We've exposed 'work jerks,' but what about 'office angels'?

I'm sure you're not one of them — really, I am — but it sounds like there are a lot of "work jerks" out there.

And they're causing serious headaches for their co-workers.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an Accountemps survey that asked people which co-worker behaviors annoyed them the most. The top response in that survey was not paying attention to detail or doing sloppy work, followed by engaging in office politics, missing deadlines, being perpetually late and presenting other's ideas as one's own.

I offered a similar, unscientific poll with my column, and the results among readers were similar, except that almost one-fourth of respondents chose "all of the above."

I sincerely hope that doesn't mean those voters deal with people who exhibit all of the annoying tendencies at the same time. That would make work practically unbearable.

As it is, many of you wrote emails or posted comments online about your conflicts with work jerks.

One reader, posting online, wrote that having to watch over careless workers "drives me up a wall. When that has happened to me, I make changes as soon as the opportunity arises, and I avoid having to hire those types like the plague.

"I'll gladly work with employees that have medical, family or personal issues with flexible schedules, workloads, etc., but when one just doesn't pay enough attention to the task at hand, I view them as a liability to the firm."

Another reader, Julie, wrote on my Facebook page that those who focus their energy on office politics are the worst.

"The sad thing is, those who play office politics are usually the ones who win the game," she wrote.

That certainly does seem to be the case. Sigh.

Ann wrote in an email that she once worked as an aide in a special education classroom. Her supervisor befriended one employee and showed favoritism toward that person. The favored employee would often wiggle out of assignments this way, leaving Ann to fix the problems that resulted.

"I tried repeatedly to address the situation and get it resolved," Ann wrote. "When (the supervisor) failed to correct this hostile work environment after 10 days, I resigned with no notice.