Helping Friend Out

avantik · Mar 7, 2018

My friend just joined a new job with the government. The company is really strange. They have only one person who trains new employees. The person was on leave when my friend joined. My friends boss wanted her to do some urgent task so she got my friend trained by someone else. When that "one person" learnt that my friend was trained by someone else, she has taken offense to that and is refusing to train my friend on anything else. She is extremely rude to my friend and also to other people, however, since this is a government job and is unionised and she has worked with the company for nearly 30 years, the company doesnt want to correct the "one person". The rest of the staff have learnt to ignore "one person" as they dont have to deal with her so much. My friend however has to get still trained on major stuff and since she just joined, she doesnt want friction. However, it kills her to be spoken rudely in an professional environment. She did speak to her boss indirectly but her boss also gave her a turn around. What would she do now? The "one person" knows her advantage and is being extra extra mean. I feel bad for my friend. She doesnt need this ********, not at her age and experience. She wants to show atleast a year job before she moves. what would be a good road without causing too much friction.

Sapna56 · Mar 9, 2018

Dear OP
Such persons are everywhere at workplace. We must deal with this kind of people smartly to get our work done. As everyone has learnt to ignore her, your friend I think should also do the same. As she is new in workplace, its good not to indulge with one person kind of people as it might affect her reputation.

lavii · Mar 9, 2018

Most of the workplaces have these kind of people .Just like any other conflict we can either ignore or escalate or handle things in place in a smart way .When you mean Boss did not care when she escalated was Boss okay with this person not training your friend on new things ? I wonder if thats the case because any Boss/Org will want their employees to ramp up quickly and build their bench strength. I am not sure how HR system works in Govt organizations but I am sure there will be a local HR whom she can approach .If she cannot ignore or escalate things she has to learn handling such people .One cannot leave a job or move because one odd person in the office is mean .We find such people everywhere in the world .Even if she moves to other process/org she will find such people .I know its easy to say and difficult to ignore/escalate but in life we shouldnt let our happiness/career impact because of one person's behaviour .

Sandycandy · Mar 9, 2018

This person has been able to continue her behavior for a long time without anyone questioning it. Since your friend is planning to find another job eventually why go through all the hassle , specially when it seems like the boss is also not willing to do much.
There is no rule that one has to stick to a job for one year specially when the working conditions are terrible . Ask her to start looking for jobs right away. You can always give some other reason why you moved from a job soon. That way this person does not have to spend too much time and her negative energy training your friend.