Have you ever worked with or been around someone who was negative or complaining

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   ReneeDC1979posted 11 years ago

   Have you ever worked with or been around someone who was negative or complaining all of the time?
   
   How did you handle the situation?

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2. 61

   duffsmomposted 11 years ago

   Oh yes!  My last job the gal I worked for was the worst. Everything out of her mouth was all negative and drama!  I have to tell this story. It was icy out and someone was coming into our building and slipped and she hit her head and we had to call an ambulance.
   
   The gal I worked for (not the one who fell) literally said "Why do these things happen to me?"  I reminded her that the gal falling was NOT about her. But she was like that with everything.  It was really depressing. I have to say I hated that job and finally left...so I do not really have an answer as to how to deal with it. I guess all you can do is ignore it.

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      ReneeDC1979posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I had the same issue - I was like man, have you ever smiled or been happy about anything?

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3. 78

   junksellerposted 11 years ago

   At my last job I had been there about a year and a half and there had been some discussions about expansion which included hints of a possible promotion for me. Then one day I came in to work and my boss was gone (no reason to go into details). In the month it took district to find a new boss, I in many ways kept the place running, and how was I rewarded? With a boss who wasn't interested in a word I had to say. To use a Star Trek metaphor, I went from being Commander Riker (2nd in command) to a red-shirt ensign whose always the first to get phaser-blasted on an away mission.
   
   It was demoralizing and frustrating and to top it off the new boss had the brain power of a slug. At any rate I became extremely negative. Not to everyone, but to management I did nothing but complain and I'm sure they found me terribly annoying. Looking back I can see the futility in it. Even if I was theoretically right in my complaints, negativity rarely gets one anywhere.
   
   The point of all of this is to say that while a few people are possible eternally negative, I suspect most people are simply in a tough arc of their lives, and oftentimes as outsiders, we don't have the full story to understand the place they are in. In most cases it's probably worthwhile to try and discover that full story. Most of us, I suspect, are much better off with a friend than a critic (though a good friend sometimes needs to be critical, they do so as a friend with the full picture).

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   Dusana1234posted 11 years ago

   Hi Renee, yes and it was very hard because after a while I started to be negative as well. But after that I decided to talk to that person less, I felt bad, but listening 8 hours a day negative complaining, 5 days a week, it is not enjoyable.
   
   That was a long time ago, now I'm trying to surround myself with positive people.
   
   Have a lovely Easter weekend.
   Dusana :-)

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   shanmarieposted 11 years ago

   Unfortunately, I think that is a problem that plagues our society.  It is prevalent in the work place and around many social groups.  I have worked in several places that maybe do not condone that environment but also do not do much to stop it. To me, it is much like being in high school all over again where cliques gossip about other people, never taking into account that they do some of the very things they complain about others doing or that they have their own faults that annoy the people they complain about.

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   Markie Wposted 11 years ago

   Yes and it was annoying and I never learned how to deal with it. I'm unhealthily un-confrontational so I just put up with it, but it would always be contagious and end up putting me in a negative mood.

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   Peanutritiousposted 11 years ago

   Yes! I have a friend who works as a volunteer and moans constantly about her manager not doing the hours she's paid for, going home early and delegating practically everything to others. The other day, i'd had enough and said 'have you said anything to her? (the manager) and she hadn't and won't because she hates confrontation.
   If you have a problem with someone you need to approach it with them or shut up and put up with it!
   Listening to her moan about it constantly puts me on a downer too. She wants someone else to say something on her behalf as she hasn't the bottle herself.

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