Antics of a malcontent corrode workplace chemistry and reduce productivity: Constant complaining. Browbeating. Rumor mongering. Glory-hogging. All trigger the middle-management Geiger counter.

"In our cubicle world, it is almost impossible to avoid the toxic co-worker. They thrive in this environment," said Luis Valdes, vice president of Atlanta-based Corporate Psychology Resources, which provides coaching and leadership development for midsize and large businesses.

"Liars, drama kings and queens, paranoids, slackers, sociopaths, self-centered narcissists all seem to create different types of chaos in the workplace. These people are a constant source of frustration, aggravation, irritation and low morale."

"Toxic employees tend to be fairly self-destructive. They tend to get fired," said Chester Elton, a work culture consultant and co-author of "A Carrot a Day" (Gibbs Smith, $12.95), a tome about improving office relations.

As Elton lectures employers about quelling noxious attitudes, he spotlights Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver-turned-wrecking-ball Terrell Owens, suspended by the team after a series of work-related flameouts.

Before the season started, Owens threatened to skip training camp because he was unhappy with his contract. He invited the media to his house to watch him do sit-ups and shoot hoops. He criticized quarterback Donovan McNabb, refused to talk to teammates and told his head coach to shut up.

Owens remained unscathed — until he called the Eagles classless when they didn't commemorate his 100th career touchdown pass this season. Philadelphia then suspended him for "conduct detrimental to the team."

When BJ Gallagher worked as a training manager at the University of Southern California, a male peer flirted for months and made off-color jokes. Gallagher, a workplace expert and author of "Who Are ‘They' Anyway?" wrote him off as a jerk and ignored him.

That set Gallagher off. After consulting with a trusted friend, she decided to confront her colleague, telling him she had a problem with the way he treated her. Instead of blaming him, she framed the misgivings from her point of view: "When you say things like that, I feel like a sex object," she told him.

Richard Laermer dealt with his own employee imbroglio — minus the news cameras and ESPN commentary. Still, his New York public relations office stirred like the Eagles locker room when "Barbara" came to work, a woman Laermer called "pathologically insolent. It was like she was raised in a barn."

But she handled many complicated accounts during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. "I had the crazy, ill-conceived notion that I couldn't go on without her."

Laermer said the office became "mutinous." He spent many hours "talking people off a cliff," counseling managers and workers how to cope with her. Still, several top performers quit during her 14-month stint.

The end came soon after she told one client, Sesame Workshop, that she wasn't allowed to watch "Sesame Street" growing up because it was considered "white trash."

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