The thing is, u/aita_meeting_message tried their best to make their coworker understand that he doesn’t need to bombard them with emails and calls while they’re on DND – however, it seems that some folks are pretty bad at reading the room. 

Person demands coworker stop pestering them with questions while they’re on ‘Do Not Disturb’

He doesn’t listen and continues to bombard them with emails and calls when they’re unavailable

“AITA For Swearing At A Coworker For Contacting Me While On ‘Do Not Disturb’?” – this internet user took to one of Reddit’s most judgmental communities, asking its members if they’re indeed a jerk for cussing out their colleague. The post managed to garner over 7K upvotes as well as 1.6K comments discussing the situation.

Let’s face it, we all know a certain someone who gets on our nerves at work – the one whose antics you must brace yourself for on a Sunday night right before closing your eyes and whatnot. 

For instance, the “chatterbox” who won’t keep it quiet, someone who can’t resist hovering over your shoulder, the infamous “one-upper,” or a gossipmonger that acts like a teenage girl in the halls of a high school – chances are, you’ve come across these types of individuals at least once or twice.

The problem is, though, handling such folk is an incredibly delicate matter. 

Think about it: if we were to encounter someone who thrived on spreading rumors – a friend of a friend, perhaps – we’d not even contemplate it; we’d call that person out on their nonsense and move on with our lives. However, when it comes to a professional environment, you have to keep your cool, or else you risk putting yourself in HR’s office. 

Still, we’re all human with a limited number of nerve cells, meaning that sooner or later, we’re bound to snap, regardless of how bad the consequences are.

Moreover, earning a stern talking-to from a superior is not the worst-case scenario! According to this 2020 piece from Moneypenny, a world-leading outsourced communication provider, 2 in 5 people have considered leaving their job (43% of men and 38% of women), and 23% of people have even left a job all because of an annoying coworker. 

That said, we’ve got to put ourselves first before we reach our end point! 

Coming into work knowing that you’re about to get bugged about every little thing while unavailable – or even better, in a meeting – is, without a doubt, aggravating. However, there isn’t even a word to describe the feeling that you feel when people decide to completely disregard the boundaries that you’ve spoken about on several occasions; so, the only thing that we can blame the original poster for really is their choice to handle the culprit over email and not in a more intimate setting without the potential eyes of management! 

It provokes the worker to pen a heated email that leads to them being dubbed “demeaning”

Fellow online community members shared their thoughts and opinions on the situation