10 Ways to Piss Off Your Co-Workers

Every day you go into the lab and you spend the 8-14 hours with the same group of people.

And when you spend that much time with people, bench to bench, for anywhere from 3-6 years, you really need to learn how to get along.

Usually, after some time, most people learn the rules of lab life and are anxious to become part of the group. When people don’t get along, there are usually specific reasons or actions of the offender that is causing the boat to rock. What are those things that can make everyone want to throw you off the ship? I came up with 10 ways people piss off their co-workers in the lab.

Feel free to add on some of your pet peeves of lab behavior.

1. Using up all of a common lab stock or buffer and not replacing it or re-ordering it.
2. Using someone else’s reagents without asking. If you contaminate them, then you are in double trouble.
3. Not doing the dishes, or whatever lab chore you are assigned, when it is your turn (or doing a poor job of it).
4. Talking too much– especially when someone is setting up PCR or other reactions that requires focus. That person is wearing ear buds and an ipod for a reason!
5. Contaminating the lab. Repeatedly. Making a mistake once is one thing but if the lab is constantly needing to be wiped down of radioactivity or other hazardous chemicals, people will start to wonder if you are cut out for the lab.
6. Hogging a community computer– especially if you are not using it for work!
7. Coming in late and leaving early: Every day? This is surely only acceptable if you are writing your thesis.
8. Abuse of shared equipment– if someone screws up the only high speed centrifuge on the floor, no one can get anything done.
9. Not signing out shared equipment and then using it when it was signed out by someone else.
10. Not giving credit when it is due– or taking credit for someone else’s idea. In a lab meeting, if someone gave you a great experiment to try and it works, let everyone know. If you don’t, don’t expect anymore help from anyone else.

This is a short list of the ten peeves that came to mind first. What does your co-worker do that you wish they would not? What is your #1 lab rule?