You Can't Quit Your Colleagues, but You Can Learn to Cope with Them

Disgruntled employees of the work world rejoice! With JIST's newest book, The PITA Principle: How to Work with and Avoid Becoming a Pain in the Ass, coping with difficult co-workers and horrendous bosses has never been easier.

Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) July 24, 2008 -- For many professionals, working with a difficult colleague isn't just annoying. It's detrimental to their career. In fact, nearly 60 percent of employees say the annoying work habits of a co-worker have resulted in at least a somewhat significant loss in productivity, according to a survey by TrueCareers, a leading job board. The survey also found that 40 percent of employees say that a co-worker's habits have become so unbearable that they are currently looking for new employment.

Unfortunately, people who leave one employer for another aren't likely to escape difficult co-workers forever. Instead, they encounter new colleagues who are just as annoying, frustrating and mentally draining, according to Robert Orndorff and Dulin Clark, co-authors of the recently-released book, The PITA Principle: How to Work with and Avoid Becoming a Pain in the Ass.

In their book, Orndorff and Clark stress that in order to succeed in the workplace, professionals must be able to work with all of their colleagues--even the difficult ones. They refer to these types of co-workers as "PITAs," an acronym standing for "pains in the ass." After describing each type of PITA, Orndorff and Clark provide solid strategies for how to cope with them.

For example, a "Soggy PITA" describes co-workers who tend to be needy whiners. To deal with this type of colleague, Orndorff and Clark offer guidance on how people can become more compassionate, establish boundaries, create exit strategies for when they are approached by a Soggy PITA, and confront them when it becomes necessary.

"Anyone can build and maintain positive relationships with co-workers who are hardworking, respectful and fun to work with. It takes a true professional to establish healthy relationships with co-workers who are cynical, needy, disorganized, conceited and self-centered," say Orndorff and Clark.

The PITA Principle: How to Work with and Avoid Becoming a Pain in the Ass is available at all major bookstores and from the publisher (www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). To speak with the authors, contact Natalie Ostrom.

JIST, America's Career Publisher, is a division of EMC/Paradigm Publishing and is the leading publisher of job search, career, and occupational information books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.

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