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by DebbieM on August 23rd, 2004

DebbieM

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How does one handle an office clerk who engages in troublemaking and undermines co-workers but maintains an "angelic" disposition to my boss and her supervisor to cover it up?

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  • by Andy Is Wicked Married to Penal Colony on August 29th, 2004

    Andy Is Wicked Married to Penal Colony

    This will pobably not be a popular answer. It is just another point of view presented in the absence of knowing the individual in question or what the office culture is like.

    I notice you said "office clerk", this is typically somebody with clerical, secretarial, or administrative duties. It is unfortunate, but many work environments/cultures regard these positions as menial and unimportant. I once heard somebody refer to the position as "unskilled labor". That is very far from true to say the least.

    Troublemaking is never acceptable and you should document specific incidents and discuss the matter with your boss. If you are not in her supervisory chain of command, you might be stepping out of line by reprimanding her directly. So, if you choose to confront her before going to your boss, make certain you do not scold or threaten her. You might just casually point out that the office could really do without "X" (insert troublemaking incident here). Be polite and keep your cool.

    Undermining. I do not know what your office culture is, so this is a bit harder to address. I will give you a personal example:

    I was the administrative assistant and the office culture and direction from my boss was simple "if she tells you to do something, do it". The understanding was that I represented and spoke for him. Since the boss had outright said this and it was known office policy, most people understood and did not see it as "undermining".

    I transfered to a new office, in the same organization, where the boss was wishy-washy and could not make up his mind about who's admin. assistant I was. His? Or everyone elses? With such ambiguity, my job was really hard. On paper I was his, but the reality was that I was stuck working for everyone in the office. This was terribly complicated since there was a mixed bag of employees: contractors, military, and government civilians. Contractors, in this particular location, did what was asked of all government employees period (I was gov. civilian). There was a clear hierarchy of civilian to civialian interaction. The military side was what caused the problem. According to the Human Resources Department that oversaw not just my office, but the location as a whole, smy level of government civilian administrative position was equal to an Air Force 04 (Major) or like rank in the other services. Whoaaa, the military guys did not like that one bit. They were in uniform and I was a secretary and that is all they could fathom. Forget what HR said, I was clearly their subordinate as far as they were concerned. So, everytime I had to assign an office task, they saw it as "undermining" and pitched a fit. I went to my boss and asked him to please clarify my role in the office and he just couldn't be bothered. I got tired of it and quit. My position, a year later, is still vacant.

    Depending on what the policy is in your office or what the culture is as a whole, she may or may not actually be undermining anyone. If she is, then you can only speak for yourself if you approach her on the matter and ask that she treat you more respectfully. To take the edge off it, you might say something along the lines of "I have a great amount of respect for you and everything you do here in the office, I would appreciate it if you showed me the same respect". If she balks or if you think this will be ineffective, you might again document specific incidents and discuss the situation with your boss.

    "Angelic" or not, she will slip up eventually. Hope this helps :)

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