I feel like an office snitch?

[I'veseenbetterlol]

Idk if I'm overanalyzing, but I'm afraid of being labeled an office snitch. My frustration for some co workers runs deep as I am many times covering/cleaning up their mistakes. There was a mistake made, I spent 20 min finding a solution, getting behind on my work. I was going to bring it to a lead as I was sick of dealing w/this issue. Another co worker thought I was being mean wanting to bring it up to a lead. The mistake was fixed, the person isn't in trouble. I never tell on anyone, but many co workers have sold me out for small things. How do I deal?

[Mr. Lucky]

but many co workers have sold me out for small things

 

My question is this - is that who you want to be?

 

I work to my standards, not those of other people. So, big problems affecting the team and jeopardizing results, I'd certainly get management involved. But little things between co-workers or inadvertent mistakes, I'd work those out in-house.

 

If others act differently, that's on them...

 

Mr. Lucky

[I'veseenbetterlol]

My question is this - is that who you want to be?

 

I work to my standards, not those of other people. So, big problems affecting the team and jeopardizing results, I'd certainly get management involved. But little things between co-workers or inadvertent mistakes, I'd work those out in-house.

 

If others act differently, that's on them...

 

Mr. Lucky

 

I def do not want to be that. That person's mistake cost me time which I could have been completing my work. I will get in trouble for falling behind....

[BaileyB]

Why were you not able to draw the mistake to the other person attentions, and let them fix it. This happens in my office all the time. We will often be the one to fix it, if we’d notice the mistake. Or, the person who made the mistake will offer...

Edited March 21, 2019 by BaileyB

[Happy Lemming]

Do you think your co-worker appreciated your efforts in fixing his/her mistake?

 

Do you think that person learned something from the process?

 

We are all human and make mistakes from time to time, if this employee learned what he/she did incorrectly, they have learned something (particular to that task). I doubt they will make the same error twice.

 

You did a good thing and helped someone out. That being said, if you spend an inordinate amount of time correcting other people's errors, then its time to talk to the "lead" or "head of the department".

 

As far as other co-workers "selling each other out" that shows what type of individual they are. Don't stoop to their level.

 

Just my two cents...

[preraph]

Let your supervisor you snitch to know you realize it's bad office politics to snitch at every incident and ask if it's okay if you just keep a log of these small incidents to go over after you have a few of them. What this accomplishes is two things:

 

One, they won't get in trouble right after it happened so they can't be sure where it came from (assuming your super has any discretion and he/she shouldn't be a super if he/she doesn't). Delayed will confuse that issue and cover you.

 

Two, you won't be bothering your super all the time. It will be more of a report type thing. If you want to disguise it as a report, you can even throw in some more things besides those issues such as progress you're making, tooting your own horn, etc. and present it as a package deal on status. Only you know what would work at your place of work and how formal or informal or diligent they are about dealing with issues. Good luck.

 

Sometimes you can delegate straightening the problem out to someone in between yourself and the culprit if there is such a person.

 

I tried that last month. Two guys work in the same room. One has a more important role and used to be responsible for putting files for me to work on in the computer file. Then the other guy came on, who is a kind of rickety delicate fellow and he took over that piece of it. And isn't doing it well. Has given me duplicate files a few times with no rhyme or reason, like one was the day before but twice has been a week before, so he's not organized enough OR hasn't been trained how to do it so that doesn't happen.

 

So first I went to his office mate who used to do it and trained him and told him I'd appreciate it if he could make sure (call him Tom) Tom knows how to keep track of that. I myself have no idea or I'd fix it myself, but it's on a network I'm not on. So instead of going to the boss/owner, I hoped that would work. It didn't.

 

So I waited a few days and after it happened again, I let the owner know. He's very discreet and starts off gentle and doesn't want to make his employees mad or cry, so wasn't worried about it. But the guy knew where it had to come from and gets all hysterical about it over time. At first, he tried to blame it on me, then he tried to blame it on his office mate. I downplayed the whole thing and just said, Tom, if I had any idea how to fix this, I would, but I have no idea. I told him, I realize maybe someone didn't train you on it, and said, All I know is I haven't had this problem until recently, so I hope you figure it out.

 

He gave me assurances.

 

Then the owner went on vacation for a week. I avoided the office for two reasons, that being one of them. But yes, the problem continued. I had no choice but to tell Tom himself with the boss out of town and made as small a production of it as possible. He sent me two files, one being a duplicate from a week or so before, and when I sent him back the email giving him the info and what to do with the two files, I simply said, This one is good to go, and this one, I've done before. No blaming, no preaching, just short and sweet.

 

He then lied and said I must have left it in the file (I was not in the office and he's who puts them in the file) and I told him it wasn't even from this week, so it had to have been put IN the file by him a second time. I kept real lowkey and just said, Well, hope you figure it out, and something hopeful.

 

Later I have to talk to him on the phone about something and he starts crying trying to make me feel sorry for him because he knows he's messing up and out of excuses. I still don't know if he's been trained right or not, so I am only mad about the hysterics, mainly. I told him not to take it personally, that it's just a work detail that we're dealing with, and got off the phone.

 

I haven't even told the boss anything further because I figure he's hysterical enough he'll confess to him.

 

So in that case, I WISH going to the intermediary had worked, but it didn't, probably because he didn't address it. But I have an option to work at home when I want to and I'm using it until this issue is resolved.

 

My other issue I was avoiding the office for is a girl who's sitting beside me and is a loud mouth trouble maker. She kind of bullies people and if I'm not mistaken, she bullied her immediate supervisor by picking on her and doing sophomoric things like throwing stuff at her and then the super is the one who got caught throwing a paper back and got fired shortly thereafter, when nothing like that was going on before this girl (call her Fanny) was hired.

 

First week she's put by me, she had a snotty cold and kept putting her snotty belongings on MY desk, spreading out, trying to take over some of my territory, very pushy. I was nice the first two times, and by the fourth I told her it was BS and wrote a note and left it on my desk "Don't leave stuff on my desk." And she's found the other bully in the office so now she has an ally. And that worries me because that little B was awful to me 10 years ago the whole first year I started there. I finally broke her of it, but now she's got a partner in crime. I don't work beside her, so she shouldn't even be involved. (I wouldn't work beside her)

 

The other things she does is she's shoved her chair back as hard as she can into mine twice. She's a bully. Trying to intimidate. After the note and me being gone some, she was nicer last time I was in, so hoping she stops trying me or she's my next stop at the boss's door. And she hardly ever is at her chair working, is always outside smoking or hiding in the bathroom. Like works 40 percent of the time unless the boss is standing over her.

 

In 10 years, I've only had to go to the boss on someone twice and this last thing was much more minor than the one before, not even snitching, just trying to problem solve something I don't have the power to fix. So he takes it seriously if I let him know about something since I do so rarely. And that's something to remember, too. Don't always be complaining. Save it for when you need it worst.

[S2B]

Just do your own work. If they made mistakes they can fix them.

 

How old are the people we are referring to?

[preraph]

^ Depending on the situation, it IS good to just let them fall on their own faces and get the consequences, but it depends if you're expected to not let that happen or not.

[whichwayisup]

I am many times covering/cleaning up their mistakes.

 

Stop correcting their mistakes. That will teach them to double and triple check their work and since they are making mistakes maybe it's time for the boss to see and deal with whomever is actually making the mistakes. The more you cover it up and fix their mistakes the more frustrated you're going to be.

[pureinheart]

Idk if I'm overanalyzing' date=' but I'm afraid of being labeled an office snitch. My frustration for some co workers runs deep as I am many times covering/cleaning up their mistakes. There was a mistake made, I spent 20 min finding a solution, getting behind on my work. I was going to bring it to a lead as I was sick of dealing w/this issue. Another co worker thought I was being mean wanting to bring it up to a lead. The mistake was fixed, the person isn't in trouble. I never tell on anyone, but many co workers have sold me out for small things. How do I deal?[/quote']

 

Having been down this road many times my advice would be to let it go and don't snitch.

 

One of two things is going on concerning management/supervision: 1) They know what is going on and don't care. 2) They don't know what's going on and don't care enough to know their people... either way you will lose.

 

Having had many supervisors throughout my career I realized they know what's up and if they are not fixing it there is a reason... what that reason is could be anyones guess. I get that management can't be everywhere at once, but trust me, they know their people...

 

As for the petty snitches snitching you out for little things... management knows the truth...

 

Here's one example of what I went through- Two of my co-workers finished their jobs in record time with record 'bean counts' (they worked together) ... our supervisor gave their job to me (as it was supposedly completed) to present it to inspection (at this point inspection would present it to the customer)... inspection would come back to me and my partner/co-worker furious asking why it was so jacked up, blah, blah, blah.. me and my partner would then spend a good 8 hours each fixing everything...this happened all of the time.

 

The two 'record breakers' were submitted for all sorts of awards and trips... me and my partner got nothing as we did not produce the numbers.. BUT we didn't care because we got a paycheck.

 

The record breakers knew how to play the game ... they knew re-work was not counted, it was the initial count (right or wrong) that was noticed...

Edited March 23, 2019 by pureinheart

[Ronni_W]

There was a mistake made' date=' I spent 20 min finding a solution, getting behind on my work.[/quote']

If you took it upon yourself to find the solution and fix the mistake, then you cannot blame anyone else because, through your own decision and choice, you got behind on your (other) work.

 

All employees who work for the same company are part of the same team -- it doesn't matter if that has not been made clear or spelled out to you. So, everything that you do there is, ultimately,

for the benefit of the company...not for your colleague(s) or a member of some other, internally-defined 'team'.

[Blind-Sided]

When I had a normal "9 to 5" kind of job... I ran into this. For years, I would let things slide, or "Take one for the team." As the years passed... I got tired of covering FOR MY BOSS !!! And, I was at a point that the CEO and other upper managers (other departments) knew who I was, and what I was bringing to the company. So... one day, I simply threw my boss under the bus.

 

 

Basically, my boss would lie to the CEO and sales team about our R&D projects, and one day, the CEO came to me and wanted to know when I thought the product would be done. My response to him was... "We just got the info and equipment in the lab, and I haven't even baseline it yet." This wasn't just me telling him that the project was just starting... I knew that my boss was dragging his feet, and lying about where we were on all kinds of things. So... I wasn't going to get blamed again, for a project being behind.

 

 

At that point, the CEO knew what had been happening, and I was actually promoted to R&D lead. I asked to have the R&D Director fired, and let me run the place. But, the decision was made to not change his title, but make him more if tech lead to the customer.

 

 

So... what am I saying? Basically, if these issues are directly affecting you... don't put up with it, because it could hurt you later. In my case, it was a help. If it has nothing to do with you... just throw the right word in the right ear, and keep your name out of it.

 

 

My 2 cents, take it for what it's worth.

[Rockdad]

No it doesn't fare well to run and report someone on a daily to an employer or dept head. A team working together is going to have it's bumps. That said there comes a time a superior can't fix an issue if they are not made aware of it.

[MsJayne]

Are these mistakes going to result in injury or litigation if you don't fix them? Or does it interfere with you completing your tasks? If yes, staff are probably unaware and need to be given the opportunity to learn the right way, and if no, why are you fixing them?

I've always found that people who do things the wrong way in the workplace usually haven't been trained very well, or they're just lazy and/or stupid, or organisational culture fosters a near-enough's-good-enough attitude. Make sure you know which before you report anyone for anything.

[AshViper]

Idk if I'm overanalyzing' date=' but I'm afraid of being labeled an office snitch. My frustration for some co workers runs deep as I am many times covering/cleaning up their mistakes. There was a mistake made, I spent 20 min finding a solution, getting behind on my work. I was going to bring it to a lead as I was sick of dealing w/this issue. Another co worker thought I was being mean wanting to bring it up to a lead. The mistake was fixed, the person isn't in trouble. I never tell on anyone, but many co workers have sold me out for small things. How do I deal?[/quote']

 

If you continue to clean up their mistakes the only person to blame for falling behind is yourself. They expect you to do it for them so why should they fix it themselves.

 

I used to be like that until one day decided you guys know what I'm not paid anywhere near enough to do my job and your jobs too. If such colleagues are incapable it is best to let them sink on their own hook - as long as it's not risking someone's health - and let management figure out there's no point in keeping them.

[lolita888]

I was like that when I was just a newbie in my job.

 

I do not think they they see you that way but those people were just being lazy and dependent. If you can solve it then pretty sure they can also find a way to solve it. But because they think they can just ask you to fix it for them, they never bother find another way.

 

 

There is nothing wrong to help. But if it's causing problems for you and making you frustrated then you have to stop and do something about it.

 

 

Learn to focus on you work. If their mistake will affect the whole team or project then let it be. At least they will pay for their mistake. The higher ups will know of their mistakes. If they asked you to help them fix it then tell them that you are busy as well. Then get back to what you are doing. you have to learn to be firm. Show them you are not someone they can just take easily.

 

 

I remember when one of my team mates weren't doing his job properly which is slowing down the project. The higher ups asked me about it and I told them about that person's mistakes.

 

He was the happy-go-lucky member and has a lot of friends. But he was scolded by the boss and got a warning that he will be removed in that project. Since then, he and the rest of the coworkers stopped having dinner with me (the members have dinner together in a restaurant every night). I learned how to eat alone while everyone else is on the other table.

 

 

 

Learn to be alone and not care about them. Because some of them may get angry at you and talk about you with the rest of your coworkers and they may ignore you. Just focus on your job.