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My (20F) colleague (60sF) is a workplace bully, what do I do? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by CalciumDeficiency@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is a job at a casual dining establishment. My colleague is driving me nuts but there seems to be no recourse for it. UK btw

Let's call my colleague Sarah. Sarah is a salaried worker while most of the others are zero contract but she's technically not above us in any way, just acts like it. Here are some of the things she's done just recently:

-Left me by myself during the lunch rush while another colleague was on a break to manage FOH to go on a half hour smoke break. I was literally having to run from the pass to take out food to diners, back to the till, and making coffees at the same time, with a massive queue. She comes back for ten minutes then disappears somewhere again once the other colleague is back. Smoke breaks aren't a part of her contract

-Leaves 15-20 min early every day but reported me for arriving 5 minutes late

-Reported me for not saying good morning to her happily enough

-Eats off of customers plates BEFORE they go out

-Signs off on things she didn't actually do on the task sheet, but told others to do

She's very two faced, and gossips with everyone about everyone else. And is very friendly with the manager and constantly reporting back to them. Everyone is waiting for her to leave the entire shift since she only ever opens, yet she expects everything to always be perfect when she comes in when there's 10x more things to do on a close than when she opens as we are often busy until the very last minute

Honestly, she is making me dread coming into work, but the spot I'm stuck in at the moment for uni has very few students jobs and I desperately need the money. Is there anything I can do or am I just fucked?

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I agree with all this except the lying.

If you have to lie to make your case, you don’t have a case.

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

That’s not true. Bosses don’t always hear you. You have to speak their language. They typically don’t care about your feelings until it affects their bottom line. Put it in terms they’ll understand or they won’t hear you. Capitalists aren’t like you and me.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

None of what you just said is lying though.

Giving them information likely to persuade them based on their values isn’t lying. That’s just smart negotiating.

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It is. She didn’t say any customers complained. But that’s what a boss will hear. A boss hearing employees say they are having trouble with a long term, older employee that is feeding information on “misbehaving” staff to the boss?

That’s an uphill battle, getting the boss to give a shit. They’re probably emotionally invested in this older employee if she’s constantly hanging out with the boss, and they rely on her to keep the younger staff “in line.” And to be their eyes and ears when they’re not there, because she’s reporting employees left and right for stuff the boss doesn’t want happening.

It’s not immoral to lie to capitalists. They typically don’t give a shit about your needs. They will almost always screw you over to make more money. OP is facing a tough situation as is. Even if the boss doesn’t like this older woman, they probably still see her as valuable and are willing to keep her around because she’s a class traitor for the boss. She’s on salary. She’s been there a long time. It’ll be tough to get anything in the boss’ ear about this woman because they will most likely see it as the employees trying to get out from under her reporting/rule.

So between the fact that she’s valuable to the boss, has been there a long time, and that the boss knows she’s seen as an “enemy” among the workers? It’s a tall order to get rid of her or to get her to change her behavior.

Even lying about customers complaining probably won’t accomplish anything. But if all of the employees work together and speak the boss’ language, there’s a bit of a chance. But only a pretty small one. Gotta do all she can.