A Conversation for Ask h2g2
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
invincibledriver Posted Apr 24, 2007
the old saying:
"a stitch in time saves nine"
springs to mind........
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Blatherskite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit Posted Apr 24, 2007
There is no such thing as fair division of labor. The reward for doing good work is... more work.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune Posted Apr 24, 2007
All I can suggest is that you present your whole case as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the week. Make it clear you arent happy with the way this chap works, and that it worries you, the thought of him become a ermanent part of the workforce (because he isnt contributing... He's creating WORK not INCOME which is reducing the efficiency and raising stress of everyone else)... Dont worry about being nasty or nice. Be professional. This has to be cold, if yo uworry about upsetting him too much then you'll pay the price one way or another, even if it's just having to work wih him for the next ten years!
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
RadoxTheGreen - Retired Posted Apr 24, 2007
In post 19 you said your firm doesn't have a union rep. If you aren't in a union I recommend that you join one now (and not just because I'm a union rep myself ). Aside from anything else you will get access to legal help if the worst should happen in the future, and it sounds as though this newcomer is aware of the bad feeling towards him and reacting by building a retaliation case, which now needs some swift defensive action from yourself.
Anyone can join a union, and you don't even have to let your firm know you are in one as you can pay your subs directly from your bank account, so nothing shows on your wage slips. Although it helps to have union recognition by your employer, it's not an absolute requirement, and membership will give you some added protection (and someone at branch level who is used to dealing with this type of situation and can advise on the correct course of action).
Be warned though, to protect yourself against the future activities of this man you will need to join up before any formal action is started by him, as a union is not supposed to act where a case has been started before you became a member. You're perilously close to the point at which a union would be unable to act if he is already complaining about you. You need to get membership sorted out before any written warnings start flying around (do it online or check in the phone book).
I think you can forget any further benefits of the doubt in his direction, and it might pay also to have a quiet word with the youngest team member that was easing his workload. They can't afford to let their own work get behind because of him as I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to drop them in it too if it meant saving his own neck.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Apr 25, 2007
Yeah, this guy has now stopped speaking to me and just stares every time I go into is office (quite often since my other colleague is in there and we're quite sociable, and the envelopes are kept in there.) He has stopped making any attempt to take messages and just passes clients through without even taking reference numbers.
I don't think he likes me
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune Posted Apr 25, 2007
So? Personalities dont always mix, but allowing work to be affected like this (he's being obstructive and difficult and not doing his job? How much more evidence do you need that the two of you cannot work together?) is unproffessional from his side (as far as we know)... Dont worry about his feelings, he's put enough noses out of joint to show that that is hardly his major concern. Go upstairs and get this sorted out. With you evidence and your ongoing concerns. Sorry you have to do this but you cant let his being upset or disliking you stop you from protecting yourself personally and your working life (i.e. how much you enjoy/want to be at work) Cant have you going sick with stress in 6 months cos he stays and keeps up his behaviour, can we?
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Apr 25, 2007
I'm not willing to show any form of discomfiture at his behaviour at all. If he's not adult enough to deal civilly with me personally, or accept the way I work, then it needs to be brought up as you say with the higher authority.
And he has just come to me wanting help, very humbly. Yay me. Rescuer of waifs, strays and data which won't behave.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune Posted Apr 25, 2007
ugh... yeah. I hate people expecting me to be a drop-in centre for the walking wounded... I guess I did it for too long, I'll tolerate but I certainly dont encourage!
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Apr 25, 2007
You better!!
The office dogs, Scampy and Lucy, would find that most insulting!! Particularly since they only beg for food, never favours.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Apr 25, 2007
They wouldn't dare!!
I'm having a bad day - I've been chasing a contact for four months about a billing query and our youngest has just suggested I "cut [the contact] some slack, she's busy." For four monrhs on end? Aye right...
I'd be sacked if I left a query run on four weeks let alone four months!!
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Yael Smith Posted Apr 25, 2007
There's so much effort you can put into chasing the one person, surely? Can't you leave a polite message on her machine and act is if things are the way you suspect they are, anyway?
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Blatherskite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit Posted Apr 25, 2007
Wow... not talking to you... except when he begs you for help... sounds eerily familiar. I just finished dealing with someone EXACTLY like that. I don't know how she managed to stick around for 30 years (stupid unions!), but it was clear she hadn't the slightest comprehension of the most basic concepts of the job. Instead, she developed a skill for making excuses and getting other people to do her work.
When we had seven systems administrators, that was a problem, but not unsurmountable. When we were reduced to two? HUGE f-ing problem. It meant that neither of us could afford to be specialists in our own little areas anymore... we both needed to know everything about the system, pretty much, and learn a whole lot of things that we hadn't been exposed to before. I was taking on a ton of new responsibility at the time... and frankly, I did not have time to check over every stupid little thing she was doing to keep her from causing downtimes. Yet that's exactly what I found myself doing. It certainly didn't help that all of our customers had given up on her in frustration, and simply stopped calling her with their problems. We traded off after hours on-call support responsibility, and I developed a saying: "When I'm on call, operations calls me, and I solve the problem. When she's on call, she calls me, and I solve the problem." She exhibited her gratitude by using her seniority to screw me out of planned vacations.
After two years of reviewing some of the more basic things with her and still seeing the same mistakes committed over and over again, our conversations turned into shouting matches. She instantly became defensive over the stupidest little things. And when "has difficulty working with others" showed up in MY performance review as a result? Obviously something had to change, because she was putting my career in jeopardy.
Luckily we had just embarked on a HUGE project, and not having time to help her with her portions of it was not just a convenient excuse. I made the conscious decision that I would NOT be helping her out, as it only covered up her incompetence while continuing to endanger my career. Left on her own, for possibly the first time in 30 years, she failed miserably. Management couldn't possibly ignore it, pressure was applied, and finally she decided she couldn't handle it and retired.
So that's my advice... focus on your own work, stop bailing out your coworker, and allow him to be exposed to your management for who he is. The more you do for him, the less they'll believe you when you try to tell them what's really going on.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Apr 25, 2007
Yeah, I won't be bailing him out on any more occasions. I'm pretty sure that today opened the boss's eyes a bit as the new boy had twenty odd clients to price for by close of play and managed not only to furze up the pricing in the system for one of them (hence begging me for help) but also had our young colleague helping him out by taking half the pricing off him. He still struggled to get it done.
All well and good while she has less clients to deal with, although I'm a bit miffed on her behalf. But we're expecting another thousand or so within the next six months all of which will be going to her. So she can't keep bailing him out either, not without neglecting her own work.
I think it's a case of "shape up or ship out" with this one, really I do.
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Lady Magpye Posted Jun 12, 2007
Unfortunate resurrection of this query.
I'm getting progressively unhappier at work, and am seriously considering quitting, especially since a rather desirable post at a local newspaper has come up and I would be ideal for it (if I do say so myself).
I also have my review at the end of the week, over a month late - it has been scheduled for after this guy's three-month review, and I am a-feared that my opinion of him will count for nothing...
I feel very ill through the stress of dealing with him and his hostile attitude and am tempted to go to the doctor to get signed off, but I am worried that if I do this, it may well affect my chances at the other job...
In the last two weeks, he has implied to my other collegues that I don't do any work; he has moved and renamed items in the directory structure, into my folder, as to imply that it was my doing; he has wrecked a locked, password-protected contract form, whether intentionally or through ignorance I know not; and I just this morning discovered that he has failed to pass essential items of mail to me. Unfortunately, the way the work is structured, all of the above reflects poorly on me, particularly the last complaint.
Do I stay? Do I complain? (Well, yes, I'm going to anyway, but the boss is out until Thursday which is New Boy's review day.) Do I randomly apply for every job in sight until I can escape?
Help!
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
Whisky Posted Jun 12, 2007
Get out - no job is worth damaging your health for!
Key: Complain about this post
Problem with a new colleague - warning! I rant.
- 61: invincibledriver (Apr 24, 2007)
- 62: Blatherskite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit (Apr 24, 2007)
- 63: Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune (Apr 24, 2007)
- 64: RadoxTheGreen - Retired (Apr 24, 2007)
- 65: Yael Smith (Apr 24, 2007)
- 66: Lady Magpye (Apr 25, 2007)
- 67: Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune (Apr 25, 2007)
- 68: Yael Smith (Apr 25, 2007)
- 69: Lady Magpye (Apr 25, 2007)
- 70: Br Robyn Hoode - Navo - complete with theme tune (Apr 25, 2007)
- 71: Yael Smith (Apr 25, 2007)
- 72: Lady Magpye (Apr 25, 2007)
- 73: Yael Smith (Apr 25, 2007)
- 74: Lady Magpye (Apr 25, 2007)
- 75: Yael Smith (Apr 25, 2007)
- 76: Blatherskite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit (Apr 25, 2007)
- 77: Lady Magpye (Apr 25, 2007)
- 78: Yael Smith (Apr 25, 2007)
- 79: Lady Magpye (Jun 12, 2007)
- 80: Whisky (Jun 12, 2007)
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