Last week, I had to admit to my boss, infront of my other work colleagues that one of them was driving me up the wall. Said person was not there, thank heavens, but not thank heavens cos I like to think I am an honest person and would have liked him to be there to stand up for himself.
Said colleagues were shocked by my boss, the head of my department, bullying me infront of all of them, and basically saying "Liz, admit it, it is (insert person's name here), who is making your life hell." They all agreed that this conversation should have been had between just the two of us, without boss-man making a scene.
And all I could do was nod in shock and agreement - and I must say, with him forcing me to admit it, I did throw a bit of a fanny wobble at him and I ended up being quite verbal in my own annoyance of my team not appreciating me, respecting me, steamrolling over me when I tell them how much I have on, whilst they think that they can sweet-talk me into doing extra things for them, especially if I am busy doing someone else's work, etc. But they asked for it.
And my gods, the difference in the atmosphere is so hugely different. I am being spoken to like a person, not a scivvy (although, no doubt, that is what I still am and it will change within a week when they reckon I have calmed down), people are walking the extra three paces past my desk to make their own photocopies instead of just dumping it all on my desk with post-it notes because they "are so busy working", read "emailing my mates to find out what we are doing tonight for fun".
Tsk. So, I feel better. The air has been cleared. The person who has been taking the piss has had the rules read to him - but, as I say, I would have preferred it if he were there to defend himself as at that point in time, as I was being bullied and made to feel quite bad - and he has taken it on board and is now slacking off harping on me about inconsequential things that I don't know anything about - especially IT related junk. I am sorry, but I didn't take a course in Blackberry to figure out why it doesn't update when you plug into your machine. I am sorry, I don't know how to retrieve deleted items from your deleted box, or any other number of inane and stupid things you think about asking me during the day. There is a reason WHY we have an IT Team and a IT Helpdesk. They are there to tell you to turn your machine on and off. I don't have that qualification.
Tsk.
So, from a tantrum comes calm and a bit of wary respect as they (the Team) had no idea of the workload heaped on me...yep, my own fault cos I just accepted it and did it, without telling them to back-off. But, admittedly, as a team, surely they should be aware of what each person is doing, specifically the amount of work they give their admin staff?
Hey, what do I know? I am only the PA.
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