How to deal with annoying co workers

There's always at least that one person at work who drives you mad, the way they eat/walk/talk/breathe/express them selves is enough to make you go 'ahhh shuuttt uppp'. From the office know it all, to the person who is always telling you their life story and how unfair things are. I remember one organisation where I was temping at had a lady who was so unfriendly, I thought I had done something wrong to her, on closer investigation I found out that she was just a miserable so and so, I felt better. I will attempt to give some pointers as to how to deal with these creatures.

• Ignore them? My mum always told me to ignore people if they annoyed me, to be honest this only works sometimes, but the individual/individuals in questions are some times so irritating that resulting in screaming repeatedly is the only option.
• Humour them- 'yes, oh really, oh that's sad' these listening sounds make is seem like you're listening when you aren't, leaving you free to get on with something more important or interesting whilst you are not listening to their droning voice.
• Tell them that they are boring weirdos- This is the extreme solution, shouting, ranting and raving is probably not the best idea especially in view of your other colleagues so use this one as a last resort.
• Trump them with your own problems/achievements/woes- doing this I find a bit funny, it can sometimes scare the person into submission as your problems intimidate them. 
• Run away and avoid- this is the cowards way out but it works, especially if you don't work closely to the person in question.

So these are a few tips on how to deal with the strange work place characters. 

Gordon Behind Bars

Gordon Ramsey has tried to do a Jaime Oliver. What I mean is that Jamie Oliver, renowned celebrity chef and social entrepreneur began taking "down and out, no chef training, NEETs" and trained them to work in his "15" restaurants. Now there are several all over London. Gordon Ramsey's quest was to use the thousands of men who have been locked up in the UKs over crowded prisons to work in prison run kitchen's. His aim was to get the prisoners to learn the skills, discipline and rigidity of working in a kitchen. Many of the original 12 inmates had never held down a legal job, one of routine and formalised rules; many were professional criminals, drug dealers, burglars and heroin addicts. Some of the inevitable happened, 3 inmates dropped out or were chucked off the course, there were fights arguments and tantrums. However, the rehabilitation exercise worked, Gordon managed to secure funding, he found a distributor of his lemon treacle slices and a captive work force.

This show made me and others think of the point of prisons, yes they are punishments for people who have broken the law, but could they also be for rehabilitation and up-skilling those who have done wrong? On a social level it may make them appreciate the error of their ways, it may make them change their ways, or it may make little noticeable difference. On an economic level the prisoners are able to pay their way.

What this post is trying to say is that due to the massive over crowding in prisons and the current economic down turn; encouraging prisoners to work and not be such a drain on the public purse should be encouraged. Giving prisoners skills, motivation and work experience to enable them to navigate through society.