‘Disliked’ and ‘just plain difficult’ are two wildly different beasts. Someone you find terribly difficult to work with may still be someone you enjoy or like being around, but they end up making your work life so much harder because of their personalities. What is it about them that does this?
Difficulties abound!
Diving even further into the inner workings of those around us that are harder to deal with can be one of the best boots to your professional career life you could ever make. Understanding the people who can enable your quicker path to success is win-win all around. And hey, they might even get something useful out of it, too!
I created a survey and polled several hundred people about personalities and how this interesting topic affects their lives. What follows is their raw, personal, and highly enlightening experiences, opinions, and feelings. I did clean up the language a bit where it was needed, but the survey results here are about as blunt as can be. I’m hoping they’ll help you see just how important personality is in your life.
Survey Question:
How would you describe the personality of the most difficult person you have to deal with?
Survey Answers:
- The most difficult person I know has a very stubborn personality. Once they have made up their mind about something, they refuse to change it, regardless of evidence to the contrary of their opinion.They think they are always right and there is nothing you can do to convince them otherwise. It is really frustrating to talk to this person because it is like talking to a child. You know you won’t get anywhere with them if they happen to disagree with you.
- The person I find most difficult is a person I worked with who never admitted they ever made a mistake or were ever wrong. They were a know-it-all type and would talk over anyone who was talking. They were very difficult to work with on any project and struggled in a team environment.
- The most difficult person I’ve had to deal with is what I believe to a man that suffers from some sort of personality disorder. He is a coworker that acts entitled, is combative, disruptive, and is grossly incompetent. He challenges nearly everything that others do or say just to be difficult. When challenged back he plays the “race card” and blatantly lies. Not one person likes him.
- The most difficult person I have to deal with is very stubborn. They have issues taking advice or instructions from people, even when those people know better than they do. They ignore helpful tips and are very combative. It’s quite annoying.
- They never listen to what you try to tell them, even if it could benefit them. All they want to do is complain and expect you to deal with it. Nothing is ever their fault, but the fault of the world around them. They want everything in life to be handed to them and expects you to feel the same way about them.
- The most difficult person I have to deal with is very emotional. She seems to need strong emotions in her life, big and difficult problems to solve, things to worry about. If she does not have them, she will invent them. Unfortunately that includes quarreling with those closest to her, verbally abusing them, saying intentionally hurtful things.
- I would describe them as an arrogant person who thinks they’re right no matter what. Even when proved wrong they will stand by their wrong viewpoints and resort to personal attacks. These types of people are extremely annoying.
- His personality is challenging. He is clearly insecure, so paranoia and distrust rule his methods. He is unnecessarily rude, but it stems from the fact that he believes most people deliberately set out to lie, deceive, and hurt him. So he strikes first and rarely asks questions later.
- I would say it is the over self-confidence that make me hard to deal with. I hate a person who puts himself in the center of the universe. I don’t think it is how the earth runs and I just don’t know how to deal with this kind of person.
- I would describe the personality of the most difficult person I have to deal with is someone who is two-faced and mean.
- A rude self-centered person that always butts into others business uninvited. Gets an attitude if he catches you just looking at him. Never does anything for ANYONE except himself.
- I have had to deal with people who are stubborn, cocky, and indecisive. These difficult traits make it very hard for me to get along with. They tend to not care about others and are very selfish.
- I work as a customer service rep and most of the difficult people I spoke with feel entitled. They think they everything should be done for them immediately and they have zero patience for anything less than perfection. These people are extremely hard to work with because they don’t care about extenuating circumstances.
- I hate dealing with angry people. Some people just are mad for no reason and there is nothing you can do to change them. I do not know what makes these people so angry but I really wish there was less of them in this world.
- The most difficult person I have to deal with is my mother-in-law’s best friend. She is domineering, and ignores other people’s views. Only her view is correct. She is very extroverted, yet doesn’t give other people time to talk.She seems very judging of other people, like others could not come to her exacting standards. As I consider this question, I realize that she is the exact opposite of me on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. I’m an INFP, while she is most likely an ESTJ. Maybe that’s why we never seem to get along.
- Someone who can’t reason is hard to put up with. You can’t go to eat at one certain place it has to be their way. They can’t have anything with a compromise its them or nothing almost goes along with self-centered person as well.
- They are pigheaded, close minded and full of themselves. They believe they know better than everyone and are better than everyone. They are also backstabbing and complementary with mean/sarcastic undertones.
- The most difficult person I have to deal with is prideful, arrogant, bigoted, and certain that he is always correct. He will begin political arguments without provocation when he knows that others disagree with his beliefs. He also has a way of commanding attention that makes it difficult to disagree with him.
- The personality would consist of the person being very hard headed and not open to other people’s opinions and views. The person has a personality that conflicts with the world and environment around them most of the time, and therefore the person is argumentative and obnoxious.Although he may be hard working and disciplined, he is not very empathetic and doesn’t always understand the emotions and feelings of the people around him. This person would only be suitable when in a group of people that are similar to him to a large extent, considering he enjoys arguments and drama.
- She is a co-worker who is quite opinionated. She seems to have something to say about almost everything, and it’s often negative. She is a bit of a gossiper, which is unfortunate because it puts me in a tough spot. I can either nod my head without really paying attention to her, or I can assert myself which can make for an uncomfortable situation. All in all, she’s the type of person I’d prefer to avoid if given the chance.
- I’d say that the most difficult person I have to deal with is extremely self-righteous. He seems to have the need to always be right and show absolutely no weakness whatsoever.I think this makes him ignorant and it makes him almost impossible to talk to. Anything I say, he thinks it’s some sort of attack on him when really I’m just trying to get him to look at another perspective. It’s incredibly obnoxious.
- He is very hard to figure out. He does not know what he wants in life and he sends mixed signals daily. I often get very confused with what I should do with him. He sometimes seems bipolar. He often pushes his loved ones away and shuts down randomly.
- In one word, ignorant. In many, they just are completely clueless to how difficult they are, and that is possibly what makes it such a process to do anything with them. It is hard to have patience with someone when you know they are so wrapped in their own world they can’t think for even one moment anything they are doing could be wrong.
- The most difficult person I have to deal is overbearing and back-stabbing. For instance if she has a problem with my work she will try to micromanage me while fixing it and even when I have fixed the problem she will still go to management and lodge complaints about relatively minor incidents. She will also make mountains out of molehills in attempts to discredit me.
- He always believes he’s right, and can’t comprehend other points of view. He never has anything positive to say to other people. He likes to belittle others.
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How do you think you can apply these personal insights into the personalities and opinions of other folks out there just like you? Please share your thoughts below.
Also, consider checking out the DOPE Bird Personality Test (Click Here) and the Jung Personality Test (Click Here) to figure out how important your personality is in your life.