Constant complainers

Oh yes. Yes yes. I'm in charge of multiple departments at the company I work for, and there are no end of complaints from people who feel they are entitled, that only they understand everything, that whatever they deem is the best course for the company is the only possible solution.

I've had people resign and walk out because they feel that others aren't adequately doing their jobs. When I ask said 'pissers' what they thought the other people's jobs entailed they couldn't even give me a correct broad overview.

You are not alone.

Oh in the 1:1 he asked just name me one thing they are responsible and as I opened my mouth (barely a second later) - probably knowing I was going to list a bunch - he said see you couldn't - a$$hole. Next time he asks why he was de-moted and seeing others around him get promoted - I will just point to this afternoon - no one wants to promote someone that is loudly complaining about some one else not doing their job.

A guy like that has GOT to have a laundry list of failures and embarrassments under his belt already. If I had a talk like that with someone they'd be getting their walking papers.

Sorry you had to deal with that. It's never easy dealing with someone that thinks the company revolves around them.

You should have put your fingers in your ears and sung "La la la la la" at him

I don't currently work in an environment like that and I don't remember any complainers. I do, however, remember lots of people who didn't do their jobs, and did what they did do very badly. I remember working with a woman who used to change her hairstyle throughout the day. She even had a mirror attached to her monitor Boy, was she a piece of work! I also used to work with a lot of socializers - blah blah blah blah - all of it irrelevant and inane. They were a real pain.

The problem stems is this person has work here eons - they have already allowed him behavior for so long I do not have any leg to stand on as far as that is in regard. A while back prior to me being here, there was a physical altercation where there were bumping chests involved.

Some time ago, I had to have a conversation about inappropriate behavior in regard to threatening some one else - not direct enough that I could have reason to pursue further and also I had not witness the incident. This guy is a large man and tried to intimadate people.

Fortunately he has respect for me (not a 100% sure why) but he does and he does not intimadate me. He annoys me at times, but usually I can handle appropriately without losing it - I am called the "Fred" whisperer (using Fred as his name) because I can handle him - most likely why I got him back as a report.

Awesome - thanks for the stories makes me feel better.

Not to just complain about him - there are some things he excels at - but those that are his downfalls are huge.

That behavior alone is enough to give you a leg, at least legally. If you're meaning that the upper echelon wouldn't support such a move, well that's just sorry of them.

Hope you keep your sanity.

you could shoot him, and then claim self defense...

I'd use a silencer, the report would be deafening in your office, and you would have a crowd on hand before you get your story straight.

I had a guy that thought he was untouchable when I was handed his department to 'fix'. He had all of the admin pass codes and backdoors into our financial and inventory software, much of which he had coded himself.

Problem was, he started ignoring my calls, not showing up to work for all manner of reasons, walking out of meetings angry when people would ask him for status updates. Oh he was a gem to work with. He wound up costing me $35k in contractor fees to get him fully out of our system, but once that was done I took IMMENSE pleasure in showing him the door with my foot. Morale in the department lifted overnight and we become measurably more productive.

Amazing what removing a bad apple can do to the crate.

Well that was years ago prior to me even being here. The other one - was more along the lines of looking and a few words - not something direct in as I am going beat you senseless.

I had to have the conversation. Should have seen it. He got all red in the face - stood up all anger and yelling, I just calmly stayed sitting just enphasizing his behaviour was inappropriate. A co-worker sent this guy to check on me - you can see via a window in the conference room as she was scared he would be physical - I knew he wouldn't at least towards me. And was right no matter what I said - he did get angry but not towards.

Like I said for some reason he respects me.

I had some one like that as well - and we did basically tell her she had a couple of months to find another job.

The difference here is - he pushes the envelope, but just does not cross the line at least since my watch. And he is a creature of habit - not one that would be the type to manage out (which I've done as well).

Yeah, I worked in a department once managing the office staff. I had a position empty and this woman 'bumped' into the job. I had no choice. She was responsible for the undergrads. She'd come to work at 8:30 and close her door. Everyone had to knock on it and sometimes she wouldn't answer it. One time I knocked, no answer, so opened the door. She was reading the paper and drinking coffee! I was shocked! She looked up at me and glared. I said, "Susie, you are not getting paid to read the paper and drink coffee. You are here to assist undergrads and must be available to them from 8:30 to 4:30. Your door must remain OPEN throughout the entire day. " I thought she was going to hit me she was so angry!

Her predecessor was a piece of work, too. She had worked there so long that she had 6 weeks' vacation, and everyone earned 1.5 days a month in sick leave. She took so many 'sick' days that she wound up using her vacation days. I asked her why she was so sick all the time and she said "stress". Her job wasn't stressful at all - I did it when she wasn't there, on top of my own job - I don't know what her problem was.

Another lady, Helga, was the receptionist. She was supposed to reconcile the telephone statements. We'd find them in the garbage can under her desk all the time. Anyway, she gave notice as she was going to work in another department. She asked the Manager if she could use her two week notice period to train at the new dept. The Manager said no, so she called in sick everyday. No loss to us, really, but completely wrong. One day the Manager called over to her new dept to find out where to send her records and, uh-oh, Helga answered the phone! The manager spoke to the other manager and she was let go immediately.

And I worked in a nursing home for a couple of years and one of my jobs was to process Workers' Compensation Claims. So this cook 'strained her shoulder' lifting something and was off for about three weeks. She decided to come back for a few days to see if she could work. Naturally she worked Dec 25 and 26 - triple time. Oh, no, it hurt, so back off for a few more days. Came back Jan 1 - triple time again. Then off for a month. Bullshit, just bullshit.

We have an admin person (about to return from a year elsewhere, unfortunately) who greets each new person to join the place with a list of all the things she hates about all the other staff. She hadn't tried that with me, so I was shocked to hear that all the new staff get that **** in their ears first thing.

She makes every tiny thing a huge drama, and any little problem has to be someone's fault, not hers of course. To me little mistakes are little mistakes and who gives a **** about who made them, let's just fix 'em.

She creates such drama and tension....everyone tippy-toes around her.

It's a major pain....but its the kind of problem most managements don't want to take on...especially as nobody in management has to work anywhere near her.

I feel bad for her, because I know she has a lot of trauma in her life, and suffers from severe chronic pain, and I think if management had the guts to really make clear to her that her behaviour is unacceptable, while supporting her to change it, she might have a chance of changing, or she'd leave.

At one place i worked, we had a nightmare employee who couldn't be let go (civil service) and who was almost totally useless to us. One thing and one thing only she could do reliably, and that was simple bookkeeping for petty cash and cash receipts. I was young and inexperienced, so it took me months to realize what to do, which was to shunt every bit of this over to her, and keep her busy enough to not bother the other employees. (Although we were state employees, our department sold to the public--overnight lodging, meals, outdoor programs--so we had a big cash flow of small ticket receipts.) I even got her an office of her own, so that she couldn't bother others--made it out to be prestige for her. She became terribly lonely, and would hurry through her work so that she had an excuse to come out to talk to the other employees . . .

Because she was an incurable gossip. If she didn't have any dirt on someone, she'd make something up. She apparenly didn't understand how destructive to employee morale it can be to spread stories, and the more so when it's not true. One day, another employee finally approached me and me that ___________ was spreading the story that i had gotten terribly drunk the night before, and had come here to sleep it off so i wouldn't miss work that day. She knew this because she has seen me in the bathroom shaving when she came in. Well, as it happened, i had gotten up late that morning, and would have been late for work, except i ran through the shower, didn't shave and hurried in to work. I said to this guy, "Look . . . look at me . . . i didn't shave today. Can't you see with your own eyes that she's just making up a story?" He remained skeptical--i was stunned. Even people who are not habitual tale bearers can so easily be seduced by the chronic gossip. I went around the building later, and would sit down with each employee. I'd say, "Look at my face, what do you see?" Eventually, they'd notice i hadn't shaved that day. Then i'd ask them to compare that to the story ____________ was spreading. The light came on for some of them, but maybe half of them remained suspicious, as though i were trying to fool them.

I don't even want to get into the complaints she used to retail on a daily basis, and the unnecessary grief it caused. We lost valuable student workers on more than one occasion because of her tale bearing--student work is crap employment, why should they bother?