Co-worker. What would you do

[minknency]

Hello

I have a boss, call them P and a two co-workers, call them y and m.

P, Y, and I have been there since opening, about 8 months ago. M started about 6 months ago. We work with adults that need assistance.

M is the issue. She does and says inappropriate things. She was trying get a participants attention, and started patting her legs and clapping. Like you would do with a dog. She has said racial insensitive things, she simply does not pull her load. She also is clueless in the most common sense of tasks, social etiquette, etc. When you try to address it, she plays the victim… like I’m picking on her. Instead of helping participants, she is more worried about herself. As in she gets HER lunch and doesn’t help participants, she will work on crafts herself (to make one for herself) instead of helping the participants. When we go on outings, she will wander off to do her own shopping.

This has been brought to the attention of the boss “P” repeatedly. Almost entirely by me. I talked to the other co-worker Y, who is excellent and she then said something to the boss P. When I addressed ANOTHER issue with M to the boss P, I said I couldn’t be the only one having issues with M. P flat out lied and said I was. P has also lied about asking her boss for things and other stuff. And yes, if I or the other person don’t pick up her slack, a participant could get hurt.

The only reply I get is that P will talk to M. NOTHING changes. Every single time. This last complaint I made, my boss P, turned it back on me and told me to watch how I speak to the incompetent one, m. This is in regards to an incident where if I hadn’t stopped M from doing what she was doing, a participant could have been hurt

We are a small place, no HR or anything like that. Any suggestions.

 

[wc0476]

@minknency I’m sorry you’re in this situation. It really sucks and it’s not fair to you or the participants in your program.

Unfortunately, if M’s boss is unwilling to manage them, your hands are tied. Since you’re not M’s manager, you don’t have any power to coach them or change their performance if they’re not willing to do so.

You really only have 2 choices:

1) learn to accept that M is bad at their job, focus only on what you can control (your own performance), and try your best to let M’s actions go

2) find a new job with better coworkers and stronger managers

 

[cantgiveup]

@minknency A similar situation is one of the many reasons that I left my last position. It might be a sign to move on...

I am a teacher, we have to be monitoring kids, not leaving them unattended etc. I had a coworker that would be late, leave early with no coverage, go hide in his car, in the bathroom, leave the building ALL THE TIME, all while his classes were alone!

The last straw was he decided on his own to drive to our field trip. He "got lost" and then spent the whole day trying to find us. (Yeah, right!)

My principal would not handle it at all. I realized that she wasn't a leader if she couldn't manage people effectively and I didn't want to be a part of an organization like that anymore.