Every workplace has those people who’ve mastered the art of being difficult without technically doing anything wrong.
They’re not openly hostile or unprofessional—they’re much sneakier than that. Instead, they’ve perfected these little behaviours that make everyone’s life harder whilst maintaining complete deniability. The frustrating thing is that calling them out makes you look like the unreasonable one, so everyone just pretends these things aren’t happening. However, they are happening, constantly, and they’re slowly driving everyone mental. Here are the most common passive-aggressive workplace behaviours that we all recognise but somehow never address.
1. The “reply all” person who shouldn’t be replying to anyone
You know the one—they respond to every group email with completely unnecessary input, often just to show they’re involved in important conversations. They’ll reply all to say “thanks” or “noted” or add some pointless observation that nobody asked for. It’s their way of inserting themselves into discussions and making sure everyone knows they exist.
The worst part is when they use reply all to ask questions that could easily be answered with a quick Google search or by asking one person directly. They’re basically using everyone’s inbox as their personal help desk, whilst pretending they’re being collaborative and communicative. It’s attention-seeking behaviour disguised as professionalism.
2. Extremely literal email interpretations
These people respond to requests by doing exactly what you asked for and nothing more, even when common sense suggests they should’ve done the obvious related tasks. Ask them to send you a report, and they’ll send just the report—not the supporting documents, context, or follow-up information that any reasonable person would include.
When you point out that they missed something obvious, they’ll act confused and say you didn’t specifically ask for it. They’re technically right, but they’re also being deliberately unhelpful whilst maintaining the appearance of compliance. It’s malicious compliance disguised as following instructions.
3. The strategic “I wasn’t included” excuse
Somehow, these people are mysteriously left out of important emails or meetings, but it’s always discovered after the deadline has passed, or the decision has been made. They’ll express shock and disappointment that they weren’t consulted, even though they definitely received the original communication and probably deleted it.
It’s their get-out-of-jail-free card for not contributing or meeting expectations. They can’t be held responsible for missing something they “weren’t told about,” even though everyone else on the same email list managed to stay informed. They’ve turned poor email management into a superpower for avoiding accountability.
4. Weaponising “that’s not my job”
While they’ll never say these exact words, they’ve perfected the art of making it clear that any request outside their specific job description is an unreasonable imposition. They’ll redirect you to other people, suggest you contact different departments, or explain in great detail why they’re not the right person to help.
They’re technically correct that certain tasks aren’t their responsibility, but they take it to absurd levels where they won’t even provide basic information or point you in the right direction. It’s like they’ve built a fortress around their job description, and anything outside those walls is absolutely not their problem.
5. The meeting room booking games
They’ll book meeting rooms for “important calls” that never seem to happen, or they’ll reserve the good conference room every week at the same time just because they can. When challenged, they’ll say they needed the space for client calls or planning sessions, but somehow they’re always working on their laptop alone in there.
It’s a territorial power play disguised as resource management. They’re not technically doing anything wrong by booking available rooms, but everyone knows they’re hoarding the best spaces to assert dominance or just because they don’t want to sit at their desk.
6. Subtle deadline pushback
Instead of saying they can’t meet a deadline, they’ll ask a series of questions designed to make you realise the timeline is unrealistic. “Just to clarify, you need this by Friday? The full analysis? Including the client research? And the formatting?” They’re not refusing the work; they’re making you feel unreasonable for asking.
They’ll also provide estimates that are obviously inflated to make simple tasks sound complicated. A basic report suddenly needs two weeks because they want to “do it properly” and “ensure quality.” You can’t argue with wanting to do good work, but everyone knows they’re just trying to avoid having to actually hustle.
7. The strategic sick day
These people have an uncanny ability to fall ill right before major deadlines, important presentations, or stressful projects. Their sick days always seem to coincide with the most inconvenient times, leaving everyone else to pick up the slack. When they return, they’ll express regret about their timing but offer no solutions for the chaos they’ve caused.
They never seem to get sick during quiet periods or when their absence wouldn’t impact anyone else. It’s like they have a sixth sense for when their presence is most needed, and that’s precisely when their mysterious ailments strike. Everyone knows what’s happening, but you can’t exactly demand proof of illness.
8. Information hoarding disguised as thoroughness
They’ll claim they’re still “gathering information” or “waiting for confirmation” when really they’re just sitting on details that everyone else needs to do their jobs. When pressed, they’ll say they want to make sure they have the complete picture before sharing anything, but they’re actually using information as currency.
By controlling what other people know and when they know it, they maintain their importance and create dependencies. They’re not being thorough; they’re being manipulative. But try explaining that to management when they frame it as being careful and responsible with sensitive information.
9. The helpful suggestion that creates more work
Right when a project is almost finished, they’ll offer a “helpful” suggestion that would require starting over or completely changing the approach. They’ll frame it as wanting to improve the outcome, but really they’re either trying to delay something they don’t want to see succeed or positioning themselves as the innovative thinker.
These suggestions always come too late to be genuinely useful and are usually things that should’ve been discussed at the beginning if they were serious about implementation. It’s sabotage disguised as collaboration, and it puts everyone in the awkward position of either looking inflexible or accepting that weeks of work might need to be redone.
10. Death by a thousand small delays
Instead of missing one big deadline, they’ll be just slightly late with everything. Every email takes a day longer to respond to than it should, every document gets submitted an hour after it was promised, and every task takes just a bit more time than expected. None of these delays are big enough to complain about individually.
The cumulative effect is that projects slow down, and other people have to constantly adjust their schedules to accommodate the perpetual lateness. It’s a form of control that’s almost impossible to address because each incident seems minor, but the pattern creates massive inefficiencies that somehow never get attributed to the right person.
11. Strategic confusion about clear instructions
No matter how detailed and specific you make your requests, they’ll find something to be confused about. They’ll ask for clarification on things that are obvious, request examples for straightforward tasks, or claim they’re not sure what you mean by basic professional terminology.
This forces you to spend extra time explaining simple concepts and makes you feel like either your communication skills are terrible or they’re incapable of basic comprehension. In reality, they’re using fake confusion as a stalling tactic and a way to make every simple request feel like a major undertaking that requires extensive guidance.
12. The performance of being overwhelmed
They’ve mastered the art of looking busy and stressed without actually producing proportional results. They’ll sigh heavily when given new tasks, mention how full their plate is, and make comments about working late or coming in early. Everyone’s supposed to feel sorry for them and grateful for their sacrifices.
But when you actually look at their output compared to equally busy colleagues, it doesn’t add up. They’re not necessarily doing less work, but they’re definitely making sure everyone knows how hard their job is and how much they’re struggling. It’s a way of managing expectations downward whilst appearing dedicated and hardworking.
