(British) to be scattered or discombobulated to an extent that indicates the situation is out of control or the subject lacks confidence in the right direction to take, as in “We tried talking to the operations team about how to fix the defect rates, but they were just all over the shop”; someone behaving in such fashion would be well advised to get a handle on the situation post haste to avoid being relieved of their responsibilities; contrast with bull in a china shop, which refers to frenetic or agitated behavior that creates significant collateral damage, characterizing someone as “all over the shop” indicates disorder without the same sense of destructiveness