With all of the stress going on in the world, it’s all we can do to maintain focus on our regular 9-5 jobs and keep our home lives running smoothly. Inner peace is a precarious balancing act that can be thrown off kilter at times by the motley crue of characters we have the pleasure of interacting with at work. When one part of your universe starts tanking, other areas are inevitably affected. This post is about the crazymakers, the co-workers who are always responsible for tipping the scale towards crazy-town, and how to handle them.
Managing the different personalities that you encounter at work is definitely a challenge on a good day. Still, there are 3 types in particular that have the potential to drive even the super cool insane. They are:
- Level 10 Tammy
- Undermining Ava
- Gigi Gaslight
When you first meet them they seem normal enough, but after a while, their insidious negativity begins to affect your mood during the workday. I guarantee you’ve seen one of these 3 types, but it all depends on whether you’ve become one of their chosen targets. Now that we’re back at work, protecting our peace has become paramount. It’s time to neutralize the crazymakers.
Level 10 Tammy
ER Stat
Who hasn’t experienced a Level 10 Tammy? For her, everything is an emergency, and you can get sucked into her panicked state by simply standing next to her at the copy machine. Your day starts off great, and you bop over to your desk with your caffeine fix of choice in one hand, and your cell phone in the other. As if on cue, Tammy casually sidles over to your desk and curtly reminds you of a project that was due yesterday.
Whether she was actually involved in the project or not has no bearing on her need to convey this information to you, and turn your morning upside down. As Tammy walks away smugly, you stand there holding your coffee and watch your perfect morning disintegrate. Thanks Tammy.
Another one of Tammy’s tried and true tactics is re-delegating her own workload. She will take extreme measures to delegate things to co-workers that rightfully belonged in her own inbox. It can sound something like this “I’ll have the report done by 5 PM, and if I could have Lisa look it over and add her two cents that would be awesome.”
There are 3 reasons that Tammy will do this:
- To get an extension on her own deadline
- To have a fall guy if the deadline is missed
- To ruin your day
Over-Urgency
Tammy also tends to blow things way out of proportion. She’ll take a minor emergency and within minutes turn the situation into a full-blown crisis. People begin dropping whatever they are doing to assist Tammy in whatever event she has deemed worthy of attention. If you don’t immediately jump on her crazy train, you run the risk of being labeled as a non-team player.
Drown With Me
Has Tammy ever left you holding the bag? “If I go, I’m taking you with me” has never been more relevant. When you collaborate with her in any way, be prepared to get thrown under the bus a time or two if things don’t go as planned. It’s all in a day’s work for Tammy.
Now in fairness, Tammy may actually be a nice person, but because she can’t get a handle on her own anxiety, her energy adds toxicity to an already stressful work environment. That being said she must be handled appropriately in order to maintain the calm zen-like bubble you’ve created around your desk.
Handling Tammy
Definitive Lanes
It’s really important to make Tammy super aware of the definitive lanes of both of your job descriptions, should she try to approach you with her nonsense in the future. She needs that. Let her know up front what activities you will be participating in, and what types of things you would be willing to assist her in time permitting.
Ignore Her Tone
Just because Tammy thinks it’s an emergency doesn’t make it so. Never rise to her level of frenzy no matter what. The key with Tammy is to respond in a matter-of-fact and calm tone. Don’t give her a chance to transfer her anxiety to you. Crisis averted.
Choose When To Engage
We all have our own responsibilities and you can decide to engage with her on your time. If she catches you in the middle of your morning latte, let her know you’ll come over to her desk once you’ve finished. This gives you a chance to continue your morning bliss and fire up that portable heater next to your desk before engaging. Now if Tammy is your boss…that’s a different conversation. Do you what you have to.
Undermining Ava
A Strong Backhand
Ava is a special case. She has the deft ability to make anyone’s blood boil with one very well-placed demeaning comment. Ava specializes in delivering backhand compliments that leave you seething hours later, and she uses them with abandon. “That’s so great that you got that promotion, I guess Jennifer didn’t want it,” she says with a deliberate smirk. Thanks Ava.
Because she’s so very good at what she does, her words sting and tend to leave a lingering impact on your mood. You walk away replaying her words, and self-doubt creeps in. Did they really want you for the position? You sit at your desk deflated and confused. Ava, on the other hand, swivels her chair back towards her desk and begins to type pleasantly on her keyboard. Message received and mission accomplished.
The Diminisher
You’ve just finished a project that’s taken you weeks to complete. You sit at your desk preparing your PowerPoint slides for the meeting at 1 PM, and you feel really good about the work you’ve done. Before you can even push your chair back to join the others in the conference room, Ava walks by and sneaks a quick glance at your screen. She says, “Only 7 slides Steph?? OMG, I just saw Diane’s and she has like 12. No worries I’m sure it will be okay.”
Panic sets in and you wonder if you have enough time to add a few more slides. Now you’re distracted and she’s totally thrown you off your “A” game. You feel the confidence drain out of your body and pray to just make it through this meeting unscathed. Just another day of mischief for Ava.
Assignment Upgrader
Here is where Ava really shines. She takes an already challenging project you are working on and makes it that much harder. “Would that be more effective if Stephanie also added X?” Ava’s inquisitive tone makes it appear as though she truly wants to help, but inside she’s dying with laughter at the bottleneck she’s just caused for you.
Miss Toxic
Ava is not above dropping a well-timed disparaging rumor about a potential candidate right before they are to receive a coveted promotion. By the time this rumor wends its way around the office, the leadership team is already looking for another option. It doesn’t matter whether the rumor is true or not, the damage has been done. Score one for Ava.
The Trap Layer
Ava is also not above laying traps for her “opponents”. Adeptly getting them involved in situations in which she knows they will likely fail. Her usual victims are new employees who haven’t been witnesses to her scandalous behavior in the past.
Handling Ava
Ava is an easy fix. She loves attention and thrives on your response. Don’t give her any. She doesn’t exist. Ignore, Ignore, Ignore. If she tries to make your life more difficult, or your workload heavier for kicks, make her explain her rationale ad nauseam. This usually frustrates her. Touche. Be unphased and unbothered. This is Kryptonite for Ava. Also remember, it’s not personal, she’s just miserable.
Gigi Gaslight
The joy of interacting with a master gaslighter. Gigi will actually get you going for a while. She specializes in delivering well-placed comments to take your temperature and watch your response. It’s all trial and error for Gigi, and the payoff is your response. Her singular goal is to plant a seed of self-doubt within you and watch it grow.
Of course, she’ll be right there to support you with a kind word after initially making you a little crazy. Watching you scramble is her guilty pleasure. If you are a passionate person you are definitely a target. Gigi knows that you care, and she will pull your strings whenever she gets the opportunity to make herself feel better.
If you are on the Gigi rollercoaster, you definitely need to get off immediately. She’s all toxicity, all the time. Interacting with her can lead to unnecessary distractions at work.
Handling Gigi
The only way to really deal with this kind of crazymaker is not at all. Put her on Planet Gigi and leave her there. Only interact with her if you absolutely have to, and keep it brief. She cannot gaslight you if she doesn’t have access. Don’t give it to her.
If she corners you with her gaslighting nonsense don’t buy in, just walk away. If you do this a few times, she’ll hunt for another unsavvy victim.
There you have it. The top 3 crazymakers that I’ve experienced and you may have too. If you’ve come across some other types of crazy makers, drop me a line in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. And if you’re interested in learning more about protecting your inner peace, check out my previous blog post “Going Inward In 3 Steps” https://herpicketfence.com/going-inward-in-3-steps/.
All we have is our peace and we need to protect it at all costs. If any one of these 3 ladies shows up at your desk, just return to sender. You got this!
