Episode 117 | Keep It on the Plane

Question

Hi Work Wives, it's Michaela from Cincinnati. I am filing a formal complaint about one of my coworkers today and I feel so anxious and guilty about doing it. I'm about eight to ten years younger than him and haven't been working at the company nearly as long as he has, but, but I've been put in a leadership position over him.

So the gist of my complaint is that he just isn't carrying his weight, even after I and the person previously in my role have talked to him one on one multiple times. And when I do ask him to do something directly, he'll do it, but then he'll complain about how busy he is to me while I'm working seven hours of overtime each week to make sure things get done that he should be doing.

So today kind of broke the camel's back. He informed me that he no longer has time to do one of the easiest and most basic parts of his job. I freaking lost it. I didn't say anything to him, but requested a meeting with our project manager later this afternoon, and I don't really know what I'm asking for here. I guess I just mostly am work ranting, and really I just feel nervous that I'm overreacting. Am I overreacting?

Summary

Welcome aboard the Corporate America plane — where everyone has competing interests, but you still have to work together. So figure out when to “keep it on the plane” and when to escalate (because the landing gear is actually on fire).

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