Whenever we hear the word “group work,” we always get war flashbacks of the worst experience we’ve ever had working with other people on major projects or presentations. Come to think of it, we rarely have any good memories of group work. There’s always just that one person who we wish we could cut in half with a chainsaw because, honestly, their best contribution to the team would be to just disappear.
Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration.
But you can’t deny that there really are these people we’re forced to work with who will make us pull our hair and grit our teeth. Which of these types of groupmates do you hate the most?
The “All Bark, No Bite”
This one acts like the responsible leader, deciding on a direction and dividing tasks among the group. They fool you into thinking they’re actively contributing, but when the actual project is done, you realize that they’ve done absolutely nothing to help.
The Control Freak
This one believes that their way is the only way. No one is allowed to deviate from their plans and ideas. They also spend the wee hours of the morning when the entire group is asleep to review and revise the presentation and then inform you all just hours away from submission that they only “tweaked” the project just a little bit (when in fact, they gave it a total overnight facelift).
The Escape Artist
This one seems to always have something better or more “urgent” to do than work on your project. Whether it’s a major presentation in another class they have to finish, or that they’re not allowed by their parents to stay out too late at night, or that they need to look after their dog…they just keep giving so many excuses to weasel their way out of doing a heavy task or of doing the project altogether (“Sorry talaga, andami ko lang talaga ginagawa. Ako nalang magpi-print!” Wow, ganda ng contribution mo bes.)
The Spectator
They don’t give their own opinions or ideas. They just stay silent throughout brainstorming sessions and wait until the group reaches a direction, and then ask “So anong gagawin?”
The Martyr
This one just shocks you one day with, “Sorry, ginawa ko na pala lahat.” They just do it all without any warning or a heads up because they either want to get the project out of the way as soon as possible or they have their own vision for the project that can’t not be done. Either way, it’s annoying as hell because you and your other #shookt groupmates are left with menial tasks and fear over not being able to answer the prof’s questions about the project properly or of being thrown under the bus by The Martyr.
The Procrastinator
No matter how early you all start to work on the project, this one person will keep delaying the completion of their task until the last frikkin minute. They may put the “pro” in procrastinate, but that doesn’t make it any less irritating to have to wait for their part to be done to check if the project is of quality and without any error.
The Ghost
They seenzone your messages, they can never be reached via call, they become quiet on social media when you reply to a recent post or tweet. They’re never around to work on the project online or face-to-face, but when it’s presentation day, they magically appear in full outfit.
The Kontrabida
“Paano kung…”
“Parang hindi ata tama itong part…”
“I just really think we should change our whole approach.”
The hard thing about having someone constantly opposing the group’s ideas is that you don’t know whether you’re all just overthinking the complexity of the project, or you’re uncovering holes you wouldn’t have known existed. This one is either a complete hit or a miss. And it’s annoying because while you want to make your project as flawless as possible, you also just want this person to shut the hell up for a little while.
Remembered someone from before after reading this? Share this and tag your former groupmates!
