I'm like you, Lori. I work really hard and I expect everyone around me to do the same. There is one woman in our office who frequently says, "I don't have time to do that." or "I'm too busy." Of course she has plenty of time to "visit", keeping other people from getting things done. Very irritating. I understand and feel your pain.

Linda

Thanks Linda.
I don't know why it bothers me so much today....
LOL

I really don't like feeling this way about coworkers.

Lori

Maybe you feel that way because she isn't really a "co-WORKER", Lori.

I'm proud of you for holding your tongue.

There seems to be one of these at every job I have ever had. ***sigh*** just milk the clock and do as little as possible while everyone else picks up the slack.
I wouldn't want to be in the middle either! Certainly not by her! I know you didn't ask for advice, but I'd do what you're doing,now that she's been caught they may keep a closer eye on things there and who knows....she will either have to shape up or ship out!

I feel your pain, Lori. Several people with whom I work seem to have a personal goal to see how far into the workday they can get without having had to do any actual work. It never ceases to amaze me.

I am sorry she ruins your job for you. Now that the bosses have seen what she does maybe she will either change (highly unlikely) or she will quit because she really will have to "start" to work now...STacy

Vent away, Lori. And while you're at it, direct a little of it towards the ninny who is causing the angst. Next time she pulls this would be the perfect time for you to address her situation. She's turning red and scrambling to get things done and you can say, after walking back in the door at 11:44, "well, what have you been doing for the last 2 hours, besides nothing?"

Now that the nice boss lady is aware of what is going on, she may actually come and talk to you. Surely she would want to know what the real deal is. If she asks, you can tell her what you know to be factual.

Perhaps the bosses will be more present in the future, surprise visits would be fun, huh? lol

I'm feeling better today...less frustrated and, well, ticked.

This woman is a master at wasting time, a talent, I suspect, she's had her entire life.

The thing what set me off yesterday was her absolute lack of responsibility for what she'd done. She wasn't embarrassed. She wasn't motivated. She was mad she'd got caught. She is very sneaky as it is; now she'll get sneakier.

The boss called me this morning.
We had a good talk.
I was very frank with her.
What will happen now is anyone's guess.

Firing her could be done but nobody, even me, wants to do that. This is a little county. None of us are going anywhere so we have to live with each other for a long time.

As it is, her duties are limited.

She had severe diverculitis (SP) about two years ago and missed four months of work. She is also very overweight.

The commissioner held her job until she was able to come back to work and her duties and hours were reduced to accommodate her weakness (from the illness) and, yes, her obesity. Instead of working six to two three days a week she is to come in at six every monday and do the week's baking and dessert making. Wednesday and Friday she is to come in at nine, help in the kitchen and do library work.
(The boss does the cooking; she comes in very early and starts the meals. The co-worker is in charge of the baking (which she is very good at, just slow and sneaky) and the kitchen help. I work in the library, run the senior activities, bookmobile and children's program as well as clean. I am certified to be in the kitchen and can fill in if someone is gone but I don't cook anything. I peel potatoes and run the can opener and wash dishes but that's about it. I can take no credit for the good meals served.)

She was unhappy with the reduction in hours so started wasting time. We have a nice kitchen with two professional ovens and a large, industrial mixer, large enough to mix a lot of bread dough. So on monday she will mix up just enough dough to bake one loaf of bread and one pan of rolls and use both ovens and this will take her until noon. Then of course she can make a big deal out of running out of breads and desserts and spend three or four hours the next two days making those.

She doesn't like using the computer in the library nor does she like filing books. It doesn't matter if the bins are full of books (needing whatever done with them) or if there's just a few. She will spend four hours emptying it.

Her husband is a good man.

I've thought of saying something to her but she is a master at turning things around (like she did yesterday) so I don't. She is what she is. What I do though is go around her and get the job done. Like yesterday, instead of letting her be the 'boss' and the 'blamer' in front of the patrons, I just starting dishing up trays. First though, I took temperatures of the food to make sure we were legal. We weren't. She'd turned the burners off and the food was cold so everyone had to wait until the food got hot enough to register properly. THIS really ticked her off and makes me wonder how many times too cold food has been served?

Our library and offices are very small so there isn't much room for books to accumulate so my boss told me to empty the return box and bins once a week, check them in and then give to this woman anything that needed fixed, cleaned or color coded and file the rest. If the fix box gets full though, me or the boss will just take care of the books in it just to get them into circulation. Of course, this ticks the co worker off because now she has no reason to sit for four hours.

It'll work itself out. Things like this usually do. She can't fight if no one will fight for her and if she wants to blame me she can. I've discovered whiskey soaked raisins!!
LOL

Lori

She needs someone to keep her accountable.

Her boss is going to have to check on her. Set some pretty strict goals:
"by this time, the dessert should be in the oven. By this time, it should be out."

You could try this, the next time she fusses and fumes, etc.

Just say very blandly, as if you're mildly interested from a purely academic point of view: "what are you going to do about it?" No matter what she says probably doesn't need an answer--whether she defends herself or attacks you, then just say, "Hmmm." and walk over to something else to do.

Repeat as needed.

I used to whine about "how fat I am." A coworker was clearly tired of hearing me, and just said, "What are you going to do about it?"

It made me realize, the only person who COULD do something about it was me. If I wasn't going to DO something about it, I should shut up.

Good advice Talley; advice I will follow if and when I can keep my cool about it. Since that does not happen often (and I know it....) I ignore her.

The boss has set limits and is very specific about how things are to be done. This woman though is very childish and petty. She doesn't follow protocol, deliberately. It looks to me she does this out of spite.

I can handle child-like people.
But I can't stand childish people and she is childish.

Tomorrow is another day.
Maybe it will be better?

Lori

Grrr...you are handling it better than I probably would be Lori. I can't tolerate people who let the work fall on others while they sit idle or 'fiddle' to look busy. And, then won't take any blame if things aren't getting done in the proper manner at the appropriate times. I just don't have patience for it anymore. I've worked with whiners and they bore me. I hope she wakes up and smells the coffee and starts taking up the slack. I don't envy you having to "work" around her.

Friday she called in sick but only after the director called her to say SHE was sick and ask her to come in early. Friday is our easy day; soup, sandwiches, fruit and dessert.

Then the director called me in early and let me decide whether to serve meals or not. As I had story time at ten am I opted not to cook, notified the outies, the innies and the other driver.

Good thing I did.
Twenty eight kids showed up for the story hour!
I had to call Jesse in to help and it was great.
The kids were a little disappointed in the treats (licorice sticks instead of cookies and punch) but they got one extra story and coloring pages to take home with them.

Story time is the best part of my job.
Since we don't attend school on Fridays we have Story time every other week. Most have a theme (Friday's was St. Patricks Day) and others are anything goes.

We have a huge christmas tree, about fourteen feet tall that is a big pain in the butt to put up and take down. This year I left it up and we call it our Reading Tree. The kids color pictures or coloring book pages, I take photos and we hang all on the tree. Then the kids get refreshments, all the coloring pages they want and a trip through the library to check out books. It's great fun and two little girls named Brooke and Ashley love the 'voices' I use when I read.
LOL
Preschoolers through third grade and lots of fun.

Tomorrow though is another day.
It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

I plan to clean and reorganize a storage room, clean up the exercise room and dust and vacuum the library.

Lori

I hope that the slacking horse gets whipped into doing some pulling on the tugs, Lori.

Question: What relevance does "Her husband (being) a good man", have to do with the quantity/quality of work that she does at her workplace?

Actually, you spoke as though she can make high quality breads, etc. ...

... when she gets around to it.

So it's mainly quantity of work accomplished, within an appropraite time-frame.

How about making her an attractive round button, with a pin stapled to the back, with "t-u-i-t" printed on it in ornate letters?

That's an award, for getting things done ...

... when she gets a round "tuit"!

Have a more enjoyable week - I hope.

ole joyful