The 'know-it-all'

How do you deal with the 'know-it-all' in the office?

you know, the guy who knows everything, has done everything, and doesn't shut up..

any tips?

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

UnixGuy

great answers guys, thanks every!

im going to request this thread to be delete; don't want work mates to find it

beads

Tell him there's a booger on his collar and that he should check himself in the mirror and walk away.

- b/eads

Codeman6669

I usually make fun of this type of guy, or play lots of sarcasm so thick they dont know when im real or being sarcastic. Not sure if thats the best way to deal with it, but works for me lol

xxxkaliboyxxx

Codeman6669 wrote: »

I usually make fun of this type of guy, or play lots of sarcasm so thick they dont know when im real or being sarcastic. Not sure if thats the best way to deal with it, but works for me lol

What is this? High School? If it was, you would be the type of dude I would give a wedgie to.

OP, how about being direct and upfront? Now he might freak out, but might appreciate it down the line.

I had a one upper and crazy story teller in one of my units. He was actually a really nice guy and just wanted to fit in so bad. He eventually grew out of one upping everyone, but stayed a super nice guy. definitely a type of guy you depend on... people could surprise you.

UnixGuy

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

...

OP, how about being direct and upfront? Now he might freak out, but might appreciate it down the line.

I had a one upper and crazy story teller in one of my units. He was actually a really nice guy and just wanted to fit in so bad. He eventually grew out of one upping everyone, but stayed a super nice guy. definitely a type of guy you depend on... people could surprise you.

Tried being upfront, didn't work. Not everyone is open to feedback, and he genuinely believes that he knows better than everyone. He doesn't try to one up people, just provides input and opinion on everything, despite how 'deep' the actual knowledge is.

alias454

I worked with a guy like that once. We called him the highlander because for any one person to actually know that much, they would have had to be 300 years old.

Next time it happens, tell him congratulations...He'll ask for what...You'll say...On your f'n promotion.

On a more serious note, as adults, sometimes we have to let things slide. Since you have already been direct and the message hasn't sunk in, your only recourse is to let it go or escalate it somehow. Maybe you can start asking them to "show you" and then they will stop being so "helpful." I have found people like this really want validation and acceptance.

I hope you find a good solution.
regards

OctalDump

cbigbrick wrote: »

Ask him to explain the different between a metric and standard crescent wrench..............

I think it's just the rating, like a crescent wrench will be sold as 300mm or 12" being the largest size it opens to, but they are basically the same thing. Not a very interesting topic, that.

Ask him if knows about the economic state of Bangladesh in 1968. That's a real conversation starter for know it all's

Bit tricky this one, Bangladesh didn't exist in 1968.

He is one of those who "I wrote my first code when I was 12 yrs old, I hacked the Internet..bla bla"

Does anyone else remember the good old days when computers came with a BASIC interpreter in ROM? 12 would be a bit late to start "writing code". The old:

10 PRINT "BOOBS"
20 GOTO 10

Moldygr33nb3an

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

What is this? High School? If it was, you would be the type of dude I would give a wedgie to.

.

Whoa... relax bud.

I work in a pretty laxed environment. I'm sure others do too. I don't make fun their physical appearances or family back home. I just make fun of the situation.

For example:

"Hey does anyone know what layer 3 switches we procured? I'm sure <insert name> knows since he pretty much knows everything."

Of course that individual is there and most of the time doesn't realize we're making fun of the fact he is going to chime in and talk about how he used them when he built a TOC at the top of mount Olympus. We're nothing compared to some other places. Our networking guys use to almost get in fist fights.

ally_uk

I worked with this sysadmin guy once technically he was on another level had a photographic memory and could recite man pages when required. I got a lecture once because I wanted to setup a wireless network he recited the whole O'reiley tcp/ip networking book seriously I was there for about a hour being told how it is a security risk he was going on about ports, algorithms I was literally like dude why isn't there wireless in this place? lol

Yeah he was a genius I will give him that but socially he was hard work we had a receptionist who started and the printer was playing up she obviously put in a ticket with the guy and the response she got was:

" Not my problem fix it yourself"

She left the company the next day.......

God forbid never mention Windows to the guy either that was a no,no if it was a windows problem then he didn't want to know and used the excuse that it was a rubbish operating system...

This guy was the real life BOFH haha

But yeah socially he wasn't great, He would often approach your desk and stand there looking at you smiling I would be like

" dude are you going to talk?"

I think he was on the spectrum gifted with computers but really socially awkward and a asshat at times.

TechGromit

GeekyChick wrote: »

Oh, I have an idea. You can try this.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kr-OXclAt60[/video]

I visit the bathroom so often in my old age, this is actually a good idea. They did have a telephone line running into the bathroom, but no network or power cables, you don't typically have a wall outlet and network drop in a rest room.

TechGromit

UnixGuy wrote: »

How do you deal with the 'know-it-all' in the office?

I work with someone similar, she isn't so much a know it all as she is getting into other people's business. I tolerate her because she's been there 20+ years, and knows everyone. When I need support from other departments, she knows just who to call and what the process is. Her network troubleshooting skills are somewhat lacking, I try not to get her involved when tracing down issues.

Moldygr33nb3an wrote: »

I don't make fun their physical appearances ...

Speaking of appearances, she dresses all in pink. Not that that's a bad thing, but she wears the same pink sweat pants, fleece and head scarf every frigging day. She has a pink work boots and coat too that she's almost always wearing. Some of her pink clothes are getting pretty beat looking. Now if she varied her outfit more and wore different pink dresses, that be one thing, but the same thing every day? She does have a skinny tight body, I'll give her that. For someone her age, she looks pretty good. I often wonder if she were to take off all her layers of clothes, if she is really a stick figure.

xxxkaliboyxxx

TechGromit wrote: »

I work with someone similar, she isn't so much a know it all as she is getting into other people's business. I tolerate her because she's been there 20+ years, and knows everyone. When I need support from other departments, she knows just who to call and what the process is. Her network troubleshooting skills are somewhat lacking, I try not to get her involved when tracing down issues.

Speaking of appearances, she dresses all in pink. Not that that's a bad thing, but she wears the same pink sweat pants, fleece and head scarf every frigging day. She has a pink work boots and coat too that she's almost always wearing. Some of her pink clothes are getting pretty beat looking. Now if she varied her outfit more and wore different pink dresses, that be one thing, but the same thing every day? She does have a skinny tight body, I'll give her that. For someone her age, she looks pretty good. I often wonder if she were to take off all her layers of clothes, if she is really a stick figure.

lol, how the mind wonders. something about our brain fills in the gaps blah blah etc lol

Mike7

Chill and learn to manage his (and your) ego. At least he knows something.

Better a "know-it-all" than a "know-very-little but claims he know-it-all". Had a co-worker in the past who loves to brag, had limited knowledge and lacks the humility to admit to his shortcomings or learn new things. If he is unable to resolve a problem, he will blame it on something else. And if you resolve his problem, he feels threatened and will claim that you are just lucky. He is never wrong and will talk his way through with illogical excuses. We once discovered a MSSQL server he configured with sa account enabled with password of "password"; he claimed this is the default database setting.

Since he is able to "talk" so well, we pair him up with difficult customers. We lost a few deals because of him but I guess this is what we wanted.

GeekyChick

TechGromit wrote: »

I visit the bathroom so often in my old age, this is actually a good idea. They did have a telephone line running into the bathroom, but no network or power cables, you don't typically have a wall outlet and network drop in a rest room.

You could go wireless. You can't be that old though that you need to be in the bathroom all the time.

GSXR750K2

Put a sedative in his food/drink and do this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtCNwGmzvEc

joshuamurphy75

I'd just let it happen for a while, and try to find some common interests, or if they can't be found, try to find an interesting troubleshooting problem to keep them occupied. They are probably just a bit insecure and are trying to prove themselves.

cdx

It is called Narcissism, and sadly, many people are like this, the key is to do your best to avoid them and keep them out of your lives as much as possible. If you work with one, I am sorry since you cannot truly avoid it. The best thing you can do for yourself is not to let the person bother you, how? That is depending on you and how you decide to deal with the person.

Dave88LX

I'm in a new job, and started at the same time as 3 other guys that I worked with previously. The 4th guy came from a different division and he is one of those know-it-all/"when I worked at XYZ we did this" types of guys. He's a genuinely nice guy and I don't think he realizes how he sounds. I usually just walk away and go do work. I try not to take the bait...it doesn't always work.