You can pick your friends. But unfortunately, you can’t pick your family … or your co-workers.

Because of this predicament, we sometimes wind up working with irritating people. And if the abundance of websites devoted to this topic is any indication, this problem is either really pervasive or we are really intolerant. 

One such site -- which encourages posters to detail things that their co-workers do which grate -- devoted to this subject is http://www.annoyingcoworker.com.  Listed is a sampling of some of the site’s submissions:

• Jim Hines is a moron. Call him and tell him so -- 916-231-4248.
• If I hear the phrase, "That's how I roll," one more time, I'm whacking you over the head with my steel stapler! Your "hip talk" just makes you sound even more ridiculous than you are. Also, using "gangsta" slang and flashing those weird hand signals is annoying and unprofessional in the workplace. You're a 28-year-old white boy from the suburbs; you have no idea what you're talking about, and you look a fool. Stop it!
• At our office we have this dude who constantly clears his throat and coughs. Literally, 150 times/day. I know because we created a spreadsheet and kept track.
• You are the guy that knows it all and has done it all ... and you always have "a friend" that did it bigger, better, longer, faster, louder than the rest of us. No matter what I talk about, any subject, you have "a friend" that did it better. If I caught ten fish, your friend caught 11 ... or 200 ... blindfolded ... in the dark ... while ice fishing! Naked … during a sandstorm … while being fired upon!

Comparatively, I feel pretty blessed.  I can only recall two past co-workers who possessed aggravating cube-side manners. One was a guy who clipped his nails daily at his desk, and let the clippings drop into the top drawer.  This detail was uncovered by the woman who replaced him. She inherited his desk and his nail parings. 

And my other irritating co-worker constantly whistled while he worked.  Fine, when your paycheck is signed by Snow White. But that wasn’t our case.

So, readers … Patch wants to know about the irritating behaviors that go on in your place of employment. 

“What do your co-workers/office mates do that you find annoying?”