I had a tough week at work.......

[Jokinomx]

First let me fill you in on this sociopath at work... a female, in her fifties and the most negative person in the shop. She talks about everyone behind their backs... complains constantly that she is working her ass off while others on our assembly line slack. She is constantly ridiculing others for talking to much while she talks at will.

I was cutting the parts that feed her line... she is stationed about five feet in front of me. At the beginning of the shift I leaned over and was going to discuss a waste issue with our parts the owner had brought up the day before. She looked at me and said "I don't have time to talk!" and was short and annoyed. So I just went back to my saw and continued to feed her line. The next thing I see is her talking away with another employee... so I increased my speed to the max and of course she got way behind really quick. She yelled at me to slow down.... and I returned "Well, if you would quit talking maybe you could keep up!"....This infuriated her.... she called me a "f..ker" and asshole and over the next two hours threw parts at me.(little pieces of wood). I just keep pouring it on... as fast as I could. I didn't respond to her words or attacks.

At break... the owner was there and I stated I had a complaint. I told him I was swore at and had parts threw at me. He took it in... then asked another employee his thoughts.... and then told this woman that he needed to talk to her after the break. He took her in the production office and proceeded to tell her the get her attitude right..... she came out of the office...walked to her station and looked at me and said "Way to go Asshole". I raised my had to the owner and he came over ... I told him what she said .... he then told her that she was done and fired her on the spot.

I was a little shocked... I feel bad for what happened...but, if the shoes were on the other foot.... IF she had told me to quit talking.... and I had called her those names... and threw parts at her.... I would have been fired also.

I just can't stand hypocrits... and that is what she was. She was a cancer in our shop... a new company trying to compete in a difficult world.

The best thing is after she left... our two production lines met our goals for the day...in record time..with one less employee!! We continued to do the same the next three days and set a record on Friday. Most in the shop are happy that she is gone... but one leadperson was really pissed at me for not going through the chain of command.... namely him... who was her really only "friend".

Such is life in the American workforce. I still feel badly for what happened... what are your thoughts?

[Spinzonner]

1. Perhaps you should

Was that the only alternative you had to deal with the situation ?

SO she was nasty to you. Aren't you old and mature enough to just let it roll off. You just can't chnage some people.

Or maybe you (all) hadn't tried kindness.

What are her prospects at 50 for finding another job - especially having been fired - and what effect will that have on her life ?

You might have been justified in resenting her behavior and the firing may have been justified in view of policies and procedures, but I wish that everyone concerned would realize they're dealing with real people and real consequences.

In some ways, it sounds like you were playing a game with her and the situation and trying to set her up, knowing her personality.

I wouldn't be proud of it ...

[Jokinomx]

2. I am not proud... I do feel

bad for her.... it is a tough world to find work. I will say... the owner did have a meeting on this incident with all the shop and stated that this was not the first time she had had complaints against her. That this was the straw that broke the camels back.

Yes I can let some things go...but, nobody has to put up with this type of treatment. As for being kind to her... I think I was... I had allowed her to use my driveway to park at an event close by... I had been as friendly as I could be with her. This was the first time that I had a run in with her. Also the first time that I have made a complaint against someone.

[Spinzonner]

3. Perhaps next time you are offended

you will take some time to calm down and deescalate and let the chain of command handle it with less damage if possible.

There may come a day in your future when you could be on the other end of a 'situation'.

[HeyManThatsCool]

5. "Deescalate"?? U do realize

she was cursing & throwing parts at him?

Yeah- ok. There was a woman who wanted to keep her job

[HeyManThatsCool]

4. I see not being proud of it, but give me a break

the woman had a foul mouth.

ALOT worse has happened to me at work but I've never started cursing at other employees....... because I DONT WANT TO BE FIRED

[Spinzonner]

6. Perhaps the next person he gets fired

will come back with a gun to exact retribution.

Yes, an unlikely scenarios but not an impossible one.

But it's the reason that things should be de-escalated, not ratched up in a childish way.

So the woman was wrong and had a foul mouth. Was the only way to deal with this to provoke her and make things more difficult ? It was the responsibility of the lead person and managment to deal with her productivity issues, not his.

[HeyManThatsCool]

8. I always think stuff like that too..... (the gun thing) BUT

that doesnt make her behavior kosher. She damn sure should have been fired.

To be honest I'd say she WANTED to be fired- otherwise when she came out from being spoken to she wouldnt have cursed at him AGAIN. Either that or she was just one of those bitches who thought she could intimidate people and get away with it- in which case, good riddance

[Kire]

11. "letting it roll off" is not a mature thing to do

that's just another way to say "suck it up"

If somebody throws things at me, and calls me asshole and never relents, they deserve what they get, 50 or not

there is always hope that they will hit bottom and come back and be a really great person, but Jokinomx is not responsible for making sure that happens

how was he playing a game, by doing his job fast? ignoring her pleas to slow down? why should he slow down? didn't she say that speed was important to her?

If you really wish that everyone concerned would realize they're dealing with real people and real consequences, I guess you want that woman to realize that, too. Wishing doesn't make it happen, though. This is business. It's dog eat dog, and the other way around, too.

I would be proud of it.

[Spinzonner]

12. Frankly, you sound crueller than he was

And the consensus here seems to be rather judgmental against her.

So she wasn't a nice person - at all - and not a particularly productive one.

The issue is was it his place to make things worse rather than try and improve things or, failing that, let the situation be handled in a more prudent, less confrontational way.

His goal wasn't to eliminate the problem, it was to eliminate her.

For his sake (and the rest of many of you), I hope he doesn't find himself on the receiving end of such treatment.

And that the stress of your lives doesn't, perhaps, lead you to the kind of behavior she exhibited.

I guess the humanity of progressives and liberals can be just as illusory and fragile as the other side's.

[Kire]

13. I'll say whatever you want me to say, boss.

please don't judge me

and, also, you have no cause to lecture me about the stress in my life

[Deja Q]

7. People are scum.

That's what I've learned. Half the people in my department are as cold as ice and have np qualms treating me as such. WTF did I do to them? Nothing. And it'd be silly to go whine to the boss that x and y have callous attitudes; that'd make ME look like the jerk, which is furthermost from the truth.

I'm also supposed to be taking it easy, and my first couple of weeks back have been far more stressful than anything I had prior to my surgery. Another co-worker got mad at me when I talked of the stress, saying he has carpal tunnel. Um. I never responded but, doi, I had something a little more invasive than carpal tunnel so what right does he have?

There's also the added stress of the world in general that EVERYONE is facing.

The point is: Many people are choosing to be depressed and trying to give their depression onto everybody else. We all have those moments. We either live with it, or "do as the Romans do" and be as cold in return; which doesn't do any good at all - though I no longer blame people for doing the same thing; I think America is about to end anyway. And many people must be thinking worse.

Fuck 'em all, they're not worth it. Do your 40 hours and not a second more. And if they start trying to mess with you, mess back. You don't deserve to leave. They do.

[ccjlld]

9. A question

Since you work with a saw, was there any danger or risk to you caused by her throwing "parts" at you?

[Jokinomx]

15. ccjlld

They are small pieces of wood. She threw them at my legs..... and hit me three times. Distracting ...Yes. Did it cause me injury..no.
I always work at top speed. I try to be the best machine operator possible. I didn't slow down....for two hours...and yes she had to work to keep up with me...but she did. She couldn't talk while working that is for sure. We have an incentive in our shop...if we meet it... the entire shop recieves an additional buck an hour. In the break room she had stated that its not worth it to her... she had to work to hard to make an extra eight dollars a day. Like I said... she was a negative person.

As I said previously..... had the roles been reversed I would have been reprimanded also and likely fired.

As I see it... I brought a problem to the owner of this new company... we have been in business less than a year. If I was the owner... I would like to know when destructive behavior is occurring in my company.

As far as chain of command.... the leadperson was upset at me...NOT the Foreman. He supported me. He also had some very difficult issues with this person. He is happy that the headache she caused him is over.

I just feel bad about the entire situation... I didn't plan for it to happen... I just have found in the past when I haven't confronted personnel problems immediately, the situation doesn't go away.

I do appreciate all the comments. I am trying to learn from this incident and hearing outside comments has been good for me.

Thanks to everyone that voiced their opinions.

[prole_for_peace]

10. If that happened to me,

I would feel bad they got fired but it wouldn't have been my fault. It was hers. Her co-workers shouldn't have to put up with her just so she can keep her job. If she wanted her job so bad why didn't SHE make an effort. It wasn't up to you to save her from herself.

[Floogeldy]

14. You big tattle tale!

Poor lady lost her job!

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[sendero]

16. Dude...

... you put up with enough of her shit. I've worked with people like her and they can bring down an entire group, just throw a blanket over everything they get near.

I feel sorry in a way for people who are that pathetic, but there is no point in letting her dysfunction become everyone's.

She would have been fired eventually anyway. You just hastened the process. Maybe she will reflect on her attitude and behavior and try to find a way past her problems. Probably not.

[Jokinomx]

17. Thanks sendero

You know .. she stated in her previous job of five years..that two other females "ganged" up on her and caused her to be fired.

I am sure that in her next position she will say that a guy "had it out" for her.

You are correct...she most likely would have been fired sometime down the road. She certainly didn't appear to have learned from previous personnel problems.