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it · 08-26-2015, 09:30 PM

Office drama...

It is amazing that an environment where there is only one employee working at a time and people only meet each other for a few minutes between shifts can actually have drama, but somehow it does.

There is a coworker...
Strike one: First time I met her actually - I came into the office early, introduced myself as the new guy... She looks at me making a face of stench, I ask her what's the problem, she complains I smell of cigarettes and asks me if I can wait outside 15 minutes.
Strike two: She comes into the office, I give her the briefing and tell her what's left to do, including getting a hold of someone who didn't answer earlier to see if he wakes up. While I am already on my way out, already a few minutes passed the time, she dials and hands me the phone over the counter to give him the information that is in the computer in front of her.

Later I discover that this is the girl who my predecessor - the girl I replaced - wouldn't speak too, and apparently even our boss doesn't like her and is annoyed by her work... I'd suggest that he'd fire her but his morals making it hard for him to fire people is one of the things I enjoy here - even with how much he says he is pleased with me it helps to know he isn't fast to lay someone off - I function a lot better without looming threats.

So at this point I think it over. To say conflict avoidance isn't my way is an understatement that would make too many people laugh their asses off, but realistically I am not in a position to change her behavior, so I don't see much of a point. I don't want to do like my predecessor and block her completely, but I would like to keep our interaction to the bare minimum - why make unpleasantness last longer then they have too? - so I write down the debriefing in details and tell her to take note of it on my way out. She shouts "Your supposed to do it orally too!"... I ignore her on the way out. To be fair, it doesn't sound like a sexual innuendo in Hebrew.
But that is still confusing - I just assumed our dislike was mutual or she wouldn't have behaved like this in the first place, why would she want to extend our time beyond the necessary? This is already annoying...

But then my boss - who is currently on vacation with his family - messages me that even though I don't like her I still need to transfer the shift professionally with her, I told him I did and explained how, but admitted I was short and to the point with her without hello's or how your doing's. He then asks "ok but try been more polite"...More polite? She hasn't even said hello to me since I joined the staff, not once, even in trying to be brief in the past I still did those. I am guessing this mostly indicates he just doesn't want her to bother him on his vacation and it would help if I don't give her reasons too.

And now I have another exchange with her in an hour and 30 minutes, and then another one 8 hours after. By now the back of my head is pretty much decided that the appropriate response is "Grrrrr".

08-26-2015, 09:30 PM	#5969
it Banned Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 772	Office drama... It is amazing that an environment where there is only one employee working at a time and people only meet each other for a few minutes between shifts can actually have drama, but somehow it does. There is a coworker... Strike one: First time I met her actually - I came into the office early, introduced myself as the new guy... She looks at me making a face of stench, I ask her what's the problem, she complains I smell of cigarettes and asks me if I can wait outside 15 minutes. Strike two: She comes into the office, I give her the briefing and tell her what's left to do, including getting a hold of someone who didn't answer earlier to see if he wakes up. While I am already on my way out, already a few minutes passed the time, she dials and hands me the phone over the counter to give him the information that is in the computer in front of her. Later I discover that this is the girl who my predecessor - the girl I replaced - wouldn't speak too, and apparently even our boss doesn't like her and is annoyed by her work... I'd suggest that he'd fire her but his morals making it hard for him to fire people is one of the things I enjoy here - even with how much he says he is pleased with me it helps to know he isn't fast to lay someone off - I function a lot better without looming threats. So at this point I think it over. To say conflict avoidance isn't my way is an understatement that would make too many people laugh their asses off, but realistically I am not in a position to change her behavior, so I don't see much of a point. I don't want to do like my predecessor and block her completely, but I would like to keep our interaction to the bare minimum - why make unpleasantness last longer then they have too? - so I write down the debriefing in details and tell her to take note of it on my way out. She shouts "Your supposed to do it orally too!"... I ignore her on the way out. To be fair, it doesn't sound like a sexual innuendo in Hebrew. But that is still confusing - I just assumed our dislike was mutual or she wouldn't have behaved like this in the first place, why would she want to extend our time beyond the necessary? This is already annoying... But then my boss - who is currently on vacation with his family - messages me that even though I don't like her I still need to transfer the shift professionally with her, I told him I did and explained how, but admitted I was short and to the point with her without hello's or how your doing's. He then asks "ok but try been more polite"...More polite? She hasn't even said hello to me since I joined the staff, not once, even in trying to be brief in the past I still did those. I am guessing this mostly indicates he just doesn't want her to bother him on his vacation and it would help if I don't give her reasons too. And now I have another exchange with her in an hour and 30 minutes, and then another one 8 hours after. By now the back of my head is pretty much decided that the appropriate response is "Grrrrr".