem. An hour later, they’re back to ask how it’s going, along with a Slack message to make sure everything’s okay. It’d be okay if it were your boss, but it’s not, just Bob from accounting who’s overstepping his boundaries by way too much.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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