The majority of people aren’t deliberately trying to test other people’s patience. Unfortunately, it happens, and it’s mostly because of their seemingly insignificant habits or personality traits.
Here are eleven ways people test others’ patience without realizing it. Which one have you had to deal with this week?
Starting every meeting a few minutes late
Beginning a meeting three minutes past the start time is apparently normal office behaviour to a few people. It may not bother them, but workplace studies have found that even small delays can cause other people to feel rather annoyed at the loss of time.
The latecomer thinks they’re being flexible. Yet everyone else has to wait around & feel frustrated about the whole thing.
Turning simple stories into winding monologues
A few people will start a story about the weird thing that happened that morning, but they somehow manage to go off on six tangents before actually getting to the main point.
Communication research has found that rambling conversations tend to annoy quite a lot of people. They feel drained by the storyteller’s apparent liveliness.
Reacting in group chats without actually answering
Everyone’s trying to wrap up a conversation in a group chat. But rather than actually answering the question as expected, someone drops a reaction gif or quick comment that fails to address the situation at hand.
Relationship experts claim that not resolving everyday decisions causes a lot of problems. It wears other people down, but the non-decider doesn’t realize they’ve slowed the conversation to a crawl.
Adding “just one more thing” to agreed tasks
Why on earth does one person always feel they need to circle back with extras after accepting a task? They’ll mention a new file, another tweak that needs to be made, yet fail to realize how much it bugs other people.
Organizational research claims that the requester usually doesn’t notice that such expectations create quite a significant amount of work for the other person.
Using very vague timing for specific plans
Speaking in time phrases like “later today” or “sometime soon” gets really annoying for the people around you. It’s even worse when the event needs to include a specific time, according to research.
People usually interpret loose timing rather differently & that causes all manner of issues in the workplace, leading to tension that may be hard to resolve.
Firing off long strings of tiny text messages
It’s annoying receiving a bunch of small messages at one moment that consist of a single thought, then another & then a correction. Studies on digital overload claim that such fragmented messages cause people to feel more on edge, as they receive more pings. Trying to chase ten notifications can become rather stressful & test your patience.
Over-explaining simple things everyone already knows
Researchers looked into some of the things that frustrate people the most during meetings, and they found that unnecessary repetition is one of the top ones.
People dislike hearing a basic step-by-step explanation when they already know the process, even though the over-explainer thinks they’re making things clearer. But most people are waiting for the discussion to be over.
Doing less in group work than they admit
Unfortunately, a few people promise they’ll put in the effort during group work, yet then they break their promise as soon as the tasks are divided.
It’s known as “social loafing” in research and has been known to happen when individual work becomes part of the group’s result. The teammates catch on & their patience wears thin as the credit gets shared evenly anyway.
Hovering while someone is already doing the task
You’ve likely had to deal with another person who insists on standing right beside you while you’re trying to finish something, and they’ll usually share small comments while doing so.
Micromanagement research claims that hovering in such a way causes people to feel more tense, affecting the workers’ sense of satisfaction. Even if the person doing it simply means well.
Hogging shared spaces and tools without checking
That’s not all for people’s sense of personal space. A few people spread their belongings across shared areas & keep equipment busy for longer than is expected or socially acceptable, yet they don’t realize it.
According to research, such behaviour usually frustrates the people who are trying to wait their turn.
Repeating the same complaints to the same person
Returning to the same complaints & grievances time and time again becomes annoying for other people, especially when nothing has changed in the situation.
Psychology research refers to it as “co-rumination,” and it apparently only causes more stress for both parties involved. The listener’s patience wears thin because the loop never seems to have an end.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.