How to Deal with Annoying Coworkers

Have you ever worked with someone that has a knack for pushing your buttons? Maybe they have bad habits, an annoying personality, or their work ethic is just plain awful. No matter what the case, you can't wait for the day to be over so you can get away from them.

If this is a familiar feeling for you, then try doing something about it in order to save your sanity. After all, there's nothing worse than having to work eight hours a day with someone that makes you want to grind your teeth.

The following list of suggestions may provide a little bit of relief for you. Who knows, they might even help you press the reset button on your relationship with those co-workers. It's no guarantee, but it's definitely worth a try.

Find a way to ignore them

If you're lucky, you might work in the type of office that allows you to drown out the noise of your annoying coworker. Maybe you could toss on your headphones and listen to soothing music instead of being forced to listen to your nemesis. If not music, see if you can get away with an old-fashioned set of earplugs.

If distracting your eyes isn't a possibility, you might be able to physically ignore the person by moving to a different position in the office. If you work in a village of cubicles, maybe you can find a vacant one that puts more distance between you and your coworker. If you're in an open space environment, a well placed object on or around your desk can prevent you from having to look at the person as well.

Focus on a common goal

If ignoring the person isn't an option, you'll need to start working on how you interact with your coworker during the course of the day. Focus on the teamwork aspect of your job more than how much you dislike the way your teammate behaves. See if you can create a work-based goal that you can exceed together and focus less on the annoyance. You may even find yourself celebrating together at the end.

Find something you have in common

In addition to finding a common work goal, another solution is to find a common interest or hobby outside of work. You may have to dig hard, but even annoying people might enjoy some of the same things you do. Focus on those things and see if it leads to a new perspective on the person. Your common love of the local sports team might just trump how much you dislike working with that teammate.

Embrace their faults

At some point, you may just have to wave the white flag and accept that there is nothing you can do. Sometimes you just have to accept what the other person brings to the table and live with it.

Switch shifts/teams

A more desperate move is to attempt to change teams to get away from the person. Or, if you can't change teams maybe you can at least switch shifts to one that doesn't overlap with your coworker's work schedule. Your stress level may drop significantly just from no longer having to be around the person.

Be careful though! This could have a bad effect if management thinks you are being too dramatic or unable to work with people professionally.

Get a new job

This is the absolute worst case scenario, and it's only recommended if the person is creating a horrendous work environment and management is doing nothing to improve the situation. At that point, it may just be time to pack it up and move on. The downfall is there are no guarantees that your new job won't have someone annoying there too!

Have you ever had an annoying coworker? How did you manage to deal with the situation before it drove you crazy? Feel free to share your story in the comments below, or keep the conversation going on Twitter!

Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipes for Your Next Cookout

For people who come from areas where barbecue does not reign supreme, it may be a shock to discover that there are numerous types of barbecue sauces. If you were to glance at the barbecue sauces available at your local grocery store, you would likely only find basic tomato based sauces. However if you did a web search and spent time researching barbecue techniques and sauces, you would realize that almost every region of the country has its own barbecue sauce recipe.

This uniqueness is what makes barbecue special, and can keep a pulled pork sandwich or rack of ribs from ever getting boring. Fans of barbecue should bookmark this site so that you have a chance to experiment with every type of sauce available. Spread the word if you know of others who enjoy barbecue above all other types of food. And feel free to share your recipe or links to your favorite recipes in the comments section. Let everyone know which sauce you call your favorite.

Kansas City Sweet Sauce Recipes

When you think of traditional barbecue sauce, this is probably what comes to mind. It is the most common sauce in the country, but not necessarily the most popular depending on where you are from.

It's a tomato-based sauce which derives its sweet taste from brown sugar or molasses. Many of the barbecue sauces sold in grocery stores today are based off this style.

Kansas City Rib Sauce - Barbecue Sauce Recipe
This is a rich, thick, tomato based Kansas City style barbecue sauce recipe. Adjust the heat by changing the amount of cayenne.

South Carolina Mustard Sauce Recipes

Carolina Mustard Sauce is distinguished by its beautiful yellow color. Rather than using tomatoes as the base of this sauce, it combines mustard with sugar and vinegar in order to create a unique flavor.

Mustard Based BBQ Sauce Recipe - Allrecipes.com
This is a great version of the traditional mustard based bbq sauce. Most sauces are ketchup based, but in the South we prefer the mustard variation. You oughta try it at least once.

Memphis Dry Spice Rub Recipes

The beauty in barbecue in Memphis is that it traditionally does not even use sauce to add flavor to it. Rather, most barbecue establishments in Memphis lean towards using a dry spice rub made up of a variety of ingredients.

One of the benefits of the rub is that it can be used on a variety of meats, not just pork and chicken.

Memphis Rub - Barbecue Rub Recipe
In Memphis the Rub is the most important ingredient aside from the meat. Often ribs are served with only a rub and without sauce. This means that this barbecue rub has to provide all the flavor to make Memphis Style Barbecue.

Lexington Dip Recipes

Lexington Dip barbecue sauce boasts a thinner consistency than most people are used to when they think of barbecue sauce.

The sauce is powered by vinegar, pepper, and a hint of tomato sauce for flavor. It definitely packs more heat than some of the sauces mentioned above.

Lexington-Style Bbq Sauce Recipe at Epicurious.com
Find the recipe for Lexington-Style Bbq Sauce and other vinegar recipes at Epicurious

Tennessee Whiskey Sauce Recipes

Like the name suggests, the magic in this sauce comes from the splash of whiskey added to the other ingredients. Many types have been used in the past, with Jack Daniels being the most popular.

In addition to the whiskey, the sauce also incorporates brown sugar and molasses to give it a sweet taste.

Tennessee Whiskey Barbecue Sauce Recipe | Relish.com
Stay true to the Tennessee roots of this sauce and use Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey for this...

Alabama White Barbecue Sauce Recipes

Probably the most unusual sauce of the bunch, Alabama White Sauce is not based on tomatoes or mustard but rather on mayonnaise.

The sauce combines mayo with vinegar and pepper to complement grilled chicken. It is pretty rare, but maybe worth a try the next time you grill chicken.
  
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce - Barbecue Sauce Recipe
This traditional Alabama Barbecue Sauce uses Mayonnaise as its base rather than tomato sauce, vinegar, or any of the other traditional barbecue sauce bases.

If you'd like to find more sauce and spice rub recipes, check out Steven Raichlen's Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades -- Bastes, Butters, and Glazes, Too. Your food will never be the same!

What's your favorite type of barbecue sauce? Leave a comment down below, or hit me up on Twitter!

Things to Avoid Doing Before, During, and After Your Next Flight

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there were around 15,631,000 flights that they handled in 2016. You can probably guarantee that number has escalated since then, and will continue to grow larger with each passing year.

So with at least 15 million flights being handled, can you even imagine how many passengers are flowing through airports every year?

With that being said, there are certain things that every air passenger should avoid in order to make a flight comfortable for the pilot, attendants, and other occupants of the plane. These may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprised how often they still happen.

These are just a few things to shy away from before, during, and after your flight. If you know of others, please feel free to share them in the Comments section below.

Things to Avoid Before Boarding Your Next Flight

Drinking Too Much Alcohol

Flying can be a stressful situation for some passengers for a variety of reasons. Air travel can also be the preferred method for people to get to their vacation destinations. For those reasons, it's not surprising that people sometimes use alcohol as a way to loosen up or calm themselves down during a flight.

Drinking alcohol shouldn't be considered as a problem. Drinking too much alcohol is the issue.

If you're a traveler and you aren't sure what your drinking limits are, then you probably don't need to be drinking in the first place. You place yourself and your fellow passengers at risk of some very uncomfortable situations. Try not to become one of the passengers in the video below:

Things to Avoid During Your Next Flight

Trying to Open the Door in Mid-Flight

It sounds crazy, but apparently this has occurred on a few flights. Whether it be due to medication, alcohol, or panic attacks, it's just not a good idea to attempt opening the door to a plane after it's been sealed shut.

According to an article by National Geographic, it isn't even possible for the door to open as long as the cabin has been properly pressurized. The air pressure inside the cabin of the plane should be greater than the pressure outside of the plane, and this causes the door to be pushed outwards against the seal of the plane. In order to open the door, a person would have to pull the door inwards first and this isn't very likely.

Getting Too Comfortable While in the Air

Airlines are all about finding new ways to make their passengers more comfortable, but sometimes people take it to new extremes. There is a fine line in being cozy and being rude towards other travelers.

One of the most common annoyances would probably be placing bare feet all over the cabin (on the tray table, on the seat back, in between seats). Another would be reclining the seat with total disregard for the person behind you.

Unfortunately, there is a long list of other behaviors that rude passengers display in the air. You can find plenty of real world examples over on Passenger Shaming.

Things to Avoid After Your Flight

Racing Out of Your Seat When the Seat-belt Light Goes Off

Everyone wants to get off a plane once it reaches its destination. It's a pretty small space for so many people to be seated, so it's only natural.

However, we have all been in a situation where passengers dart out of their seats as soon as the "Fasten Seat-belt" sign blinks off. They head as far up the aisle as possible and then just sit there. Usually the door to the plane isn't even open yet.

Ultimately, it probably takes just as long to get off the plane as it would have if everyone had disembarked in an orderly fashion. Not to mention, if it's a final destination everyone will probably need to wait at Baggage Claim anyway.

Airline travel significantly speeds up the travel time for one destination to another. However, it also leaves us in close contact with lots of people we don't know at all. Keep this in mind the next time you fly, and try to be as considerate as possible.

What do airline passengers do that drives you crazy? Have you encountered one of the above situations? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below, or keep the conversation going on Twitter!

Opening with the Blogging A to Z Challenge

The Blogging A to Z Challenge is an annual blogging event that takes place during the month of April.

During the month, writers post each day (except for Sundays) with a topic that corresponds with a letter of the alphabet. For example: April 1 (Airplanes), April 2 (Blueberries), etc.

In addition to creating posts, writers are also encouraged to visit other blogs participating in the Challenge. You can find a list of those blogs here in case you'd like to visit them in your spare time.

The A to Z Challenge is a great way to get a jump on creating new content, and that's why I'm using it as the starting point for Slappy Walker. I won't be posting on any specific theme because the blog is truly based on writing "anything about everything". So expect some random topics over the course of April as I march from A to Z. Hopefully there is something that comes up that connects with you.

Due to the way the days of the week fall this month, my first post will be published on April 1. Please join me on the journey, and thank you for being a part of Slappy Walker!

Have you ever participated in the Blogging A to Z Challenge? Feel free to leave any tips or suggestions in the comments below. 

Also, check out the official site of the A to Z Challenge in case you're thinking about participating or just want to learn more about it!