Q & A Table of Contents
My Boss Claims to be Sick, and I'm Sick and Tired
From: Len, from Milwaukee
Question: I have been working at my place of employment for roughly 6 months.
My boss is always sick and we don't get along. In an average week she might
work 3, 4 days a week if I am lucky.
I am sick and tired of people asking me were she is?
I am currently doing a management course to do the exact same job as her.
My job hasn't got a lot of work, but because she's never there I find myself
doing hers.
Some days she is sick, but there are others you know that she is not. I saw
her the day before when she rang to tell me she wasn't coming in.
I was sick the other day, but went in because I knew that I couldn't rely on
her to be there.
There is some hostility between us, from previous occasions, we don't see
eye to eye on anything.
What should I do?
I can't go to her supervisors as they are very close to her.
Can you help?
Response: There's both bad news and good news in the situation you describe.
The bad news is that, at present, you're stuck in a situation where the relationship is plagued with a bad interpersonal history, lack of trust, and is stressful on you.
The good news you describe is that you are taking a management course to
qualify you for the same kind of job as your supervisor. On the assumption
that you do well in the course, that should mean that within a foreseeable
time period, you'll be in a position to change your role within your company
or change your place of employment. In negotiation terms, this is called
your BATNA, your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.
In the short term, there are a number of questions you might consider:
- 1.
- If your supervisor is sick a lot, even if sometimes she's faking,
what does that say about her commitment to the job? What does it
indicate about problems she may have outside the workplace?
- 2.
- Have you ever asked her to prioritize the things that need to be done
in her absence so that you can provide support for her and your section
of your company?
- 3.
- Are you the only person who sees what is going on? If the answer is
yes, what does that indicate? If the answer is no, are there colleagues
at your level -- or people who are above your boss's supervisors who
might have taken notice of the situation?
- 4.
- What are your interests? Get away from this boss? Reduce your
workload (when her absences give you more to do)? Heal this troublesome
relationship? Are your company's or department's objectives affected
by this situation? Who, other than yourself, has reason to want to
see things changed? Why or why not?
The important thing is to question yourself about your interests, and take a
close look at the interests of other folks who have a stake in the
situation. How can you use your present situation to increase the
likelihood that once the training is over you can move on to 'bigger and
better things'?
Good luck with this. Let me know what happens.
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