So what grates on your last nerve at work?

It’s been one of those mornings. You overslept, raced through your routine, tore a contact lens, spilled orange juice down the front of your shirt and hit every red light on your commute. When you finally DO get to work, you’re no more than 10 minutes in the door when Doom and Gloom Gary corners you and starts unloading about Project XYZ. It’s at that moment, before you’ve even had your first cup of coffee that you hear those words – the words that could possibly push you right over the edge: “Let’s touch base.”

Turns out, it’s office jargon like this (along with a handful of other irritations) that annoys workers the most, according to a survey of more than 1,800 people by London-based Opinium Research.

Not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of the workers polled said these
day-to-day annoyances are enough to send their stress levels soaring – and one in 10 left a job because of them.

The survey uncovered these top 10, ‘nails-on-a-chalkboard’ irritants:

1. Grumpy or moody colleagues (37%)
2. Slow computers (36%)
3. Small talk/gossip in the office (19%)
4. The use of office jargon or management-speak (18%)
5. People speaking loudly on the phone (18%)
6. Too much health and safety in the work place (16%)
7. Poor toilet etiquette (16%)
8. People not turning up for meetings on time or at all (16%)
9. People not tidying up after themselves in the kitchen (15%)
10. Air conditioning too cold (15%)

And like a scene from “Office Space,” there’s the office jargon that creeps its way into the conversation of grown, otherwise rational adults. The top offenders:

Thinking outside the box (21%)
Let's touch base (20%)
Blue sky thinking (19%)
Blamestorming (16%)
Drill down to a more granular level (15%)
Let's not throw pies in the dark (15%) ** Now there’s one I’ve never heard before!**
I've got that on my radar (13%)
Push the envelope (12%)
Bring your A-game (11%)
Get all your ducks in a row (11%)

What about you? What gets your scruff up at work? What are your pet peeves? How would you complete the statement, “I’d love my job if it weren’t for …”?

As for my answer, I’ll have to get all my ducks in a row and get back with you.

So what grates on your last nerve at work?