Challenging Authority At the work place

[herbal]

I work for a small company,actually its my first job since am just fresh out of college. There is this lady,apparently she seems to get into everyones nerves at the office,most people are afraid to face her(i dont even know exactly why because am new). I feel its inappropriate how she treats junior employees of the company ecspecially those without higher education.

 

I am not afraid of her,partly because i dont see any reason to and partly because i dont see a future for me in this company. Whats makes her so bullyish to people is that she is friends with the owners of the company,of which i dont even care anyway.

 

THe thing is, is it in my place to 'save' the rest of the employees since they seem to only complain behind her back?

 

Another thing,i am supposed to be working on a project with her, and she seems to have no idea of what the project entails, have the option of sitting back and let her lead us(into oblivion!) or i can take the prerogative and confront her and take it as my task to steer forward the project, irrespective of her being my senior, the latter seems better but........

 

Please advice](*,)

[HellFrost666]

Can you go over her head anonymously?

[annie24]

what exactly is she doing that is bothering people so much?

[iamteddybearfeelmecuddle]

Maybe you should just try being very nice to her and see if that doesn't turn her nicer toward you. Perhaps she doesn't like you because you are gossiping about her with the other junior employees?

[HellFrost666]

Maybe you should just try being very nice to her and see if that doesn't turn her nicer toward you. Perhaps she doesn't like you because you are gossiping about her with the other junior employees?

 

There is a difference between hearing gossip, and taking part in it. It doesn't sound to me like the OP is participating in the gossip. I am guessing not anyway.

[iamteddybearfeelmecuddle]

There is a difference between hearing gossip, and taking part in it. It doesn't sound to me like the OP is participating in the gossip. I am guessing not anyway.

 

Maybe not. But I would advise OP not to treat her differently or give her a cold shoulder, or behave exclusively against her or clannishly with the other employees against her. Juniors tend to treat people in authority like the enemy, or the bad parent, and that can just be creating more tension than anything else.

[Mrs Elliott Smith]

My suggestion:

 

Don't get involved with the fact that the other employees are being "bullied." It's not your job to save them- they are adults, you know? They can take care of themselves. Just stay out of it. Especially office gossip.

 

Be yourself when you work with this lady, and do what you gotta do. This is your job, and regardless of whether you plan on staying there or not, you need to be professional.

[herbal]

Maybe you should just try being very nice to her and see if that doesn't turn her nicer toward you. Perhaps she doesn't like you because you are gossiping about her with the other junior employees?

 

I trry to keep my relationships at the work place a professional as possibel ecspecially with her since i have come to learn 'familiarity brings contempt',that in mind we only discuss job related issues,so the issue of being 'nice',i have no idea where it should come in.

Maybe my lack of experience in the work plae is contibuting to the confusion of if i am supposed to take a side,stand or just remain indifferent to the whole issue!!!!

[iamteddybearfeelmecuddle]

I trry to keep my relationships at the work place a professional as possibel ecspecially with her since i have come to learn 'familiarity brings contempt',that in mind we only discuss job related issues,so the issue of being 'nice',i have no idea where it should come in.

Maybe my lack of experience in the work plae is contibuting to the confusion of if i am supposed to take a side,stand or just remain indifferent to the whole issue!!!!

 

Yes, I think you should try to remain as indifferent as possible. And like I said just try not to treat her with contempt or mistrust, because she will most likely not appreciate that and you don't want her giving you a bad time because of it. One day you will have subordinates and juniors around you and you'll see things from a different perspective. Now, that said I'm not saying it would be ok for someone to be abusive towards you at work for no good reason. Abusive might include yelling at you in front of others, threatening to fire you all the time.

[herbal]

Well to answer the issue of gossip,i cant really define what constitutes gossiping, check out this scenario, one of the employees who is sitting near my desk talks about her,i may be prompted to respond at some pont in the conversation,does that entail gossip. Though that is a discussion for another day, maybe i have 'gossiped' about her while i thought i was talking about her.

in any case i was only telling whoever approached me with the issue to go and face her since talking about her behind her back wont change anything.

[iamteddybearfeelmecuddle]

Well to answer the issue of gossip,i cant really define what constitutes gossiping, check out this scenario, one of the employees who is sitting near my desk talks about her,i may be prompted to respond at some pont in the conversation,does that entail gossip. Though that is a discussion for another day, maybe i have 'gossiped' about her while i thought i was talking about her.

in any case i was only telling whoever approached me with the issue to go and face her since talking about her behind her back wont change anything.

 

That is probably a good approach. You probably want to try to steer the conversation elsewhere if you can, too. She may hear snippets of conversations, or see glances from some of your coworkers that make it obvious they are gossiping about her. Perhaps they all go to lunch and don't invite her? I guess that's just a loose example of possible divisive behavior that you really want to try to avoid; some people are very intuitive.

[herbal]

Can you go over her head anonymously?

 

Well i cant seem to understand what you mean,would you mind explaining please

[herbal]

what exactly is she doing that is bothering people so much?

 

She is very petty,complains almost about everything,my this....my computer is....my e-mails........my desk......my phone....all of which are normal things at our office but she believes her problems are so important the rest of the work at the office should stop so that her problems are sorted out. Hence once she arrives she is on the phone calling everyone to her office, u get my flow? she's one of those people who arrive at a calm place and bring in the chaos with 'em!

[CaptainPlanet]

Anyone who treats a person badly because of something someone else said about them is a peanut. See for yourself, be nice to her, give this woman a chance.

 

You cannot mention anything specific that she has done wrong other than that she complains. Exactly what you're doing now. Personal dislike isn't a reason not to work with someone, do your project, it is not your place to judge her. If she is ruining the project tell her she did it wrong. She's obviously copping some flakk, give her a break.

 

Btw, you're fresh out of college, shes friends with the owners. You won't win. Not worth losing your job over. You'll still want a reference from them, and don't set fire to bridges.

[cc2006]

Its a sad state of affairs, but it seems wherever I go I run into people like the one you're posting about. No matter what job I work.

 

Guess what? .. they're everywhere.

 

Dunno' if its the "fresh out of college" inexperience in this field, but trust me, office politics and overly BS attitudes from people will follow you wherever you go.

 

 

Me? I stand up to them. I noticed as I cleaned out my desk at my last job that I always seem to be the "go to guy" for my workplaces. I feel like my coworkers can SENSE that I'll stand up for them and run to me, it is really weird.

 

 

My second job I had ... myself and several others were all hired together. We were promised benefits after 6 months, health insurance, overtime pay, vacation time, raises after performance evaluations, etc.

 

After 6 months and nothing happening and a boss that blocked every attempt to get what we were promised I had a group of coworkers at my desk asking me to go speak on their behalf. Know what? I did it, I went down to HR and went over my boss' head and got us all our benefits we were promised, and it felt good. We were all laid off later and it didn't matter, but I felt like a hero for a little while.

 

 

Fast forward. My last job. People in my office coming to me about one of the bosses. "Hypocrite" was probably the NICEST word I could post here she was called. Know what I did? ... she crossed me at one point, pulled me aside and disciplined me publicly in the company for something I didn't even do wrong (she claimed I was using my position in the company to get favors and special treatment from other employees) ... and then I caught her doing the SAME THING three weeks later (using HER position in the company to get favors and special treatment from people). I called her out over it. Marched into her office and told her what I thought.

 

I ended up packing my desk that day and leaving because if I didn't step down I was going to be fired after a rather lengthy battle.

 

Was I the hero that time? No. Every one of my fellow employees there backed down and not a SINGLE ONE of them stuck up for me. Some even stopped talking to me my last two weeks there (had to stay those last 2 weeks) and when I pressured them was told they were instructed to "distance themselves" from me or face disciplinary action themselves. I had one even swear that if I was fired or had to resign he'd leave with me in protest. Six months later and he still works there while I'm here at home re-evaluating my life.

 

 

You can't solve the companies problems. Trust me. Unless you're on the board, or a partner, or owner, you can't solve their problems. Do your best to just nod and smile when your coworkers complain about that woman and stay under her radar. If you're lucky someone above her will see her screw up one day and she'll get her karmic returns. You can always think about getting another job, and look in the meantime. Stepping up and playing the hero rarely works in the real world.