Dear Bob ... I have a teammate who is very negative. Every morning as I walk through the door, he starts complaining about something. He complains about everything and everybody. He refers to other co-workers as carpetbaggers or trailer trash. He cannot find a positive thing to say about any person or any thing. He has two Master degrees and is Oracle certified. He never misses a day of work and works hard. He i Dear Bob …I have a teammate who is very negative. Every morning as I walk through the door, he starts complaining about something. He complains about everything and everybody. He refers to other co-workers as carpetbaggers or trailer trash. He cannot find a positive thing to say about any person or any thing.He has two Master degrees and is Oracle certified. He never misses a day of work and works hard. He is driving everyone around him nuts with his constant complaining. I talked to our manager about this problem yesterday. She told me that everyone complains to her about him but nobody will say anything to him. She is forced to talk to him all of the time and this makes her the bad guy. Isn’t that why she gets paid the big bucks? I’m afraid that if someone doesn’t do something, someone is going to snap. I began strapping my radio on my hip and wearing my headphones so I cannot hear him. However, since we are on the same team, there are times that I have to discuss matters with him. Do you have any advice on how to handle this person?– Stuck with Mr. Obnoxious Dear Stuck … My opinion only: Your thought process regarding your manager’s responsibility to talk to the guy is right, but is only half the story. The other half is: What’s making you and your co-workers so timid? The next time the guy complains to you, or complains too loudly in earshot, walk up and speak these words: “Tell it to someone else. I’m not interested.” Encourage your co-workers to do the same. This isn’t a job responsibility. It is, however, something you should feel empowered to do for yourself, so you can stop being a victim, which I define as someone to whom something happens that they have no ability to influence. The great part of this is that there is no downside. You don’t like the guy already, so you aren’t going to lose him as a friend. He already calls co-workers (including, I presume, you) carpetbaggers and trailer trash. The worst that happens is that nothing changes. As I said, no downside. If you have to work with the guy on something and he starts up, tell him again: “I have plenty of time to talk to you about the project, and the rest is redundant information because I’ve heard it all before. When you’re ready to talk about the project, give me a call.” Then stand up and start to leave. Continue to leave unless he stops you by agreeing to talk about the project (or whatever the topic is). Chances are good the guy has simply fallen into the bad habit many employees do – of thinking that complaining about things and badmouthing people constitutes interesting conversation. And since nobody other than his manager (by definition an unreliable source) has ever told him he’s wrong, he just keeps going. If, deep down, he’s a good guy you’ll be doing him a favor. If he isn’t, or if he is, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. And if the department benefits as well, well, that’s nice too. Did I mention that there’s no downside? – Bob Technology Industry