O
on_the_hill
Guest
I’m really stressed about work and don’t expect to find any easy solutions.
To lay out the background: I am the ‘boss’ of a small white-collar office of about a dozen people. We are a very small part of a much larger organization. I have authority over all the day-to-day functions: hiring, firing, budgeting, furnishings & equipment, work flow, training, you name it. The overall organization is organized in such a way that the “higher ups” don’t have anything to do with how I run things.
Think of it as being similar to a legal office of a Fortune 100 corporation. I’m a direct report to the chief executives but in the 25 years I’ve worked there I’ve only met with them several times and they wouldn’t know me if they bumped into me in an elevator.
That’s the layout, because when you want to suggest, “Talk to HR,” you’ll already know that I am HR, for all intents and purposes.
My executive secretary is a phenomenally dedicated, hardworking, competent, creative, savvy, smart woman who is completely toxic to work with and be around. She’s a bully and she does it so exceedingly well that you can’t pin down what exactly she’s doing.
She ingratiates herself to me, she tells me the inside gossip that I, as boss, don’t get to hear–she insists people don’t want to tell me their real feelings if they’re upset about something. She positions herself as the only person I can really trust.
Every time someone makes a mistake–ESPECIALLY if it is one of the other women who are in administrative roles–she makes sure I know about it.
But I know that a lot of what she tells me is embellished to make herself look better and other people look worse. I think she’s outright lied to me about herself and her accomplishments outside the office.
Sometimes I’ll get a little blip of a complaint from a woman I truly DO trust, but she’s always reluctant to say anything that might be characterized as unkind. From what I gather, the exec. sec. can be brutally nasty to people when I’m not around, and I think she’s got the other people afraid to say anything to me about it.
And now I see a familiar pattern developing between the executive secretary and another secretary. They don’t talk to each other. I’ve been getting ‘bad’ reports from the exec. sec. She’s telling me that the other woman isn’t doing her job the way she should. Etc. etc. etc.
I want this woman off of my staff, out of my office, and out of my life. But I can’t fire her because that would absolutely devastate her life, and by the obvious, concrete examples, she does a great job. (true, a lot of the great things she does are not things that need to be done. She makes work for herself, turns it up to 11, then makes sure I know about it).
And the truth is, I’ve never liked her as a person. I was working there for about five years when she started, and about 20 years later I was promoted to be the head of the office. I inherited her. I’d never have hired her to begin with because she’s got that one ill-defined quality of being “toxic” that no amount of exemplary work can overcome.
ARGH!!!
To lay out the background: I am the ‘boss’ of a small white-collar office of about a dozen people. We are a very small part of a much larger organization. I have authority over all the day-to-day functions: hiring, firing, budgeting, furnishings & equipment, work flow, training, you name it. The overall organization is organized in such a way that the “higher ups” don’t have anything to do with how I run things.
Think of it as being similar to a legal office of a Fortune 100 corporation. I’m a direct report to the chief executives but in the 25 years I’ve worked there I’ve only met with them several times and they wouldn’t know me if they bumped into me in an elevator.
That’s the layout, because when you want to suggest, “Talk to HR,” you’ll already know that I am HR, for all intents and purposes.
My executive secretary is a phenomenally dedicated, hardworking, competent, creative, savvy, smart woman who is completely toxic to work with and be around. She’s a bully and she does it so exceedingly well that you can’t pin down what exactly she’s doing.
She ingratiates herself to me, she tells me the inside gossip that I, as boss, don’t get to hear–she insists people don’t want to tell me their real feelings if they’re upset about something. She positions herself as the only person I can really trust.
Every time someone makes a mistake–ESPECIALLY if it is one of the other women who are in administrative roles–she makes sure I know about it.
But I know that a lot of what she tells me is embellished to make herself look better and other people look worse. I think she’s outright lied to me about herself and her accomplishments outside the office.
Sometimes I’ll get a little blip of a complaint from a woman I truly DO trust, but she’s always reluctant to say anything that might be characterized as unkind. From what I gather, the exec. sec. can be brutally nasty to people when I’m not around, and I think she’s got the other people afraid to say anything to me about it.
And now I see a familiar pattern developing between the executive secretary and another secretary. They don’t talk to each other. I’ve been getting ‘bad’ reports from the exec. sec. She’s telling me that the other woman isn’t doing her job the way she should. Etc. etc. etc.
I want this woman off of my staff, out of my office, and out of my life. But I can’t fire her because that would absolutely devastate her life, and by the obvious, concrete examples, she does a great job. (true, a lot of the great things she does are not things that need to be done. She makes work for herself, turns it up to 11, then makes sure I know about it).
And the truth is, I’ve never liked her as a person. I was working there for about five years when she started, and about 20 years later I was promoted to be the head of the office. I inherited her. I’d never have hired her to begin with because she’s got that one ill-defined quality of being “toxic” that no amount of exemplary work can overcome.
ARGH!!!
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