How to work with difficult coworkers...

factory81

I got a guy right now....one of those guys. Not only can you not stand his work ethic, his troubleshooting theory, but he is also "lead tech" which has in the past meant little. Typically you were full time with some benefits, and you were the one who ultimately got in trouble if things didn't go right.

The new guy has a bit of a power-ego trip problem going on to top it off. Re-writing policies/methods in certain areas. Myself and the manager just don't even reply to his "weird e-mails" like that very often. These kinds of improvements appear to be just reinventing the wheel and making everyone have to do osmething a little different when the dept. is really such a "self guiding dept." there shouldn't be so much thought in to it.

The guy oversold himself. Lots of cert's all over the place. Red Hat Enterprise, Network+, MCSE, A+, Apple certified, some xerox certs. But you can't really rely on him to fix a Windows (or mac computer). In fact a client declined the repair of a machine because they were told their mac pro had a bad cpu (and he couldn't tell which one). So they "recycled it". Guy from another dept. took it home and had it working with a new power supply and video card.

To make things absolutely terrible;
He purposely drops the ball or intentionally tries to make you look terrible. For instance I have been going on-site more and more. Typically I worked in-house, but my employer sees bigger things for me (thankfully). But this forces me to have a dual-role. I fix computers in-house, and go on-site. Some computers don't get finished same day, and I take notes on my work. But he cannot finish them for the life of me and he leaves off simple things.

For instance as he sat and stood and watched me disable services, start-up items in msconfig, and uninstall an anti-virus program (he just has to be in everyones business). He was instructed repair install xp and if the error still comes up then just backup and format and reload.

He installs XP, the original problem is fixed. But he doesn't reinstall the anti-virus program, or turn back on any services. So the machine is in a very broken state for the client. I get a conference call while I am onsite and next thing I know I am being blamed for all of these failures.

My notes were adequate, but hey I didn't sit and list "disabled services x,y,z". Our note taking system is really painfully slow to work in, and you just try and put in "key points". But the notes about the anti-virus program were in there....

What do you guys do here?

So far I have a team of coworkers backing me, and disliking him as a tech in general.

All I have for ideas is to 1) document everything he does wrong for evidence about why things are the way they are (our dept. is going downhill with his poor technical capabilities). 2) document everything I do in our note system better. I joke and say to my manager if you want to pay me to sit and take notes all day in our system, sure. But this guy is making work just a very difficult place.

Things I can get by are his personal annoying traits; always on social networking programs @ work. Forums, irc, eharmony, facebook, phone. Constant noises from his phone/pc. He just has bleeps and boops and annoying tones for everything....it actually drives me up a wall. He is an adult, but acts like a child.

I am very sad to say that he made a very nice place to work- a place that I enjoy working at, but try at all costs to avoid him.

Turgon

You should speak to your manager about this, but in a cordial way. It sounds like he is the lead tech and you are not? If he out ranks you so to speak then you do one of three things:

1. Suck it up
2. Find ways to work with it and evade problems
3. Discuss with him

If none of the above appeal to you then discuss with your manager. It's his job to ensure everyone is happy. If the situation persists and it really is a problem for you then look for another job. Once you an offer, if you really want to stay insist the manager sorts things out. Much comes down to the culture in your organisation and the appetite of your manager to sort it out. If your manager doesn't have what it takes to resolve this avoidable situations properly then go and work for one who does. Everyone needs to be taken to one side for a little chat once in a while. It never did me any harm.

jamesleecoleman

I also think that you should try to document the very important things that he does and get the coworkers that back you to do the same thing. After about two weeks, turn in the paperwork to your manager. Other than that, try to ignore him.

Turgon

jamesleecoleman wrote: »

I also think that you should try to document the very important things that he does and get the coworkers that back you to do the same thing. After about two weeks, turn in the paperwork to your manager. Other than that, try to ignore him.

I think you need to be careful about all that. It takes some organising to do and the presentation of so much evidence can backfire and smack of victimization. Add to which it's likely that one of the coworkers will break ranks or simply let the cat out of the bag in loose conversation which will cause a lot of difficulties for all concerned. They may even do it to spite you if you have issues with them and as the instigator of the witchhunt you will always be remembered by coworkers as someone capable of shafting people...

Im afraid all of us as grownups have an obligation to deal with difficult situations and difficult people we are forced to work alongside. Imagine sharing a cell in prison with someone you dont like. It's a fact of life.

Best options..

Ignore. Work with it. Discuss with the individual. Discuss with the manager.

Postscript. The guy is a bit new, may be relatively inexperienced at leadership and learning as he goes along. In time he may improve. In my formative years as a lead I made mistakes too and still do, although less often.

MrRyte

Turgon wrote: »

Ignore. Work with it. Discuss with the individual. Discuss with the manager.....

I say DON'T ignore it. If it's affecting your ability to do your job then it should be addressed. First try to talk with the coworker about the issue. Then if you feel that there are still some issues to discuss then involve his and your supervisor. List specific examples of what is causing concern for you. If nothing changes after that; you may have to find another job....

Above all else, be professional and never "take matters into your own hands."

tpatt100

Know anybody in the mob? Make him "disappear" if you know what I mean /grin

Turgon

MrRyte wrote: »

I say DON'T ignore it. If it's affecting your ability to do your job then it should be addressed. First try to talk with the coworker about the issue. Then if you feel that there are still some issues to discuss then involve his and your supervisor. List specific examples of what is causing concern for you. If nothing changes after that; you may have to find another job....

Above all else, be professional and never "take matters into your own hands."

Sometimes a problem can disappear if you ignore it. Sometimes not. If things have gone beyond that point just look to your other options.

bertieb

tpatt100 wrote: »

Know anybody in the mob? Make him "disappear" if you know what I mean /grin

I hope I never get on your bad side

demonfurbie

act completely crazy

hiddenknight821

I have an idea. Use your vacation days and take a whole week off when the department is swamped with too many clients. Once your manager see that you're not the blame, then your problem is solved.

MrRyte

Turgon wrote: »

Sometimes a problem can disappear if you ignore it. Sometimes not. If things have gone beyond that point just look to your other options.

Indeed; some problems have a way of resolving themselves. But I prefer being proactive. I realize that I risk looking like the tattletale but I just find it hard to remain silent if I feel that I'm being mistreated by my coworkers or supervisor.

hiddenknight821

MrRyte wrote: »

Indeed; some problems have a way of resolving themselves. But I prefer being proactive. I realize that I risk looking like the tattletale but I just find it hard to remain silent if I feel that I'm being mistreated by my coworkers or supervisor.

I have to tell you I really had a personal issue as I was not being more assertive as I should be. I would deal with my problems in isolation, and not let the other person straight up that I have a problem with him/her. This eventually leads me to adopt this passive personality where people see me as a nobody and walk over me. Sometimes, I lash out on people, because I reach my explosion level. They didn't like the fact that I kept this to myself until it gets worse. What I did was not healthy at all, but at the same time I fear that other people would view me as a jerk if I was being too upfront all the time. If it wasn't for my girlfriend helping me out, then I would probably just ignore the problem until it gets hot. This is how I got this passive-agressive personality.

Turgon

MrRyte wrote: »

Indeed; some problems have a way of resolving themselves. But I prefer being proactive. I realize that I risk looking like the tattletale but I just find it hard to remain silent if I feel that I'm being mistreated by my coworkers or supervisor.

Exactly. If things are just not working out you have every right to stick up for yourself and have a word with the person concerned and your boss.

Mishra

Be business professional.

This is one of the hardest skills for IT guys to get a grasp on. Like the rant above, you are venting frustrating which is perfectly fine. But you shouldn't have conversations like this when at work.

You need to approach each situation with productivity and the business in mind.

If you are on a conference call, and blame is being thrown at you. Just continue to discuss what the facts are, and how to make the customer happy. Don't (and I'm not saying you are... I don't know how the conversation went so I have to be general here) start trying to thrown the blame back, explain how you are not at fault, put up your guard, and/or any other things that is not the problem at hand.

I would imagine conversations with the employee could go like this

Lead: "And when you uninstalled everything, the laptop wouldn't work!"

You: "The fact is, the data was overwritten and thus we need to make sure we do backups before any work is ever done on a customer laptop. We should get a snapshot utility and take a snapshot before any work is done. If the laptop ever goes into a state where the customer is unhappy, we can always revert"

This "think of the solution" effort is going to go a lot farther than other methods, even if it completely shot down. It is also comforting to be the grown up that is thinking of the solution when dealing with people. Be confident and when you know you are right, then things don't bother you that much.


I would talk about the "and talk to your manager" but this has already been said.

MrRyte

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

I have to tell you I really had a personal issue as I was not being more assertive as I should be. I would deal with my problems in isolation, and not let the other person straight up that I have a problem with him/her. This eventually leads me to adopt this passive personality where people see me as a nobody and walk over me. Sometimes, I lash out on people, because I reach my explosion level. They didn't like the fact that I kept this to myself until it gets worse. What I did was not healthy at all, but at the same time I fear that other people would view me as a jerk if I was being too upfront all the time. If it wasn't for my girlfriend helping me out, then I would probably just ignore the problem until it gets hot. This is how I got this passive-agressive personality.

Talk about a mirror image: that's EXACTLY how I was till a few years ago. I was always the employee that would "take one for the team". That midset changed when I became a valet supervisor and realized how much crap I was taking for the sake of keeping the peace within the workplace.
Sucks when you take pride in your work and those around you just do barely enough to get by. And it's even worse when one of those people is above you.

Everyone

Establish dominance!

factory81

Just to clarify
I am a college student who works as much as I can. But because I cannot give them 100% of my 8-5 schedule M-F I am considered part time. Plus the department he actually is the lead tech in is more or less an in-house repair shop.

I was hired in a year ago to work under my best friend (full time lead tech). Things were great.

Now this is some kind of daily trying to throw people under the bus drama scene. But due to an impressive learning campaign on my behalf I am being thrown all over on to different projects. So now I am like mentioned, about 80% mobile, 20% in-house lately. With school projects there is no shortage of 2960's to be configured.....


My goal should not really be to work with him (as in his department) , as working with him is the bottom of the food chain. Doing the work that people on the road bring back with them and say fix this...

As I hear it though today after I got back from my onsite I would figure out of a organization that is 50-100 person in size. I am confident in saying there is 20%+ of the organization who despise him.


The problem the manager faces is that he likes to do the its not my fault, or downplay the problem. He doesn't want to admit he hired an incompetent person. Don't worry, EVERYONE disagrees with his management style and he has also drove people away from the company before. Between him being the manager and just middle of the road I.T. pay it can create a difficult environment.

I **** you not my coworker is on eHarmony, Facebook, IRC, forums, fark, and just countless other time wasting sites at work. He watches NetFlix movies on the company issued second monitor because it is just a necessity if you work in that dept. I should say he "works on computers while watching netflix". That departments job is really more or less to turn screw drivers, and get the computers back to the clients doing whatever it is necessary to bring the client machine back to its usable state. Sure you have unique clients, but he doesn't grasp this whole "they need to be on a domain, the user needs to be a local admin, the netlogon script will add your printers/shares".

I just love to work here because I can get rack time with anything basically. I have so many great colleagues in other departments. Most of whom I wish I worked next to or in their department rather. But I am just not skilled enough yet in those areas.

The new guy.....whatta idiot. 2.5 year old Mac Pro was declared toast (bad cpu or logic board. dual cpu, no way to test supposedly he said). So he offered to recycle it. Guy I work with took it home and said he got it working for $137. I didn't have time to ask him what was the problem.

He oversold himself and he just asks ridiculous questions which are dead give aways, "what is the name of our work domain........", I am having one of those brain farts but ohh this is a good one. A project manager goes just make sure the computer is updating with wsus, you familiar with wsus? His response is "huh".

Face palm.............

He just wants to fix Apple consumer pc's all his life, and do nothing beyond that scope. He appears to have no knowledge beyond that. Then it is alarming because yeah I LOVE MY EMPLOYER. I really honestly do love playing with brand new technology, for a company who does amazing things for government,businesses and educational institutions. I love my colleagues like I said. We have so much good inside of the company for the most part.

All I keep saying to myself is every time I want to complain about him, go study for my CCNP routing/switching test, and then when you got that done....go become a VCP. And STFU because you sure as hell won't be working with him anymore. My employer pays for it all.

At my current rate I will graduate with a bachelors in CiS (mehh), but I will be MCITP:Desktop Support Tech, MCITP:EA, CCNP Routing/Switching, Network+, A+, and around graduation I will already be on to studying for my VCP.

ally_uk

I would personally set the guy up break something intentionally and then put him on the spot see how much he really knows,

varelg

+1 for ally_uk. And same for your cert plan. Double up your efforts on them so you don't have to suffer with coworkers like the one you described.
You mentioned that guy having a Red Hat cert?

CodeBlox

I would try and ignore it and let him screw himself over eventually. That, or there is always sabotage.

EDIT: Ofcourse I wouldn't sabotage, I was just suggesting it as an option for you.

Turgon

factory81 wrote: »

Just to clarify
I am a college student who works as much as I can. But because I cannot give them 100% of my 8-5 schedule M-F I am considered part time. Plus the department he actually is the lead tech in is more or less an in-house repair shop.

I was hired in a year ago to work under my best friend (full time lead tech). Things were great.

Now this is some kind of daily trying to throw people under the bus drama scene. But due to an impressive learning campaign on my behalf I am being thrown all over on to different projects. So now I am like mentioned, about 80% mobile, 20% in-house lately. With school projects there is no shortage of 2960's to be configured.....


My goal should not really be to work with him (as in his department) , as working with him is the bottom of the food chain. Doing the work that people on the road bring back with them and say fix this...

As I hear it though today after I got back from my onsite I would figure out of a organization that is 50-100 person in size. I am confident in saying there is 20%+ of the organization who despise him.


The problem the manager faces is that he likes to do the its not my fault, or downplay the problem. He doesn't want to admit he hired an incompetent person. Don't worry, EVERYONE disagrees with his management style and he has also drove people away from the company before. Between him being the manager and just middle of the road I.T. pay it can create a difficult environment.

I **** you not my coworker is on eHarmony, Facebook, IRC, forums, fark, and just countless other time wasting sites at work. He watches NetFlix movies on the company issued second monitor because it is just a necessity if you work in that dept. I should say he "works on computers while watching netflix". That departments job is really more or less to turn screw drivers, and get the computers back to the clients doing whatever it is necessary to bring the client machine back to its usable state. Sure you have unique clients, but he doesn't grasp this whole "they need to be on a domain, the user needs to be a local admin, the netlogon script will add your printers/shares".

I just love to work here because I can get rack time with anything basically. I have so many great colleagues in other departments. Most of whom I wish I worked next to or in their department rather. But I am just not skilled enough yet in those areas.

The new guy.....whatta idiot. 2.5 year old Mac Pro was declared toast (bad cpu or logic board. dual cpu, no way to test supposedly he said). So he offered to recycle it. Guy I work with took it home and said he got it working for $137. I didn't have time to ask him what was the problem.

He oversold himself and he just asks ridiculous questions which are dead give aways, "what is the name of our work domain........", I am having one of those brain farts but ohh this is a good one. A project manager goes just make sure the computer is updating with wsus, you familiar with wsus? His response is "huh".

Face palm.............

He just wants to fix Apple consumer pc's all his life, and do nothing beyond that scope. He appears to have no knowledge beyond that. Then it is alarming because yeah I LOVE MY EMPLOYER. I really honestly do love playing with brand new technology, for a company who does amazing things for government,businesses and educational institutions. I love my colleagues like I said. We have so much good inside of the company for the most part.

All I keep saying to myself is every time I want to complain about him, go study for my CCNP routing/switching test, and then when you got that done....go become a VCP. And STFU because you sure as hell won't be working with him anymore. My employer pays for it all.

At my current rate I will graduate with a bachelors in CiS (mehh), but I will be MCITP:Desktop Support Tech, MCITP:EA, CCNP Routing/Switching, Network+, A+, and around graduation I will already be on to studying for my VCP.

You seem to be getting some bad advice about sabotage and setting the guy up on this thread. I wouldn't get into that. I think everyone is aware of his shortcomings. Welcome to IT, you will meet many people like this. Over the course of the next few years they will get laid off. What we have here is the typical facebook IT Professional, something organisations have been aware of for a while now and which will get stamped out. The dude will not go far, but you do have plans. Concentrate on your work and your plans so you can move on up within this organisation or with another one. Do that and you will increasingly be further away from people like this. Once you get up the chain of command in IT you are just too busy, too visible and have too many responsibilities to afford to handle yourself in the way that your co worker does. So get yourself moved along into a more elite position. Work hard, study, do some self promotion and learn how not to get hung up about other people.

the_Grinch

I have to agree with documenting exactly what you do and keeping it some place where you can easily get it. When I was dealing with customers, I'd yes them to death. They could be completely wrong and I might have nothing to do with what happened, but I'm who got them so you take the punch in that respect. After I got off a call such as that (if I didn't mute them and curse at them) I immediately went to management. The unfortune fact of IT is you never have a clear picture of everything. So keep records so you can back yourself up and go to management with it. One thing the military has right is the chain of command, it is there for a reason. Any time I had a problem (be it a customer or a coworker) I would follow the chain till I got a resolution. Generally, here is how I go about things:

1. Make a sarcastic or joking comment with the person in question (sometimes humor can solve issues without hurting feelings)
2. Direct approach with said person (if the joking doesn't work)
3. Speak with the person's supervisor (we have team leads here)
4. Speak with the manager(s) (we have a NOC Manager and Director of Operations, most of the time the DOP is who I go to)
5. Speak with one of the partners or CTO (I can honestly say I haven't gotten this far)
6. Speak to the owner (again, never got this far before)

We are a customer service industry and sometimes these things do sort themselves out. We've lost techs once it was seen that problems always occurred with their work. Push comes to shove, if a customer threatens to walk, guess what happens? You're down one tech. I will say that I have the advantage of being the a**hole who speaks his mind 24/7. If my job becomes difficult due to a policy, tech, or even myself (I don't sweep my mistakes under the rug) I let people know. I don't do it in a whining matter and when I do say something it is with some solution in mind. Good luck with this one, it is a toughy!

Forsaken_GA

I'm going to do the unpopular thing - I'm going to tell you that I think you're wrong.

The tone of your posts suggests there's alot of personal animosity towards this person, so I'm forced to take everything you say with a grain of salt, I won't condemn the guy without hearing his side of the story. What I'm seeing here is the kind of gossip I'd expect out of a sewing circle.

If I'm gathering things correctly, you don't hold any authority over this person correct? Because you seem to be spending an awfully large amount of time worrying about what he's doing, or not doing, for being his coworker. If you were my coworker and were this uptight (because believe me, it'll show), I'd probably go out of my way to push your buttons too.

Here's the bottom line - is his work inline with what's expected of him? And that's really something only his boss can answer. If the answer is yes, then you have no leg to stand on, and worrying about what he is or isn't doing is a waste of your time and effort. You can continue to do so if you want, but you're just setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

If the answer is no, then it's time to man up and grow a pair. Either talk to the individual in question (which is what I tend to do, I don't like going to management/HR until I've let the individual know where I stand and give them the opportunity to correct their behavior before I have to make my issues official ones), or talk to your/their boss. Be honest, be direct, but be polite. If this approach doesn't yield any results, then it's time to decide to either go over the bosses head, or to look for another place of employment.

What it is not time to do is go complain about your co-worker on the internet. As far as I'm concerned, that brings you down to the same level you present this person as being on. The mature, adult way to handle this is to sit down with the players and work it out, and then decide whether how that situation resolves itself is something you can continue to work with. The sewing circle method is.... slightly less adult and mature.

I suspect that if I were to talk to your boss about this situation, I'd find out that while the person in question does have some annoying personality traits (and it wouldn't surprise me to learn the same of you), that he is probably very good at his job, good enough to where the manager feels it's better to cut him some slack on the personality flaws.

I know this is going to be a surprise to you, but not everyone in IT is a rockstar. The roadies have their purpose to. If this guy is as bad as you say, use it as a meterstick of how never to act.

And the rest of you suggesting sabotage? Shame on you, what are you, 12? The best way for the OP to revenge himself on this guy is to outlearn him, outhustle him, and outearn him. Then one day, he'll be the boss and can fire people who displays the traits that annoy him if he so wishes.

Turgon

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I'm going to do the unpopular thing - I'm going to tell you that I think you're wrong.

The tone of your posts suggests there's alot of personal animosity towards this person, so I'm forced to take everything you say with a grain of salt, I won't condemn the guy without hearing his side of the story. What I'm seeing here is the kind of gossip I'd expect out of a sewing circle.

If I'm gathering things correctly, you don't hold any authority over this person correct? Because you seem to be spending an awfully large amount of time worrying about what he's doing, or not doing, for being his coworker. If you were my coworker and were this uptight (because believe me, it'll show), I'd probably go out of my way to push your buttons too.

Here's the bottom line - is his work inline with what's expected of him? And that's really something only his boss can answer. If the answer is yes, then you have no leg to stand on, and worrying about what he is or isn't doing is a waste of your time and effort. You can continue to do so if you want, but you're just setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

If the answer is no, then it's time to man up and grow a pair. Either talk to the individual in question (which is what I tend to do, I don't like going to management/HR until I've let the individual know where I stand and give them the opportunity to correct their behavior before I have to make my issues official ones), or talk to your/their boss. Be honest, be direct, but be polite. If this approach doesn't yield any results, then it's time to decide to either go over the bosses head, or to look for another place of employment.

What it is not time to do is go complain about your co-worker on the internet. As far as I'm concerned, that brings you down to the same level you present this person as being on. The mature, adult way to handle this is to sit down with the players and work it out, and then decide whether how that situation resolves itself is something you can continue to work with. The sewing circle method is.... slightly less adult and mature.

I suspect that if I were to talk to your boss about this situation, I'd find out that while the person in question does have some annoying personality traits (and it wouldn't surprise me to learn the same of you), that he is probably very good at his job, good enough to where the manager feels it's better to cut him some slack on the personality flaws.

I know this is going to be a surprise to you, but not everyone in IT is a rockstar. The roadies have their purpose to. If this guy is as bad as you say, use it as a meterstick of how never to act.

And the rest of you suggesting sabotage? Shame on you, what are you, 12? The best way for the OP to revenge himself on this guy is to outlearn him, outhustle him, and outearn him. Then one day, he'll be the boss and can fire people who displays the traits that annoy him if he so wishes.

It's not unpopular from my point of view. I think you have driven home some of the points I have tried to hint at in this thread. The 'not is a rockstar point' is well made. In work as well as in life you will always encounter folks who dont float your boat. You may also find that many people around you see things through the same lens. But there usually a few people who dont. Getting hung up on other people's personality traits or modus operandi is a trap anyone easily can fall into. Avoid it. Eventually, the person stops being an issue for all concerned either through natural course of events, or worse YOU start being the issue for everyone else because you get hung up about it, it comes over in your work and in everyday conversation. It get's old. Focus on your work. If the situation is hampering your ability to meet your objectives then discuss with the person concerned or your manager.

factory81

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I'm going to do the unpopular thing - I'm going to tell you that I think you're wrong.

The tone of your posts suggests there's alot of personal animosity towards this person, so I'm forced to take everything you say with a grain of salt, I won't condemn the guy without hearing his side of the story. What I'm seeing here is the kind of gossip I'd expect out of a sewing circle.

If I'm gathering things correctly, you don't hold any authority over this person correct? Because you seem to be spending an awfully large amount of time worrying about what he's doing, or not doing, for being his coworker. If you were my coworker and were this uptight (because believe me, it'll show), I'd probably go out of my way to push your buttons too.

Here's the bottom line - is his work inline with what's expected of him? And that's really something only his boss can answer. If the answer is yes, then you have no leg to stand on, and worrying about what he is or isn't doing is a waste of your time and effort. You can continue to do so if you want, but you're just setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

If the answer is no, then it's time to man up and grow a pair. Either talk to the individual in question (which is what I tend to do, I don't like going to management/HR until I've let the individual know where I stand and give them the opportunity to correct their behavior before I have to make my issues official ones), or talk to your/their boss. Be honest, be direct, but be polite. If this approach doesn't yield any results, then it's time to decide to either go over the bosses head, or to look for another place of employment.

What it is not time to do is go complain about your co-worker on the internet. As far as I'm concerned, that brings you down to the same level you present this person as being on. The mature, adult way to handle this is to sit down with the players and work it out, and then decide whether how that situation resolves itself is something you can continue to work with. The sewing circle method is.... slightly less adult and mature.

I suspect that if I were to talk to your boss about this situation, I'd find out that while the person in question does have some annoying personality traits (and it wouldn't surprise me to learn the same of you), that he is probably very good at his job, good enough to where the manager feels it's better to cut him some slack on the personality flaws.

I know this is going to be a surprise to you, but not everyone in IT is a rockstar. The roadies have their purpose to. If this guy is as bad as you say, use it as a meterstick of how never to act.

And the rest of you suggesting sabotage? Shame on you, what are you, 12? The best way for the OP to revenge himself on this guy is to outlearn him, outhustle him, and outearn him. Then one day, he'll be the boss and can fire people who displays the traits that annoy him if he so wishes.

The department he is the lead tech in typically has never had a real boss, just the manager. The lead tech is more or less the one accountable for our ratings/reimbursement with Apple/HP. I do worry about what he does because his inabilities create backlogs in the department which then affect the whole organization. For every issue he doesn't fix another person has to resolve it. Our department has always existed, but with different sizes of employees. Basically depending on how the department runs itself. If they are making money...good, if not we may need to do something kind of situation. He is dramatically affecting our reimbursements with Apple, and how many billable hours our shop is able to produce in a day. Combined with eating parts because he breaks them and we have serious financial concerns for the department.....


I can't sabotage the guy, he already sabotages himself. He breaks more parts than anyone I know. I've seen a total of....3 people in that department come and go in a 1 year period. You can almost depend on this guy to damage a part at least 1-2x week.

He was sent onsite ONCE, and he ended up getting the company a $500 OSHA fine for being in an unsafe area.

It is very hard to work up any respect for the guy. Our department "runs itself". We break down cardboard, pick up our trash, etc. We've had ant infestations due to him leaving food out over the weekend. Pop can collections. Doesn't even bother to put a liner back in the trash bin, doesn't bother to even put things in the trash. We have thermaltake black-x's on a back bench. He knocks one over along with some cords...I come back from being on-site all day and ask if there is any reason why this is just laying on the ground? Hes on ehamony saying OH I MEANT TO DO THAT, I've just been so swamped! We act like adults is what I am saying. He is literally a 29 year old living at home with his parents who throws adolescent style tantrums at work.

I've never seen anyone damage so many computers in the process of repair. Then he turns around and wants to reinvent the wheel while acting like a child. Of course this creates strong emotions within me.


This fellow asked for a SCSI to IDE converter (I just learned these things exist)...to which everyone said no. Oh yeah...he wanted to go scsi to ide...to ide to usb. Just go borrow a scsi card from the DC team, he declines to do the repair basically in the end. We suspect he doesn't know how to configure a scsi device. Someone will bring in 3 of the same devices, ask them to be diagnosed/fixed. We have kind of a 1 machine/ticket rule. And since every ticket has a minimum diagnostic charge. He charges the customer 3 x $50 just to tell them all 3 devices are broke, we can't get parts for them, and we can't service them.

He is constantly trying to throw me under the bus. Like one of the accountants came up to him and asked him why this and this was done this way, and he added a couple parts under the same serial number and yada yada. Then I installed the real part that was needed on that serial number. Then I "good part return" the other devices. Create new tickets and yada yada. He is trying to throw me under the bus like "well I don't know why he would do that", and the accountant response is "that is what he is supposed to do".

I know this story comes off one sided, I am right, I am God. If it wasn't for me the world of IT wouldn't even run kind of thing. But it is not that way.

Forsaken_GA

factory81 wrote: »

I know this story comes off one sided, I am right, I am God. If it wasn't for me the world of IT wouldn't even run kind of thing. But it is not that way.

I read through your entire response, and I don't feel the need to quote the entire thing.

Here's what it comes down to - you guys have a manager. Have you relayed these concerns to him/her? If so, what did they say? If not, then you *really* need to. This is obviously a sticking point for you, and it's unhealthy (physically, mentally, and careerwise) to keep it bottled up.

If you have spoken to your manager, and it's basically been brushed off, well, that means the company finds his behavior and performance acceptable. Which means you get over it, or you move on.

I'm not meaning to be overly harsh to you, but I've been down the road you're on before. In the business world, right and wrong is relative, but you strike me as more of an absolute kind of guy. They will not love you for telling them the truth. Speak your mind to the people you need to, but then let it go, it's not worth your time to dwell on. The only thing you're going to do is drag yourself down into the muck with them.

MrRyte

factory81-

You've given us a concrete list of what he's done wrong, but have you went to HR (or his supervisor) to make them aware of his actions? If so; what was their response?

hiddenknight821

The OP really needs to have a talk with someone outside of work to vent his feeling to, and I hope that person can give him a better advice. What exactly is your next move after reading all of our posts? You should not go back to square one. Otherwise, you would have no reason post here in the first place. Continuing to vent here everyday isn't health at all, but the least you can do is to update us with your progress since not everyone is good at problem-solving dealing with people. Just try one of the advices we shared with you.

factory81

I am not sure what to do now necessarily. I had an on-site to do today and was out all day. A client called in to check on their P.C. and he told the client I have been out ILL!

I am at a loss of words at this point in time. He is making up excuses as to why he can't fix the machine and placing blame on me when the ticket is assigned to him.

I appreciate a lot of your comments. You reiterate what I need to do already. Document things. Report things.

Most people have said to me well as you progress you will be dealing with him less. And that is the truth, the more I learn - the quicker I will get in to a different department.

Deathmage

Ok, so you guys remember a few months back my coworker ranted about a RAID 0 being better than a RAID 1/5/10/50 for a production server.....

well our development server when he set it up, made the server a RAID 0 array and we had a drive fail in a 8 disk array on the server with the Development ERP, SQL, Helpdesk, Desktop Clones, and SQL queries.

I backup up the queries a month ago.....but today I came in and he's like the server won't turn on, why?

I go over and see a drive blinking, the entire array **** the bed.....and now she's blaming me for the server being offline....

ooo how I wish I recorded him....