troubles with the new guy

[TurtlePower]

For the past month and a half I have been training a new hire on our team while my boss has been overseas on a project. My boss told me i was in charge while she was away. Here are some of the issues I have had with him and unsure how to handle them:

 

• 80% of our job responsibilities is troubleshooting issues with clients. Most of the time we do this from the home office, but sometimes we have to go out on the field and visit them to check their progress, thus we have laptops. I ask him once we leave a meeting and head out on the floor, to bring his laptop, so we can troubleshoot on the fly and provide some help. His response in a complete belligerent tone, "NO! i dont feel like bringing it with me, if they have an issue, they can email me, you will have yours, so why should i have to bring mine?" I explained to him this is the reason why you have a laptop is for instances like this, he still is insubordinate, but eventually brings it out onto the floor....5 hours later.
  
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• Bosses me around, "next time bring your cell phone with you, i tried to get ahold of you" Same day as above, employees at the warehouses aren't allowed to have cell phones on the floor, so i adhere to their rules and do the same. I mention to him that if he had his laptop with him, he could have had simply sent me an IM "I want you to work on this while im doing this." I dont take orders from someone who forgets their password on a daily basis.
  
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• Constantly complains he is bored. Granted, he has been around for 1.5 months and he getting training scenarios on a day to day basis. I mention to a coworker that potentially Jim (the new guy) can help him out with a project because he has some experience doing such a thing. Jim proceeds to lambast me, saying, "why did you tell him i can help him, maybe i dont want to help!" My response, "Well, you've been saying you are bored, so I figure I would give you something to do, so I don't know what you're complaining about."
  
• Piss poor email etiquette. Occasionally, we have to write reports to supervisors and their assistants, so I gave him that task yesterday to work on. I show him the proper way how to provide some background on the report (Which my boss and I do)to the recipient so they have an understanding of what they are looking at and plus it is just common courtesy. He emails out the report, with this message. "Here is the report, please search using this formula." That was it. Completely disregarded what I said to him. Later in the day, he was asked to revise the report in the same email chain. He was upset that they asked for a revision in the same chain. He was right this time, but I suggested to him that he should start a new chain on his own, just in case the recipient needed to search for the email for future reference. His, response, "No, im not starting a new chain, if that happens, I will explain to her to just search my name and she can find it herself!" I advised him that it was unwise for a guy who has been working here for a MONTH and A HALF to give attitude to someone who makes 3x your salary and has been working for the company for 7 years.
  
• My buddy asked Jim for some help on another report, asking Jim to change the layout so it prints all on one page and neatly. Jim says to my buddy, "i like it this way though" Keep in my mind, this wasn't his report in the first place. My buddy later proves his point when Jim's way doesn't print correctly at all.
  
• When we're out on the field, I have the reputation of being the face of the company, all the clients and workers are respectful and they genuinely like me. Well, when we out, in attempt to gain some credibility, he proceeds to cut me up in front of them. They all look at him as if he had 3 heads. Trying to be funny at my expense? Yes. And I can take a joke, but an entire day's worth. No.
  

Overall, he has a bad attitude where he for some reason feels he's entitled to certain things and certain tasks are beneath him. I don't know if the problem is that he doesn't like being told what to do by someone younger than him. Or if that bossy, condescending nature is the way he is. Sounds like to me he used to be in some sort managerial job before and he can't let that go. I can totally see him backstabbing people so he can climb the proverbial ladder. My boss has only worked at the home office with him for 3 days and of course he doesn't act that way when she's around. When she returns to work next week, how should I handle this? I know I have to tell her, but I don't know how. Our team has been shortstaffed for awhile now, and with Jim aboard it certainly has helped. But, I can't take this attitude for much longer. Thanks for the advice.

 

PS: The examples I gave are just a few, there are countless others.

[coppertom83]

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