17 employees describe the absolute worst coworker they ever had.

Working with other people can be on the greatest challenges of any job as collaboration and basic human decency aren't universal skills...

Every job has that one coworker who is always the subject of the workplace drama, but everyone still begrudgingly invites them to the post-work happy hour. Maybe if we give Steve a 18th chance he won't get us kicked out of the bar for starting a fight about spreadsheets? So, when a Reddit user asked, 'who are the worst coworkers that you've ever had to work with?' people were ready to vent about the office snack stealer, squeaky wheel, or the teacher's pet to the boss.

1.

We had a guy on the night shift that would come to work clock in and then drive away, come back at the end of his shift and clock out.

The manager was told about it a number of times but said 'I didn't see it, so I can't do anything about it.' This guy was doing this for over a year. I ask what was up and the manager said, 'He has mama baby issues.' - fldsld

2.

As a Disney cast member, dealing with bad coworkers is a fact of life. Unfortunately, Disneyland requires literally tens of thousands of employees in order to stay running, and this means that there will inevitably be some people with zero work ethic who roll their eyes at the job like it's beneath them because it's 'just Disneyland.'

What compounds the problem is that it is nearly impossible to get 'separated from the company' (read: fired) for incompetence or poor performance. Instead, Disney operates on a rigid point system.

Call in sick? 3 points. Clock in late? 1.5 points. Get 15 points in 6 months, or 24 points in a year, and you're fired. The points stay on your record for 365 days.

So if you are terrible at your job, and fail to perform your basic duties, such as being in your correct position, using appropriate language, being friendly and helpful to guests, being accessible to guests, and emphasizing safety first, it will most likely go unnoticed.

Even if guests complain about you, this will likely be covered up by the immediate supervisor in order to prevent further audits and oversight from upper management. Strangely enough, one thing Disney is incredibly concerned about is the online activities of its cast members.

Using social media to speak badly about the company, or trying to sell/barter your Disney benefits (ie: 'Give me $20 and I'll get you into the park for free') will get you terminated instantly, and they are very watchful for these things.

For this reason, I cannot be more specific and risk revealing my exact position, but the next time you are at Disneyland, really take a critical look at the cast members.

Every single one of them should be bright eyed and smiling, ready and happy to help you, never leaning or sitting, never idly chatting among themselves, never turning their back on guests, never accessing personal electronics in view of guests.

When I see two cast members leaning against a wall, chatting with each other, ignoring guests and checking their cell phones, it's just incredibly frustrating.

I know they'll never be punished, and to rat them out serves no purpose except to make everyone hate you. You just have to let them make you look bad and decide that you'll be that much better to make up for it. - dcmthrowaway

3.

The ones who keep telling you to do things when they have no authority over you. F*ck you Zach! - Dwarf--Shortage

4.

Probably Madeleine. She would organise holidays and pretty much present us with a fait accompli where we HAD to cover for her. Well, one time someone said that they couldn't cover for her as she was going on Holiday, and I was already covering her shift...So Madeleine called her bluff, and just expected her to work it out.

Cue me getting a call on the Friday night, literally begging me to cover for her and work 18 hours over the weekend at about 7 hours notice with a 6 A.M. start. This was a regular occurence.

I stopped working there at the end of December, and I got a frantic message last month asking me to cover for her, because she'd booked a holiday, and hadn't booked cover first. - GMDynamo

5.

I had been covering a coworker's responsibility on a project for about a month because he 'didn't have time' to learn the task up until that point. I finally pressure him to schedule some time to learn it with me and he says, 'Well why can't you keep doing it?' - SenorSerio

6.

Worked with a painter who would constantly complain about anything and everything. 'It's too hot, too cold. I've got too much work, not enough work. It's 4:30 and I have nothing prepped for the next morning so I'm just gonna send the rest of the team home and ride the clock until 5 so I can collect a larger share of the billed hours for the day.

I'm gonna go to lunch at 11:30, come back at 1, then announce to the whole shop that I am leaving again to go let dogs out. Someone makes a joke about me and i go crying to the owner that people are being spiteful and are out to get me.'

I quit after almost 2 years of nearing that shit. When I put in my resignation, the department head said that I had trouble working with people and that I had upset a lot of the more senior employees in the shop.

After I finally left I found out Jeff had been talking sh*t about me to the manager the entire time I worked there and that he was excited to see me leave. I talked to several of the other employees a few months later and Jeff is STILL talking about me.

Everyone tells him to shut the f*ck up and that he is one of the main reasons I quit. They are all pissed because every person they have gotten to replace me has either been a complete failure or they are a total d*ck. - shadow247

7.

I worked at a concrete company when I was 17 for a summer job, it was really hard work especially when your the new 'young buck' they shove all the sh*tty jobs on you and see what it'll take to make you quit.

Anyway about 4 weeks into the job the owner of the company has Albus son who is my age come into work for him, he got all of the easier jobs and whenever I was with him he would go out to the truck and take 10 minute long water breaks.

Then he would come back and pretend to do work but as soon as the foreman looked away he would slow his pace down or stop completely; and since he was usually working with me it became Mr. Miyagii hurry your a*s up or GTFO.

I mean I get that it's the bosses son but Goddamn don't mistake his laziness for my incompetence. I would strip whole rooms and this kid would just sit there breaking ties and I'm still pissed off about it. - Mr_Miyagii

8.

Oh God, David. I started working as a glass collector at this nightclub and he'd been doing the job for about 6 months before me. This made him think he was essentially my boss even though nobody had ever told him this, and despite the fact I was clearly better at the job than him.

He'd do everything in such stupidly over-complicated and slow ways, wasting so much time and generally causing the place to almost grind to a halt.

The worst part was the fact he seemed to have no concept of personal space though. I f*cking hate super touchy-feely people. - Fireach

9.

Dana. I can't stand Dana. Whenever you have any question, she looks at you like you're crazy for asking. She gives you one of those looks like, 'seriously? You want me to do that?' it doesn't matter that what you're asking for is her responsibility. You can't ask her to do anything without her giving you sh*t back.

She doesn't copy people on emails so she'll go off and work on a team project with her different team while other people are doing THE SAME THING. To top it all off, she's in marketing and unknowingly made our publicly owned company tag line a sex joke.

I know there are worse people out there, but this makes everyone's day-to-day suck. Also, she laughs like one of the hyenas from The Lion King all day. - hungrierdave

10.

I once worked with a guy who genuinely believed cats could reproduce with rabbits and would argue at length about it almost every day. The first time I told him it was impossible, he searched 'cabbits' on google images and said 'See! Told you!' Maybe not the worst, but definitely the dumbest. Keep in mind, this guy was 32 years old. - Springpeen

11.

Jenny is 30 or 31. I have never worked with a more incompetent person in any job, ever. We're both pharmacy technicians, and I honestly believe that if she keeps working in this job, she's going to kill someone.

Over the past few months, I've had to deal with some of the most incredibly stupid questions that could ever come out of a person's mouth, especially since she went to one of the local trade schools to prepare her for this 'career.'

Is a tablet the same as a milligram? What's that cancer that makes your hair fall out? Is crystal meth kept in the safe? What medicine is it that makes you want to eat people?

So.... you do marijuana with a needle, right? Wait... 'ludicrous' is a real word? Not just a rapper? I didn't think I'd be thirsty because it's raining out, but I'm thirsty. Can I go buy a soda? Can men get bipolar? What's menopause?

Recently, Jenny had a conversation with a pharmacist who was filling in at our store for a few days last week. The pharmacist was talking to her about school, after hearing that she's going to one of the big technical colleges in the area, and asked what she was studying there.

Jenny: I'm studying engineering.
Pharmacst: Oh, that's cool.
Jenny: Yeah, I don't even know what that means, but I'm hoping to get a job making those board things that go in computers.

I'm hoping she quits soon; she hates the job because 'people be telling me what to do, like 'Jenny do this' and 'Jenny do that.'

She just recently told a pharmacist that when it comes to doing the basic tasks like helping to put our weekly order away or using the register, she doesn't care if it's part of her job description, she doesn't want to do it. - coinoperatedgirl

12.

I once had a coworker who wouldn't do a damn thing if the boss was not in the store. If he wasn't there, she would be on the store phone talking to her baby daddy, outside smoking, or out in the mall shopping. She would do enough work to cover a 15 minute break, if you complained long enough for one.

However, if the boss was there, she was all over the customers like they were her new best friend and all in the boss' face saying, 'Look at how well I work!'

I complained, naturally. He just said there was nothing he could do because he never witnessed any of this behavior. Well, one day, while she was pulling her BS, another coworker and I were hit hard with a really huge rush.

She was suppose to be helping with handing out orders, making fries and drinks, and whatnot. Instead she was off on the phone talking about sex, loudly, in earshot of the customers.

I had a mental breakdown and just started crying. I turned around and yelled at her, saying something along the lines of, 'No one cares about your stupid sex life. Not me, not [coworker] and not the customers. Either get up here and DO YOUR JOB or just leave now.'

She came up to 'help' but with the worse attitude ever. As soon as the rush died down I booked it to the back, grabbed the cordless phone, and called the boss in tears. (I thought I was going to get fired for yelling in front of customers.) He agreed to do a 'stake out' and watched her from afar. She was fired. I was given a raise. I quit 2 months later. - love_n_other_crap

13.

I share office space with a woman who's been working in our firm for 35 years now. Underneath her desk she has a banker's box half-filled -- at least 10 kilos -- with colorful rocks.

One day I asked her about the rocks. 'Oh, everytime somebody reaaaally pisses me off, they get a rock in my box, so I can remember it.' 'You mean...all of those rocks represent somebody?'

She rummaged in the box for a second and pulled one out. 'This is for the time [department secretary] didn't invite me to her Christmas party, even though I gave her a present.' I picked one out at random. 'So...who's this for?'

'That's for [old boss, retired circa 2003], that b*tch. I told her not to hire that guy for accounting, and she got pregnant six months later. She should have listened to me.' I stared. 'So...do I have any rocks?' She just glowered at me for a second, then turned back to her newspaper. - angryhaiku

14.

I was a swing manager at McDonalds in high school. We had one employee, Johnny, who just didn't want to do any work. He was in the kitchen so his duties were to cook, prep, clean and restock. His favorite thing to do was prep. Ask the man to make a Big Mac and you'd get the worst sandwich ever. Ask him to slice tomatoes and you'd get perfection.

Anyways, one day we're really busy and I'm helping out in the basement with an inventory order. Johnny comes downstairs and his hand is sliced, bad. Down to the bone, bleeding everywhere. It looked like he put his hand in the tomato slicer and just smashed it onto his hand.

Thing is, he was so calm. Looked pleased with himself. We sent him home thinking that was that. He strolled out, said goodbye to his coworkers and we never saw or heard from him again.

That night I'm sorting out all the tills to take the dailies to the safe drop at the bank. We're missing nearly $5,000 in cash from the manager's safe. Never happened before. Never happened again. Don't know how he did it. - SaveTheWails

15.

When I was sixteen, I worked at Wendy's. One day I went in to find out that I was training. I am working back window, and as I am training her, she starts filling me in on her situation, She was a recovering crack addict who had just been released from jail for theft, and was living in a halfway house.

She was also forty years old and kept hitting on me, asking if I had ever had women, telling me constantly how cute I was etc. I thought I'd have to get a new job, but two days later, addiction won out and she ran out the door with a hundred bucks.

The funny thing was that, had it just been the money, she would have just been fired, since she ran out with the work walkie-talkie, she was charged with a felony. ( those things are stupidily pricey) - Beboprockss

16.

Working as a cashier for a grocery store. Awesomely friendly boss was always quick with a joke and great with customers. She also counted the drawers and handled the front of the store.

My drawer came up $20 short one day (never happened in the year I was working) and I got pushed in front of the store manger without any defense. I could pay it out of pocket or get wrote up. Couldn't afford the $20 so I took the write up. Broke highschool kid that had to pay car insurance.

Boss goes on later and starts talking about watching out for 'quick change artists'. Yeah that must have been it. Fast forward three months - I quit because of a sh*tty raise (because of a demerit) and go work elsewhere. A few months later she's arrested and fired for stealing from the tills, to feed her lottery habit. - [deleted]

17.

Easily the bisexual love triangle that I had to deal with while working at Arby's in college. One of my managers (female) had just split with her husband, so she started banging one of the kitchen guys. When that went sour, she started hooking up with one of the female employees.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem, except the male kitchen guy clearly still harbored feelings, which led to some nasty shouting matches during work hours. They'd try to pull the other employees into it and get us to take sides. I was all like, 'F*ck you, I'm just trying to slice roast beef.' - Spartannia