Types of employees you should avoid being

Over the span of a lifetime, you're going to run into a few people you wish you hadn't run into. More often than not, they will be people you meet in your professional life. Putting up with them might not always be an option. If you're lucky, they might grow on you. But in the (un)likely circumstance that you are in fact one of these people and identify with any of the personalities described below, be cautious about your behaviours and make a conscious effort to change.

The boss's pet

Always playing on your phone? And in front of the boss? So what. Showing up on time? Ludicrous.

Boss's pets are under the impression that they aren't subject to the rules of professional life. And most of the time, their bosses perpetuate this kind of toxic behaviour. While they invoke the wrath of every other cubicle-mate and co-workers from a different department, HR can't really do anything about them until the manager makes a formal complaint. But watch out, sooner or later, karma is going to catch up to you. There's still time to change your old ways, before you end up jobless.

The goody two-shoes

Your colleague showed up late? Thank you for that information. The guy from marketing spent three hours away at lunch? Nobody cares. Reporting petty incidents committed by your co-workers is not your job. You weren't hired to keep the rest of the team in line. Have some useful advice? Give it to the person you have a problem with instead of haranguing your boss. Managers aren't blind–they will do something about employees who are slacking off. Now get back to your paperwork.

The overly attached employee

It's the first day of the weekend; you've hardly gotten out of bed. Five missed calls from the minion at the office. You call them back right away. What's the emergency? But you should know better, it's never an emergency. The overly attached employee will call and text and email and inbox you on Facebook at all hours–and for no good reason. Since voicemail isn't really a thing in Bangladesh, there's just one thing the rest of us would like these types to know–send an explanatory text, don't ramble, stick to the point; we'll get back to you.

The drama queen/king

Your boss criticised your work? No, you're not going to be fired. Someone squinted in your direction? What does it matter?

Just the other day, I got a number of calls in the evening from an unknown number, after work hours, followed by a text from the caller (who turned out to be a colleague) that said there was an emergency and I should call back right away. Being the overly anxious type, my heart skipped a beat and I called right back, 95 percent sure I was in serious trouble. Turns out it wasn't a big deal at all, just needed to hand in some papers. Don't throw around the term 'emergency', especially at work. Leave the drama at home, before you give somebody a mini-heart attack.

 'It-wasn't-in-my-JD' guy

Most job descriptions will not give you a line by line explanation of exactly what you have to do. Most jobs these days are dynamic, especially if you're starting out. More importantly, there's nothing wrong with going beyond the call of duty once in a while to help a brother out. In the event, you are given a responsibility that is so far-off that there is no way you could possibly do it without losing an arm, you can explain why you can't help and direct the asker of the favour to someone who can. If you can't avoid it, ask somebody to help you out instead.

The writer is Sub-Editor of the career publication of The Daily Star. She is also a junior at the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka