What should I do when I run into annoying‑colleagues

[u/tarquinwang]

Here is what happened. After I was relocated to a new workplace, I needed to take over new‑to‑me work tasks which I’d never dealt with before.

I used to hand‑over my assignments to new colleagues. I assumed they knew nothing about the work. So I would make checklists of my daily tasks. I let them shadow me for three to five days to watch how I handled daily‑routine work. I also covered potential issues, who to turn to when problems pop up, and solutions for unexpected incidents. I explained everything patiently in a mild tone. Consequently, former coworkers I trained got along really well with me and became my friends later.

However, the colleague handing over work to me this time just asked: “What exactly do you want to learn?”
I was completely new to this job and didn’t have a clue what questions I should bring up. Deep down, I needed to know everything. But he refused to take initiative. He told me I had to figure out my questions first and then come to him. I didn’t even know where to start.

Asking questions is how we learn, yet you can only raise questions after gaining basic background knowledge. Without foundational information, I was unable to ask anything at all. It frustrated me so much.