I often think of the famous quote from Charlie Brown, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.” It’s the everyday little annoying habits of the people we associate with that can be more tiresome, more frustrating than more significant issues, don’t you think? Of course, we’re not quite so aware of our own little annoying bad habits that others may find troublesome, but no doubt we all have them. So, I want to explore with you some of these little annoyances which can become obstacles in good relationships.

Annoying Habit Number One:

You work with a person who makes daily calls to his or her mate or partner, and since you work in an open setting, you can’t help but hear the conversation. Depending on how they are getting along on any particular day, you may hear a nasty conversation with anger and accusations, or you may hear what sounds like sweet murmurings of baby talk.

Obviously, if you hold a supervisory position over this person, it should be addressed directly with clear instructions—those kinds of conversations should be on personal time rather than on company time. However, if you are not this person’s manager, you may be able to bring this to your coworker’s attention in such a way they will see the benefit of changing that annoying habit.

Proverbs 17:27 says: The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Your words would need to be carefully chosen, delivered kindly, and done with the right motivation.

For example, you might find the right moment—a private moment—to say something like, “You probably are not aware that your conversations with your mate can be heard by other people. I thought I’d let you know because, I know if it were me, I wouldn’t want others to listen in to my personal conversations. You might want to reserve those calls for times when you’re alone.”

There’s a lesson for all of us to learn in this: Use our working time to work, not to rob our employer of the time which we are paid to work with elongated personal conversations, whether they’re overheard by others or not.

As Christians in the workplace, these little annoying habits can do damage to our testimony for Jesus Christ, so we should make sure we’re not guilty of these.

Annoying Habit Number Two:

You have a coworker who just can’t ever seem to make it to work on time. Someone who is habitually late is not committing a great offense—this is simply an annoying bad habit.

I find many who are guilty of habitual lateness frequently want to justify it by saying they work late to make up for it, or they have a very long commute—all of which may be true. But the facts are this: If your company has a certain start time, everyone should be there on time consistently. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.

This is a management issue. If it’s important for people to be on time, management must set the priorities, communicate them clearly, and hold people accountable. There would have to be some kind of negative consequence for the person who will not change theannoying habit.

However, if you’re not this person’s manager, there’s not a whole lot you can do. One thing you don’t want to do is make snide remarks or communicate your annoyance with body language or harsh words. Unfortunately, this happens too often. People don’t confront the real issue and instead display their displeasure in other ineffective and unkind ways.

If a coworker’s habitual lateness is having a direct negative impact on your ability to get your job done, it might be an indication that it needs to be addressed. First, try to kindly explain to the coworker the need you have for them to be on time and see if that works. But remember, unless you’re the manager, you don’t have the authority to demand anything from that person.

Isn’t it interesting how something so small as this annoying habit can so easily turn into a real issue between two people and eventually lead to other,