Life would be so much more pleasant without people who think too highly of themselves. Those who are eternally right, even when they are wrong. Those who THINK they are eternally right, rather.

If you are one of these people, better just stop reading now. We all know it’s all lies, don’t we – jealousy of a higher, more enlightened being, that kind of junk. If I think I’m right, then I must be right; if I’m right then the other person must be wrong … clear, concise and logical.

Persons of another breed would want to read on.

Sometimes, the personality comes with the job. Most bosses seem to have this affliction, perhaps by their virtue of being bosses. Tolerating such behaviour is a requirement of the job and besides, the boss is the Boss. Suck it in and march on out. Whiners are never winners!

However, it becomes much less tolerable when you have colleagues who (by some quirk of nature) fit the description. Whatever the reason for being, they just are. If you are a peace loving creature, they will definitely annoy you … and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Frustrating, huh?

Unlike the complaints about your boss, who is ultimately responsible for your actions (or should be anyway!) the annoying colleague, or AC as this person shall be named doesn’t share that responsibility.

Neither do they understand that people operate at different levels and with different perspectives. It is always their approach and solutions or nothing at all. Deeply ingrained in their beings, the AC’s are amazingly self-centred beings. The world revolves around them and other people are simply moons orbiting the planet.

Highly confident, AC’s can be spotted a mile away. They are extremely egoistic, thinking so highly of themselves that even the Gods of Olympus would buckle under their might. Try telling an AC that they aren’t capable of anything and see how they react – never a pretty sight.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in the reverse. AC’s wouldn’t have a care about telling others that they aren’t capable. Much less of being direct about the level of competence that they feel is beyond the poor mortal’s ability. At times even beyond the ability of the AC themselves, but this is a rare case where it is not about the AC.

Well, it’s actually not that rare as any discussion on incompetence can’t possibly be about the AC now, can it?

Alongside the self-recognised godlike abilities, AC’s are also extremely self-confident to the point of being as cocky as the lone rooster in the henhouse. Ever try hammering out details with this type? If you walked off feeling like hammering your head into the wall then perhaps you have.

In most cases, admittedly they are good at what they do. Key words being; ‘at what they do’ as they may not be up to mark at what those surrounding them do. Often times they are not, and that just adds insult to their list of offensive weapons of egoistic-ness and cocky-ness.

In a working environment, amongst the worst things that you could do when you have an AC in your midst is to complain about an assignment given to you. If the thought even crosses your mind, remember that stapling your nose to the desk would probably be less painful in the long run … at least at one point you can cut off your nose.

The assignment might actually be something that the AC wouldn’t mind doing in the first place. In all probability, it would be a highly publicised project. Not surprising at the least that they would offer to take the load off you.

Now, the absolute worst thing that you can do at this point is to let them do exactly that. Counter intuitive perhaps, if doing more work is not on your list of favourite things to do, but from this point on things will get progressively worse.

First of all, it would be apparent to the AC that they have helped you. More importantly, they had offered and you had accepted the help. Secondly, if and when the requirements of that assignment increase to above what they had initially expected, it would be your fault for pushing it to them.

Any argument from then on would simply be a matter of ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ where selective memory plays a huge part. You were just complaining, as employees are expected to do, right? You never asked the AC to do it for you, right? You didn’t even mention to the boss that the AC offered to take it off your plate, right?

Wrong!

At least not in the mind of the AC – you complained because you knew that the AC is in a position to help. By virtue of that, you had asked for assistance from the AC and you did facilitate the topic to arise in conversation with the boss who officially instructed the AC to get on with it.

I’d be surprised if you are surprised that this would be the outcome. Be honest, at first contact all those days, months or years ago … didn’t you notice the signs?

If you were hoping to get tips on how to live peacefully in the shadow of an AC of this type, you would have been greatly disappointed. The fact that the AC casts a shadow over you means that you are doomed.

Perhaps the best advice would be to keep everything to yourself. The AC won’t understand why if you snap back at them, or even use their own lines against them.

They won’t change to adapt to you, and you won’t change to adapt to them either.