Helping out your coworkers can be fun, engaging, and even educational for you. The difficult part comes when they want help all the time, especially if you have to keep correcting their mistakes. You’d hope that going to management would solve something, but when your boss tells you to just put up with it, you may be left with no choice except to quit.
Reddit user u/Boopadoopeedo starts their story off by being in this situation, with their coworker shifting angry customers and more work to their plate all the time.
More info: Reddit
Doing more work than you've signed on to is a huge pain, especially if you must deal with upset customers too
Image credits: Kindel Media (not the actual image)
OP wanted to get advice about what they should do when they constantly have to mop up their coworker's mistakes at work and their boss doesn't listen to requests
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
Once OP threatens quitting, the boss immediately starts backpedaling, saying that the worker will do his own work
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
Having taken a night to think about it and listened to the commenters' advice, the OP gives an update after a meeting with their boss
Image credits: Anna Shvets (not the actual image)
Stunned by the amount of feedback they received, they mention that Reddit gave them strength and courage for the meeting
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
OP was presented with a new workflow system that will hold everyone accountable, documenting every step, which would be a big improvement
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
The boss said that the coworker would be doing their own work from now on and agreed to provide all of this in writing for OP
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
OP closes the story by saying that they will stay at work for now as they need the money to refill their retirement fund
Image credits: u/Boopadoopeedo
OP mentions in the comments that the work they do is meaningful and that the job has benefits
OP begins the story by saying that they were at their breaking point because of a coworker. They seemingly shifted work to them when it was too late to fix it and the customer was mad. The situation kept coming up, and talking to the coworker wasn't helping at all.
Trying to resolve the situation, OP went to their boss, telling them that they wouldn’t be putting up with this, but the coworker glossed over the issue, and the boss believed them. After OP was told to keep helping the coworker, they said that they were done working there. Boss immediately backpedaled, saying that the coworker would do their work from now on and hoping that OP would stay.
OP finishes the first part of the story by saying that they would need to consider the decision, coming for help from Reddit. They also mention that they don't really need this job as their spouse makes much more than they do, but would like to keep it for some extra cash.
Less than a day later, OP comes back with an update, thanking people for their advice and saying how shaken up they were by the number of responses.
They mention that they went into the meeting about them quitting, and the boss started talking about a whole new workflow system that will solve OP’s problems. OP had a difficult time believing that a system like that would ever be implemented successfully. They also said if the boss wants them to keep assisting the coworker, they are still out. The boss says: “no, they will do their own work.”
OP agreed to stay if they got the statement in writing, but they didn’t want to leave their spouse to carry all the financial weight. They mention that they just put their kids through college and have taken a massive hit to their retirement fund, so they must do what needs to be done.
In the comments, OP mentions that there are benefits to the job. They don’t even hate that coworker. Their work is meaningful, with a short commute. They also say that many of their coworkers supported them heavily throughout the debacle, with some important people fighting for them.
Image credits: Sora Shumazaki (not the actual image)
According to Huffpost, horrible bosses come in at least 7 different types. Some of them may be really good at politicking, keeping their superiors in the dark about what’s going on in their department, while abusing their subordinates. Some may just be focused on saying what people want to hear or holding everyone else to absurdly high standards, especially when using KPIs.
People in a Quora thread started a discussion about whether you can do something when your manager doesn’t listen to what you say. The most resounding and frequent answer was - quit, find a new workplace and never look back.
But perhaps there are things that you can do? HuffPost seems to think so. They suggest 3 strategies to deal with a boss that doesn’t listen to you.
An important first step is to know whether your boss won’t listen to just you or everyone around them. Perhaps you need to find out what works on them, whether it may be in written form or a list of pros and cons. The thing you’re trying to get at is whether you can solve this problem in the first place. If you don’t figure out how to get to your boss, perhaps there is a colleague who they do listen to that could pass the word along.
Furthermore, a good method is coming to your boss with a solution in mind instead of only complaining. Explain what it will take to solve the issue at hand, suggest your ideas and how they could improve the workflow.
Finally, if this doesn't help, your solution is to change your boss or your job. You could attempt to change managers, but you don’t need to change companies immediately. Perhaps talking to your manager’s manager would help. If it’s impossible after all, your best course of action is to find a new job where you will be heard. You can make sure that it will happen if you are upfront about your communication style with your superior, making sure that you both understand each other.
The post collected nearly 6 thousand upvotes with nearly 700 comments on Reddit. The comments were supportive of OP, encouraging them to quit or find a new position in the near future. What are your thoughts about this situation? Have you been saddled with someone else’s job in your workplace? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments!
Image credits: Marc Mueller (not the actual image)
