territorial people at work...not sure what to do, may do nothing

[bettyandbob]

So, I work for a governmental entity that has stupid employment rules that meant some people were not permitted to work from Oct/Nov through jan 1 because they used up hours for the year. I'm a new employee (June), but my boss was new earlier in the year and has known me. He offered me an opportunity to gain skills and experience to move up and I've been doing a variety of things. In Nov. I took over a couple duties of another woman.  Since Jan 1 this woman has told me "I'm taking X and Y back". She just sent me a text at home repeating this and adding " boss's boss wants me to take this back.".  

 

I've been in work this week, but I'm working on a different project and haven't said a thing about X and Y so it's not like I claimed ownership. X and Y are honestly things that more than one person can monitor while one person can be "in charge". They would be enhanced by having more than one person so that when someone is out of town and a problem arises the other can handle. However, I will not point this out to this woman. Truly, my background lends itself to project Y more than her background. 

 

Honestly, from the day I showed up this woman has been bristly to me. We are both older (50) trying to reenter career work. She has 5 years experience on one side of this field and I have 10 on the other side. So we should be a good compliment to our superiors to have working together. 

 

Maybe I'll wait a couple weeks. I need to find a time when things have calmed down at our facility (a lot of new year stuff). Since boss brought me in with promises of improving my resume, it might be way to check in and ask what is my next step to improve myself kind of thing. I absolutely don't want to say anything about what I think this woman is doing wrong. I will let him know she's fully in charge of X and Y again so I'm available for other projects. 

 

But I'm annoyed with the territorial behavior. 

 

[JFSinIL]

She feels her job is threatened. She should keep better track of her hours and not end up with another two-month "vacation" next year if she wants to stay essential.

[Rebel Yell]

Do you k ow for sure bosses boss wants her on that? Shouldn't there be a more official communication on work company email? Her texting your personal phone and you backing off could make you look like you bailed on the thing, KWIM?

[Guest]

Yes, yes. Cover your own butt first. Confirm that this is actually what the boss's boss wants before doing anything.

[bettyandbob]

Well I know the two projects can coast a bit during January. They ramp up more throughout the spring and summer. So waiting to mention it to my boss won't hurt. We get revenue from both, the contacts with patrons flows somewhat seasonally.

[Starr]

These things shouldn't be secrets.  And texting you at home certainly isn't being professional. I would just tell your boss that you received a text that said blah, blah and ask him to clarify job descriptions. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Starr

[bettyandbob]

These things shouldn't be secrets. And texting you at home certainly isn't being professional. I would just tell your boss that you received a text that said blah, blah and ask him to clarify job descriptions.

Yes. I'm going to do that. This week is a bad time to introduce stress. Things will calm down at the end of next week. I don't want to introduce problems to my boss who returned from a short vacation two days ago, until we get over this week's big stuff. If that makes sense. Edited January 5, 2017 by Diana P.

[bettyandbob]

Thanks for letting me vent. Getting a few responses clarified my thinking a bit. I stopped by work briefly today because I had made plans with another coworker to help her prep for a certification exam. The coworker is ESL and previously failed the exam. The exam has a ridiculous amount of specialized vocabulary that one would never use. The woman heard I was going to be doing this a couple days ago and went on and on about how she should be doing this. She did well on the exam blah, blah, blah. 

 

1. I have a masters in sp ed. I know a lot about study skills and I was going to help coworker figure out how to prep based on her needs. Being brilliant and getting a great score doesn't mean you know how to help someone else. 

2. the woman doesn't know I'm not getting paid to do this. I'm doing it because I want to. The woman thinks I'm getting paid and I guess she should get paid to spend time doing this too. 

 

I went prior to meeting with coworker to finish editing something that's going to be presented next week. Boss not there. Woman was sniping at me. Asked why I was there and then shut up when I told her the project I was editing. I think she was upset I was going to give something to big person in our organization next week and it is something she could not have worked on at all because it is completely out of her skill set. Then ESL coworker came and told me she was very ill and leaving work. So, there was no point in staying and I couldn't the woman's cutting questions about what I accomplished on X and Y while she was gone. 

 

Like I said we have complementary experience. If we actually worked together, we'd look really good. Our boss would look good. I think our boss knows this and had that as a plan. Our boss' boss does not really know as much, but I do know that if we did work well together he'd get a lot of credit for his program and he'd like that. So, this is really stupid. I'm not sure what she thinks we are competing for. I never thought I was competing with her. Bleah. 

 

I'll have to figure something out early next week. 

[happi duck]

Not in a work situation but I've met women who are always locked in competition where other women are concerned. This could be the case here.

 

Or maybe she's been burned in the past by someone taking over and she didn't stand up for herself and she's quick to suspect people.

 

Is a "I think we would work really well together" talk at all possible?

[Guest]

Ooo... watch your back with this woman. I hate to say it, but it sounds like she's got it out for you.

[kbutton]

My DH worked with someone like that in his first job. He ended up being let go because the boss was sending information to my DH through the controlling person, and the controlling person was filtering the information. The boss didn't know (should have). It was a problematic organization from top to bottom, but it cost my DH his job. (It was a good change in the long run, but it was awful while he was there.) 

 

I would go to your boss since he knows you and probably wouldn't have brought you on if he thought you'd be trouble. Tell him how you think you could work with the other person, and ask his advice. Ask him how you can be proactive in a way that he and the other bosses want to see, and tell him that you will do everything you can to make the other woman comfortable, but right now, she's trying to control the situation, and you need confirmation from both bosses that you are doing the right thing. It's not like the bosses probably have no idea what she is like. 

 

I can't tell you how many times in the past people have put me in situations like this because they know I can work reasonably well with difficult people, but they don't bother to tell me that I am going to be working with a difficult person. I worry and fret that I'm doing things wrong or am going to lose my job/make someone angry. Then I talk to the boss, and lo and behold, they know what's going on and then get sheepish that they didn't set me up better. Grr! From there, things usually take care of themselves, and I get clear direction from the boss about what they want or don't want. Then I can do what I need to to cope with the difficult person.