Temp co-worker

[LOREBUNDE]

Just wanted some opinions on something that's been bothering me. I don't know if it's me being jealous, threatened or just human. Last Spring I was asked if I wanted to fill in for someone in a different dept. while she was out on surgery leave. I accepted which meant a temp would fill in my job so I would have to be trained and also train her. This person and I hit it right off the bat and also everyone else really liked her. The problem was I would find errors that she would be making and help her correct them. I could also tell by some of the questions she would ask that she just wasn't getting it. When I mentioned this to the higher ups one woman said, Yes, she did tell me she understands it so don't worry. It would irritate me as I guess I wanted to hear " I'll talk to her". Anyway, fast forward, I am back at my old job, things went well for me doing the other position. Coming back, I see things she didn't do that she was supposed to do and errors that took a while to be caught which really irritate me. They are keeping her on and everybody loves her, thinks she so wonderful and smart. The few times I've said things re. errors, etc. people always stuck up for her."oh, she's under a lot of stress w/divorce, etc." so now I just shut up but inside I'm annoyed. I just decided well I'm back and I'll just keep my distance, that she'll be learning new things and move on. Well, now I'm told she will be my back up person in the case I'm sick/vacation. All these years there was no back up person so I get that. Thing is, now I'm asked to let her do my job once a wk to stay fresh and that one day I'll do whatever project she was working on. She's pretty much a floater at this point. I'm just annoyed, am I over-reacting, do I take my job too serious? The last wk she was at my job I was on vacation and a report came in w/problems that she just didn't even open. I had to do when I came back and I was peeved. Maybe it's her non-chalent atitude that gets me. I asked if the report was done and she was like "no". Not "oh Im sorry I didn't realize it was important" or any excuse.One more thing, is I'll be the other persons fill in now and I don't have to sit there every week. I have my notes and unless the job changes there is no need for me to sit over there. The boss makes it sound so good for me. Just think he says, you'll get to do something everyweek now too so it will be a nice change for you. I'm just gonna go with the flow but find myself annoyed. ok, one more thing...I really do like this person (other than working w/her). She is super nice, funny so I feel like a two-faced person. This has actually kept me awake some nights. One thing I think about myself is I've done this job on my own for years and having someone else in the pic working w/me is kind of hard. so maybe it is me?

[lovinalotofbags]

Speak to your manager. She may need more time with you learning you what you do in your position and in any given circumstance.

[LOREBUNDE]

I know, I figure I could go over a few things with her once she sits back there again, telling her about the errors. I guess I'm just used to working by myself on my own I find it very hard. I feel bad because I do like her, I feel so mean. It's just annoying because this other co-worker was raving about her how smart she is, etc. I didn't want to bad mouth her "hello, she's not that smart". Believe me, I make mistakes too, we all do but still... Even bringing this up here on tpf, I feel bad. God I hope she never reads this. She's not a member but I'd die. I mean has any of you ever really liked someone as a friend but then when they had to work with them You don't care for them, they drive you crazy?

[Hessefan]

I know EXACTLY what you mean, as I had the same situation at my last job, and your feelings are completely normal I think. In my case it wasn't a temp, but a lady who started work with us part-time and I was showing her the ropes, so to speak. She was very, very nice and personable and everyone absolutely loves her, including me, but honestly not the brightes pea in the pod and had absolutely no attention to detail. On top of that she was convinced a lot of the work was somehow below her and after nearly two years told us she has been looking for new jobs because she wasn't challenged enough and was making lots of mistakes out of boredom and not paying attention.
Fortunately for me there were three other people in my office, all working with her and all having to continuously pick up her mistakes, but somehow she didn't get fired. She got warned a few times, but it was always put in a common context, so that she wouldn't be insulted, as she was very sensitive and held grudges very easily or would just sulk for days on end if she thought we were critisizing her.
There isn't really much you can do, apart from wait for the boss to catch on without you complaining about her, which might make you seem petty or jealous, and might make the atmosphere tense if she or others were to find out. It took a while, but our boss finally caught on when he increased her hours to do some work for him and she learned slowly and kept making grave mistakes. Because it is hard to find someone for those hours she was needed, they have kept her on and everyone sort of humors her, but she doesn't get important or difficult tasks and has now decided herself that she wants to look for something else.
It could of course also go the other way and your colleague decides it's a greta job and she wants to stay on if they let her. Just make sure you note down somehow on which days you each did what, so that her mistakes can't be blamed on you. And we did not, but you could also try not to cover her mistakes, so that eventually someone notices. I don't think that makes you two-faced at all, but why should you have to work harder to continuously remedy someone else's mistakes while they sit back?
Good luck with that situation, it really sucks, especially if it concerns just you and her.

[LOREBUNDE]

Yes, you get it! I think too, the problem is I'm not one to go on and reprimend, "you did this wrong, do it this way" etc. I'm more the type, " i do it this way but find a way that works for you". I'd probably make a terrible boss so feel funny to be correcting her. She was at one point going to be learning this whole new thing and I was glad thinking The person she was working with will put her in her place and wouldn't hesitate to tell the boss about - but they changed that position. I do feel like others will think I'm petty and threatened. Is this what is meant by passive-agressivness?LOL
I feel like a terrible person because I'll be smiling her in face, chatting with her when I'm actually annoyed.

[Hessefan]

Yep, I am the same way, trying to let her do it her way. The woman couldn't even file because she didn't know the alphabet properly, despite having a teaching degree...
We were working in a military environment and she asked me what the difference between Afghanistan and Iraq was, having been in the Navy herself during the first Iraq invasion!
I felt terrible those two years, as did my colleagues, because we really really liked her personally, but she just made much more work than it was worth having another half position. We had to constantly double-check everything she did, because it was bound to be wrong somewhere, and after two years there was only a very slight improvement. When I left the job because I was moving, my boss called me into his office and asked me about my honest opinion about her. Since I was asked directly I did tell him, but felt absolutely terrible, because she was a friend. However, it really is not worth the stress I think. I also lost some sleep over this and was wondering whether I took it too seriously, but it is so frustrating. I feel for you!

[cookie888]

I think eventually, their shortcomings will catch up with them.

Sometimes you have to be quite brutal when you have friends that are also co-workers. Personally, I've worked with someone who wasn't pulling their weight but she was an absolutely lovely person - in fact I'm still in contact with her, but her inability was seen by the rest of management.

I never said anything though. I just let her get on with it. If someone asked me why I was re-doing some of her work I'd just simply be honest and tell them the situation and let them work it out

Gosh, I sound like I'm heartless!

[juneping]

oh...i totally understand what you mean by that.

we have a lot of people like that in our office and it's just not our call to say anything. b/c at the end of the day, we are the same - getting paid to do our job. if the person who is paying her to do a lousy job and still happy about it...so be it. you are paid 8 hours a day to do what you need to do...as long as you are not working OT for free to fix her mistakes...just keep that mind set..or else you'll be upset.
one thing i don't understand in an office environment, my friend was in a higher position and she told me she rather hire someone easy to work with less competent than hire someone competent but less friendly (we are not talking about obnoxious personality here...)...

recently at work, one coworker actually was caught up by his incompetence....

[gacats]

So sorry this is happening to you. Isn't the work day hard enough without all this?
I don't think I have ever had a job that has been perfect. There is the backstabber, the liar, the toss-everybody-under-the-bus coworker, the slacker, the complainer, it never ends.
All you can do is go into work every day and try to do your best job.
I don't mean to be negative, actually, I'm trying to be positive about this. The fact is, you will have to control your reaction to your coworker.

[LVMademoiselle]

I agree with your friend. I rather work with a nice person who is less competent then with one who is and less friendly.

Originally Posted by juneping

oh...i totally understand what you mean by that. we have a lot of people like that in our office and it's just not our call to say anything. b/c at the end of the day, we are the same - getting paid to do our job. if the person who is paying her to do a lousy job and still happy about it...so be it. you are paid 8 hours a day to do what you need to do...as long as you are not working OT for free to fix her mistakes...just keep that mind set..or else you'll be upset. one thing i don't understand in an office environment, my friend was in a higher position and she told me she rather hire someone easy to work with less competent than hire someone competent but less friendly (we are not talking about obnoxious personality here...)... recently at work, one coworker actually was caught up by his incompetence....

[juneping]

^^care to elaborate it more??

i just found it unreasonable...someone keep making mistakes which adds work loads to other ppl if he/she is not able to do a good job and have to pass that job to other ppl. if he/she can't do her/his job and other ppl always pick up after their mistakes...why is she/he there at the first place?? i don't understand??? pls enlighten me.

i am always the one to pick up after other ppl's mistakes or unfulfilled projects...honestly i don't enjoy it.
if i were the employer...i hire 2 ppl to help me. but one always makes mistakes and one always have to pick up after the other but have to do his/her own part as well...i think i would just hire one and raise the salary instead of hiring two w/ the fact that one is useless...

[HandbagLuvr]

Originally Posted by LOREBUNDE

I know, I figure I could go over a few things with her once she sits back there again, telling her about the errors. I guess I'm just used to working by myself on my own I find it very hard. I feel bad because I do like her, I feel so mean. It's just annoying because this other co-worker was raving about her how smart she is, etc. I didn't want to bad mouth her "hello, she's not that smart". Believe me, I make mistakes too, we all do but still... Even bringing this up here on tpf, I feel bad. God I hope she never reads this. She's not a member but I'd die. I mean has any of you ever really liked someone as a friend but then when they had to work with them You don't care for them, they drive you crazy?

Yes and you will find that you will start liking them less, especially if you have to start picking up the slack. Is she at least trying hard to learn? Or does she just not want to work? I had a coworker who thought certain jobs were beneath her, just wanted to take breaks all the time and I had to explain things so many times that I wondered if she was doing it on purpose so I would pick up the slack. I hate to say it but sometimes the whole sweet routine is done to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. It's much easier to get away with sub par work when people like you as a person. If her work habits do not cause you extra work then I would sit back at this point. Eventually your coworkers will see what is going on too. Sometimes it just takes longer for others to see it. I know in my situation the whole team eventually caught on and I didn't need to say a thing to them about it to make them see it.

[gina2328]

Ugh. Doesn't sound like you have a job description. Your boss just likes her great personality and she got hired. Usually they hire a person based on capability to do the job first, then ability to get along with others is important also. So they are finding work for her to do. Maybe she will be eventually moved into a full time job somewhere else when something opens up?

I think if after some time it continues to be a problem I would talk to my boss but I would start documenting it all. For example, on x date this report was incorrect with so many errors. Then when you go to your boss, he will have examples, not just you complaining, you need concrete evidence.