More Employee Types

As promised, I'm bringing you the other six employee types that you're sure to encounter on your job. If you haven't read the prequel to this article, "Employee Types," then you will definitely want to go the following link, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5677024/employee_types.html?cat=60, and read it before continuing. This is an amusing look at the different characterizations of employees. This article provides general descriptions of the Mental Case, Worker Bee, Gossiper, Forgetful, Informant, and Cry-baby. As you read along you may possibly find yourself characterized as one of these types, but don't be alarmed-you have to fall within some category.

Mental Case

The Mental Case is insane, as her name implies. Don't misunderstand, men can be mental cases too but the one I'm referring to just happens to be female. She is irrational and tries to talk intelligently but when you really listen to what she's saying, you realize the elevator doesn't go to the top floor. She talks incoherently and babbles about nonsense most of the time. There will be times when she'll greet you and other times when she'll look at you like you're a stranger, even though you've worked with her for ten years. You'll find yourself wondering how the Mental Case has been able to function in society so long without being institutionalized. Believe it or not, there are several society-functional Mental Cases out there, we just happen to work with some of them. I once worked in a call center as a supervisor that required I work at least one Saturday a month. On that Saturday I would always treat the employees with doughnuts and juice for breakfast. One Saturday when the Mental Case was also working, she came to my desk and asked if I could go out and buy her something else for breakfast because she didn't eat doughnuts. I looked at the Mental Case waiting for the punchline but then remembered who I was dealing with. After I told the Mental Case that the doughnuts and juice were something I did out of kindness, I politely advised her that I would never leave work and go buy her breakfast. Why was she looking so stunned when I told her this? Enough about the Mental Case. Let's look at the Worker Bee.

Worker Bee

The Worker Bee is an employer's dream. He does his work efficiently and productively; in many cases he'll do his coworkers' duties. He constantly outperforms his peers at whatever he does. His peers may even have the audacity to tell him to slow down so their poor work performance won't be noticed. Worker Bees do not like idleness; they like to stay busy. If they run out of work they'll seek more work. Sometimes the Worker Bee has another vice in his or her personal life that doesn't interfere with his work performance. I've known some worker bees that were a functioning alcoholic, a prescription drug abuser (even though he would deny it) and a habitual gambler. Even with these vices they can still be some of the most productive employees in the workplace.

Gossiper

We all know a Gossiper. Usually, this is a female, but I've encountered male Gossipers on rare occasions. The Gossiper always knows what's going on in the office. The Gossiper knows who's having an office affair, why Tom got fired, how much her manager makes ( and that's net pay), which employee is not pulling his share of the workload, etc. Unfortunately, the Gossiper can spread a lot of incorrect information. When she doesn't have all the details of the latest gossip, she will make up the rest of the story. The Gossiper can tell you anything except how to do her job. This is because she's too busy trying to find out information about everyone else. If you come in contact with the Gossiper, it's best you don't divulge any information to her because the next thing you may hear is that it came from you. The best thing to do is to avoid her whenever you can. You never know when you may be her next topic of gossip. There was one instance when a Gossiper was babbling to another employee about an incident that happened to a coworker in her group. She was so busy talking until she didn't realize she was actually talking to the employee that was involved in the incident. Well, I can tell you that conversation didn't end well.

Forgetful

This employee is amusing to me. Forgetful can be an employee of thirty years and still doesn't know procedure; or does he? He conveniently forgets about standard operating procedures that hadn't changed in the past twenty years. Personally, I think Forgetful knows policy but uses his forgetfulness as an excuse to get away with bending the rules. I've worked with a couple of Forgetfuls. Frankly, I do not see how one can't remember the procedures for reporting out to your supervisor, which is what one Forgetful had done a few times. You've reported out before. Forgetfuls are notorious for not remembering anything about workplace rules or behavior when a new supervisor is hired. When this happens they can forget how to do their job, how many days of vacation they have or, in some cases, what their work hours are. If Forgetful has three supervisors during a six month period, then Forgetful will also have three sessions of job training during that period. This is because Forgetful forgot how to do his job each time he got a new supervisor. Hopefully, supervisors keep accurate documentation on their employees like my department began doing. This will ensure that Forgetfuls are disciplined appropriately for their misconduct due to their selective memories.

Informant

If there is anything you want to know about what's going on in your organization, then the Informant is the one you go to. Unlike the Gossiper, the informant doesn't go around telling everything she knows. The Informant will never come to you and offer information. If you're in need of the latest inside scoop, then you seek out the Informant. It's amazing how she knows so much and it's factual. One has to wonder who her sources are. She not only has information about her organzation, but other organizations also. She never gives up her source, just like a good journalist. Now we're ready to view our last employee type-the Cry-baby.

Cry-baby

This employee can almost, always be characterized as a whiner also. The Cry-baby can act as though he's five years old at times. He can be in his present position for the past ten years and still request you to walk him through the steps of performing his job. He strives on being praised, which is not a bad thing, but he yearns for it more than the average employee. The Cry-baby will inform management when another employee seems to have less work than him or if another employee isn't doing his fair share of work. The Cry-baby is insecure; unfortunate for management he often has to be reassured of his value in the workplace. Typically, the Cry-baby needs counseling and usually needs to be referred to the company's employee assistance program for therapy. Seems unbelievable, but there are actually employees like this in the workplace.

People are what make the world go around. If we were all the same then this world we live in would be boring and uneventful. Because we are all different, we have to learn to live with each other and accept our diverse backgrounds and cultures. It's when we don't accept each other's differences that we collide with one another. We were meant to embrace each other's differences so if you haven't been doing that, start now. If you do, you'll be able to relate to any employee type you encounter.