My coworker irritates me

[Alice74]

I work with this guy at work who does a good job but keep breaking the rules. He wanders away from his area, worked off the clock today (big no no for us), etc.. basically does pretty much whatever he wants. Even though I enjoy being creative at work, I still follow the rules that are laid out for me.

 

His behavior is not what bothers me though, it's mine that bothers me! I am tired of taking the situation at heart like that, I don't want to be pointing out what he shouldn't be doing because I can be borderline mean when I do so.

 

I am thinking tomorrow about telling him just that.. that he does a good job but I wish he could follow the work rules.

 

Or maybe I should just let him get in trouble by himself but wouldn't that be mean spirited too?

[Afishwithabike]

He's a grown man. The first week on the job someone should have given him a new employee orientation, the employee handbook (if there is one) or pointed out the rules to him. It's not your responsibility, unless it's written in your position description, to tell him on a regular basis what the rules are. If you think no one has told him the rules then perhaps you should help him out by telling him what he needs to know, but if this is a case of him not following rules he knows he should then you should stay out of it. Let the chips fall where they may. If he gets into trouble then he gets into trouble.

[KathyM]

I work with this guy at work who does a good job but keep breaking the rules. He wanders away from his area, worked off the clock today (big no no for us), etc.. basically does pretty much whatever he wants. Even though I enjoy being creative at work, I still follow the rules that are laid out for me.

 

His behavior is not what bothers me though, it's mine that bothers me! I am tired of taking the situation at heart like that, I don't want to be pointing out what he shouldn't be doing because I can be borderline mean when I do so.

 

I am thinking tomorrow about telling him just that.. that he does a good job but I wish he could follow the work rules.

 

Or maybe I should just let him get in trouble by himself but wouldn't that be mean spirited too?

It's not your place to tell him to follow the rules. It's his boss'es place. Just do your job and let them handle him. When I worked for others, I always was pretty strict about following the rules, whether I was supervised or not. But a lot of people are slackers or goof off at work, and I know it can be frustrating when you think they aren't doing their job the way it should be, or when they stretch the rules. But it's not your place to say, IMO. If you are not his boss, he will resent it that you are trying to tell him what to do or to police his work. Let the boss handle it. Try to stay on good terms with your co-workers.