Bossy coworker stories.

[Terry]

I'd like to hear some of your all's bossy coworker(non-supervisor) stories?. For example, I have this one guy at my job who is very bossy. For example, when we get done with an order, we are suppose to "run out" the order so the boxer can get the last few "pieces". So we'll get done, and at the EXACT second we get done, he'll say "Run it out. ", and if I delay even a second, he'll say "hurry up". I've been at my job for 2 months now. I know how to do it. He hasn't even been there as long as me either. Dude, I know I'm supposed to run it out. You don't need to tell me.

Another story is about this same guy. The last 25 minutes of our shift is cleanup. This guy likes to FLY through cleanup. He goes as fast as he can. You'll see him literally dashing around. Well a few nights ago, he asked me if I would clean the glue machine and he'll do the setup for the next day. I said ok. It's 15 minutes through cleanup and I am just getting done completing the other cleanup tasks that I needed to do. Right when I was about to walk over to the machine to start cleaning, he runs over to it and starts scraping glue off it and then he says "Dude, you said you were going to clean this". UM...YEAH! Just because this guy likes to get everything done as fast as he can doesn't mean I'm required to. The pace I move at is more than enough to be considered "good". A lot of people think that if you're fast and you do a good job, then you're a good employee. I don't think so. If you treat your coworkers like this, if you are always trying to come off as "the better employee", then you sir/madam, are not a good employee.

I have other stories about coworkers trying to act superior to me, which I plan to share, but I'd like to hear your bossy coworker stories and/or comments about my story.

[purplecat41877]

I believe that doing the job fast isn't that important since that can cause mistakes. Doing the job right is the best thing to do.

[powerboy]

Back when I was working at my last factory job. I was there for however many months, it was. A newer coworker had just came on about a month before. I was over helping him out on what I had trained him to do. He was bossing us around. Everyone there had come on before him. He was completely pissing me off. I took my hammer and mentioned about how he is not my boss and I broke our wooden steps in half, that I had to build two months before.

[powerboy]

Saw this post after I posted mine above

I believe that doing the job fast isn't that important since that can cause mistakes. Doing the job right is the best thing to do.

That is how I believe.

[Misanthropical]

Whiner is like that. She will tell us to look up an account for her, it doesn't matter if we are busy enough as it and that she is no way my supervisor or boss.

She has been there longer, although not doing the job my friend and I do, which means she thinks she can tell us what to do and when to do it.

I piss her off by ignoring her, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she bothers my friend all the time now, even though I told my friend she is just encouraging Whiner and to ignore her.

[karath]

Hooo boy, do I ever. Had a co-worker arrive fairly recently...she was a manager at a McDonald's before raising her standards ever so slightly and arriving at our Wendy's instead. While she is not a manager, one wouldn't guess it from her initial attitude towards the other employees, and that seems to be still ongoing. It doesn't help her cause that my accomplishing any given task gets me the much-cherished reward of being told "Good JOB, Karath!" as though I'm a particularly slow 3 year old.

She has, as a result, managed to land on my bad side, not something that I pride myself on showing. I think I actually posted about her before (I'll have to look up that thread) but I believe she's gotten the message that I'm not putting up with her shit anymore. I doubt that will improve things all too much (our new manager and co-worker seem to be quite fond of her, the new co-worker becoming...intimately fond, even. It's like high school with lesbians at Wendy's right now ), but I can hope at least!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

[KellyHabersham]

We had someone like that at Macy's......"Janie" started shortly after I did, she was quite a bit younger than the rest of us (except for the other teen girl), and had a tendency to get bossy with some of the older/more experienced sales associates. One of whom was constantly complaining to me about Janie's attitude, and how she was going to talk to our manager about it.

[Dreamstalker]

The Assistant at the repair shop from hell insists on calling the owner each morning when I get in and just sticking the phone in my face; I have a feeling that is imposing on his real job (plus he talks so fast it's easy for me to get confused as to what needs to be done if there are multiple unmarked machines--my plea for written instructions on the computers goes ignored). There seems to be no way that I can tell her a) the boss knows when I'm supposed to be there and b) if I have any questions it will be handled via email/IM.

She will not let me touch the AC/heating, even when the outside temperature demands it (neither I nor the computers can function in temperature extremes kthx). I once managed to rig up a "catchbasin" of sorts under the AC unit so it didn't drip on the bench, she tore it down (how she managed to get up there mystifies me) and threw out the components. According to her I don't need to know where the breaker box is (um, if there is the potential for a bad electrical situation I do).

[anyanka2]

I've got a couple. The first involves a former co-worker who didn't leave under the best of terms. He was in charge of baby food and female hygiene products and acted as though it took him most of a day to put it up. I'm currently in charge of female hygiene and it takes me at most 45 minutes to put my order up and when I covered baby food, maybe 4 hours. He refused to run a register and when forced to would run to one of the managers and complain how the cash office people and cashiers were preventing him from doing his order. He'd usually win amid us grumbling that he could be more efficient. When he was actually done, he'd just stand around and chat, whining to whomever was in charge that he had nothing else to do and should be able to go home early.

The other one involves a bagger/cashier who came back after leaving other positions. She's not bad when she acts as a cashier, except that she thinks she shouldn't have to run a register all the time. As a bagger, she's intolerable. She's not that good at it, something she willingly admits to. She refuses to bag once the high school kids come in because she's higher up than them, even though some of them have more experience stocking than she does. I've actually had requests from stockers to call her ahead of a couple high schoolers and she won't hesitate to bitch me out when she's called. They don't want her back helping them because she's simply incompetent and requires a lot guidance on their part, not to mention she's kind of whiny and has a very high pitched nasal voice that gets on people's nerves that you can hear across the store.

The bagger with asperger's is the other. He knows he can get away with murder because he has a disability and doesn't hesitate to abuse it. He almost got me an unpaid suspension because I got irritated with him yesterday for standing around doing nothing and refusing to clean up some spills, but I miraculously escaped a write up because I talked to the manager who has less patience for his BS and knows I'm a hard efficient worker who takes a lot of crap from others.

[Misanthropical]

anyanka2, it really pisses me off when people abuse the fact they have a disability. My big guy has asperger's and ADHD and he knows he is still responsible for his actions, regardless of his disability.

[Dips]

So we'll get done, and at the EXACT second we get done, he'll say "Run it out. ", and if I delay even a second, he'll say "hurry up". I've been at my job for 2 months now. I know how to do it. He hasn't even been there as long as me either. Dude, I know I'm supposed to run it out. You don't need to tell me.

One of Mr. Dips' grandmothers had a boyfriend who did the same thing. He'd hold the car door open for her and, while she was seating herself, give the order, "Get in." She had finally had enough and told him that next time he told her to "get in," she'd refuse.

So what did he do the next time? He held the door, she seated herself, he walked around the car, seated himself, started the engine and began driving. Then he said, "Get in."

She broke up with him shortly after that.

Your co-worker sounds like the same sort of passive-agressive contol freak. He simply can't handle treating others as equals and always has to do little annoying things to continually prove he's on top. Unfortunately, you can't give him orders any more than he can give you orders. And, as you can see from the story of grandma's boyfriend, it likely won't work. Unlike grandma you also don't have the option of simply leaving him.

So what to do? The only response to passive-agressive crap is to employ passive-agression yourself. Every time he gives you an order respond, "Thanks Bob! I'll get right on that." Then continue doing what you were doing in the exact same manner and speed you were doing it. Say it loudly. Say it cheerfully. Say it every time with the same loud cheerful inflection.

Trust me it WILL piss him off after a while. Being passive-agressive, he's likely going to simply stop giving orders rather than confront you about it. You win. [In the event that he DOES confront you about it, you have an opportunity to confront him about his own childish behavior. That's why I don't think he will confront you.]

Another story is about this same guy.

<snip>

"Dude, you said you were going to clean this."

You can address situations like this by admitting the truth without admitting wrongdoing on your part.

For instance in the above situation the response would be look him in the eye, smile and say, "Yup. That's what I said."

Then just walk away and continue your work as if the entire conversation never happened. Don't offer an explanation. Offering explanations infers that you *owe* him an explanation. However, if he asks for an explanation [I doubt he will; passive-agressives usually don't ask for things], keep it simple and don't embellish. "I was doing my other work," is all you need to say. Don't get angry or defensive. Just calmly go back to doing your other work to the best of your ability. If you finish your other work and he's still cleaning the machine, calmy offer to help him finish it.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that this guy would make a huge passive-agressive show of "having" to clean the machine. It's best not to acknowledge it at all, but if it's getting to be too much you can step in and acknowledge it calmy, "I can see you're feeling overwhelmed. Would you like me to take over cleaning the machine and you can finish what I was doing?" This is a diabolically mean thing to do because you are refusing to buy into the message he's trying send you while appearing to be concerned and helpful. He will HATE it.