Do you have toxic co-workers in the office? I'm not talking about the types who need to wear more deodorant during the summer months (though we probably could include those in these groups); I'm talking about the type of guy you love to hate. As this article puts it, the type of guy whose departures is considered a holiday by everybody else in the company.
Of course, I naively went looking for information on how to handle such co-workers, but rather it just warned me that they're out there and what damage they can do. Like many of you, I've been in the working world simply far too long to not know what such characters are capable of doing to an office and its collective mood.
Then I started to wonder that, statistically speaking, there must be toxic professionals reading that very article, yet they don't know even recognize their own abhorrence. That in turn led me to think back at every job I've held – have I ever been the toxic colleague?
I still maintain that I'm not a guilty party, but since I dislike people who can't recognize their own shortcomings, I do apologize now to each and every former and current colleague for any instance where I may have been a toxic co-worker. For what it's worth, if I am guilty, I hope you all received a paid day off on the anniversary of my departure.