Difficult co-workers

I find myself in an awkward situation at work.
The short version is, Im the office manager for a heating and air conditioning company. I manage the technicians (make sure they get to where there need to go and that they turn in all the required paperwork). Im not their "boss" per se, but I do control what jobs they do and process all the paperwork, warranty items, etc.
When they don't turn in all the required paperwork (invoices, travel logs, warranty items, etc) it makes my job VERY difficult. It basically doubles my work load and makes it impossible for me to keep up with my day to day tasks that I'n repsonsible for. Only one out of the three do what they're supposed to do. I liked them all to begin with, but lately, Ive found myself getting angry at them. It creates a lot of tension at work and causes me anxiety.
I've tried to be helpful to them, as much as possible, but it's difficult to want to help them when they make the job so much harder.
"Telling on them" is out. I've mentioned the issue several times and a lot of barking is done, but no biting. That's likely because they need SOMEONE to fill the positions and good help is hard to find in this industry.
So, Im basically stuck in this position, trying to find some way to get along and not start throwing things at my co-workers out of frustration.

Any sugggestions?

Start looking for a new job?

I don't know, do people see you not being able to do your job as it being YOUR fault?

No....they don't consider it my "fault."
And looking for another job right now is out. Plus, I sorta like it there and the hours work well for me. I have no plans of leaving - I just need to find some way to deal with the people causing the issues.

Show a bit of cleavage and job's a good 'un

Poguesy said:

Show a bit of cleavage and job's a good 'un

Click to expand...

You're so helpful. :club:

lol

---

EveWasFramed said:

No....they don't consider it my "fault."
And looking for another job right now is out. Plus, I sorta like it there and the hours work well for me. I have no plans of leaving - I just need to find some way to deal with the people causing the issues.

Click to expand...

Well if it's not your fault that you can't do your job right and uhm, they don't blame you for it. Then why worry about it?

It seems as though it might be out of your hands.

Do you just innately want to do the job well?

It DOUBLES my work load as well as makes me angry at them for it. I can't turn that off. Im basically a babysitter for adults. (no)

Bones *thumbs up*

I think i've said and asked all I wanted/needed to.

If my mom were here, she'd say you need to learn to meditate. that's her answer whenever someone is stressed.

The owners know. Ive told them and they can see it. They can't just FIRE them both because they need someone in those positions. My question isn't really so much as how to "fix it" because nothing is going to be done.
My concern is finding some way to cope with it and not to allow things to become even more difficult. It sucks. It really does.

Hmm....you can start by jumping on your desk, screaming like a rhesus monkey (it establishes dominance in ranking females within the group), and throwing fecal matter at them. Where you get the feces is up to you. *shrug*

ghbarnaby2 said:

Hmm....you can start by jumping on your desk, screaming like a rhesus monkey (it establishes dominance in ranking females within the group), and throwing fecal matter at them. Where you get the feces is up to you. *shrug*

Click to expand...

:club: Im the only female there. Second, Im not touching doo doo. :club:

Sorry EWF.

It is just like a man to try and fix it instead of listening.

If the owners know and do not care and/or does not have the fortitude to fix the situation, then there is absolutely nothing you can do.

Therefore, I like Sophia's comment ... to meditate.


When all else fails, I meditate at my desk (or take a walk) and go through all of the chakras.

I imagine a chest of drawers ... polish it all around ... open the lower drawer of the root chakra ... pick up the red towel that is in it ... shake out all of the dirt, grim, negative feelings, etc that can be associated with the color ... fold it up nice and neat ... and close the drawer ... next, i go to the next associated color and towel and repeat the process for the specific chakra and its meaning ... i finish by looking at the chest of drawers again for any areas missed with grim, negative feelings, etc, polish it, and go about my day.

I use other means as well such as burning a black candle at night and smudging for removing the negative forces out of my life, but that is probably not appropriate to discuss on the forums.

Anyway, I apologize for falling into the man trap of trying to fix things without listening.

Hugs to you.

EveWasFramed said:

The owners know. Ive told them and they can see it. They can't just FIRE them both because they need someone in those positions. My question isn't really so much as how to "fix it" because nothing is going to be done.
My concern is finding some way to cope with it and not to allow things to become even more difficult. It sucks. It really does.

Click to expand...

Give the one who does a good job all the good jobs and the other two all the crap work. Find out what sort of taskings in inconvenient places you can assign them to, then tell them that priority for the good ones goes to people who do paperwork for the others

What my boss does if his contractors don't get their proper paper work in to the office they don't get paid until all their paper work is in.

Doesn't it suck when you don't have the power to fire the "kids". My heart goes out to you, it really does because I know truly how you feel.

I used to call my former bakery the kindergarden romper room because my "kids" (mostly the full-timers who were older than me) were terrible and difficult. They acted like the sterotype of the part timers (mostly students) and the funny thing was, the part timers were 10 times better than the full timers. The part timers had the crappiest jobs and were left with the crappiest conditions and they all worked so much harder than the full timers. They (part timers) were my underdogs and every chance I had, I made sure that everyone knew of their hard work and accomplishments. It worked for awhile, the full timers worked harder and then when they realized that I really didn't have any power per se, and so they went back to the way they were. I complained to my manager (who actually encouraged the full timers bad behaviour), she told me to quit if I didn't like working there. The manager then tried to find ways of getting me fired. She complained to everyone who would listen right up to head office. Fortunetly for me, the general manager of the warehouse I was working in, knew what was really going on. He had a different plan for me, but didn't let me know until later on. Basically, the general manager wanted me out of the bakery to prove to everyone what really was going on. Long story short, bad manager lost and I won. The stress that came with that situation, especially when they started gossip, rumours, etc almost ended my life.

In terms of coping, right now, push the owners to at least replace one person. It will prob. mean a little more stress in the short run but, once the new person starts to work out, push for the other to be replaced (if he doesn't smarten up)

Also, as cheesy as it sounds, yoga really helps. Also, at work if you find that it gets really stressful, leave for even 5 minutes to go outside and just breath.

If all else fails, unfortunetly you need to find another job. I know, it's hard and why should you leave when you are doing your job? I was told the same thing, quit and look for another job. I foolishly stayed because I didn't do anything wrong, I was right, why should I leave? I'm not a quitter!! For me, the stress and the gossip and retaliation that I was getting almost cost me my life.

You need to ask yourself if all this stress is worth this job? How long are you going to cope with this stress before your health is at risk? If you don't burn yourself out, your blood pressure will climb, your heart will get weaker. I know, I've been thru that, prob. had the beginnings of a heart attack and stroke. Didn't think that all this can happen at the age of 34-35.

Try yoga it helps you to focus on yourself and nothing else.

If you can't do what Lim suggested, or just yell at them every day.... could you maybe turn it into some kind of competition/incentive program for them? Where if they turn their paperwork in every day, they get a "gold star" or some other acknowledgment of it, and if they do it every day for one week, two weeks, or a month (depending on what you think would be best for them) they get their picture on the wall and maybe some small token prize like a beer?
It might at least help make them remember, and would let them know when they're not doing what they're supposed to when their picture isn't on the wall.

You're gonna have to be stricter on what you accept in. You say it doubles your work but really the situation is you are doing THEIR work for them. I would say if the paperwork is not up to scratch then its getting sent back out to you until it is complete. If this causes hold ups then stick to your guns and be clear that they are causing the delay and not you. Also if they don't get paid until its submitted, I think the penny will drop pretty quick!

Limlim said:

Give the one who does a good job all the good jobs and the other two all the crap work. Find out what sort of taskings in inconvenient places you can assign them to, then tell them that priority for the good ones goes to people who do paperwork for the others

Click to expand...

LOL I love this idea.

---

Barbaloot said:

If you can't do what Lim suggested, or just yell at them every day.

Click to expand...

Uh, but who wants to be the Mean ole Mommy at work? It's a pain in the ass enough to be that at home.

Thanks for the input everyone.

It's likely to be a bad day at work tomorrow - someone is going to get fired (no, it's not me).

While the owners were all in Las Vegas, the two co-workers that I have the issues with sort of screwed themselves. The guy who was keeping an eye on the installation side of the business, ratted the two of them out. Man....the owners were all up in arms about the stuff that went on while they were gone.
Now....by this time, Im thinking to myself - gee, I've been saying this stuff for a YEAR. And NOW you want to do something about it? Oh well....IF they do fire one of them, maybe that will be less stress. However, the person they replace him with may be even WORSE.
The last person they fired got really ugly when he left. I hope whichever one of them gets the axe doesn't decide to do anything stupid. They both have nasty tempers.

lol, I think I'll shut and lock my office door when I go in tomorrow morning.

EveWasFramed said:

lol, I think I'll shut and lock my office door when I go in tomorrow morning.

Click to expand...

Good plan.