office life

[oceangirl]

I have a situation that I gotta share with you all just to keep my sanity.

I work for a very small company only 5 when we are all in.

The role I am doing has been done a girl with in the office who is now going to focus on marketing and doing the website site and dealing with the re-branding of our company stationary and product list and what have you.  

 I am supposed to take over the day to day admin and deal with the booking of the facilitators who will be giving out the training that we do and as well as preparing all the course materials.  Yet every time there is new course pack to prepare she takes over and get everything off the system and starts doing it herself.  She is a lovely person and I like her very much but she is very much of a perfectionist and loves to be in control.  

Its little things that really get to me.  Like the post.  I’m suppose to do it, open it, deal with it and most morning when I’ve collected it she wants it to look through before I can even open it. I can’t tell you how mad this makes me.  If she wants to look at it why doesn’t she pick it up on her way passed when she comes into the office? The post isn’t here when I get here and doesn’t get put in our pigeon hole until 9 30ish which is when she gets in.  


I realise I haven’t been here all that long and I know there are things I don’t know and I will have to ask but at this rate I will never learn as I will never have  had the chance.

You know if someone else was telling me this I’d say that the best thing to do would be to play them at their own game and get the post as soon as it is ready and deal with it and not show it to her or make such a show of showing the post to her she would get the message, but I cant bring myself to do that and I don’t want to fall out with her as she is lovely and we have a very small office.  Another thing she does stand behind me and watching me type a letter or email then go on to say where there is a spelling mistake in it and too many spaces here and there.  Checking for spelling mistakes and errors is something I check once I have finished the letter or email otherwise I lose my thread and this then makes me make even more.

Also we one have one phone which is one my desk and when she wants to make a phone call wants to sit in my chair to do it instead  of moving the phone.  

And what drives me even more draft is that we are using outlook express and everybody can only see their emails on my pc once I have downloaded the emails which happens automatically. So I print out all the emails and put them in their pigeon holes form them so they can read them with out having se then on the pc but naturally enough they want to reply so every time I go out of the office to the fill the kettle and what have you I come back to find some one using my pc.  Oh for Microsoft outlook.  


Georgie Girl.

[gee4]

I understand this is difficult but I think you need to start beating her at her own game instead of joining her.  

(This is Liltle Miss Control Freak who still wants control of everything and cannot let go).

Get in before her if you can and open the post before she has a chance to do anything with it.  If she asks why, just say you were instructed to do it that way by XX.  If she gets really petty about it, politely ask if she would prefer to read through it first before you actually distribute it.  Put the ball back in her court.

Also if she wants to use the phone, just politely say, here you are, (actually lift the phone away from you), sit where you are and inform her you are right in the middle of an important job but she can go ahead by all means and use the phone.

She may not get the message right away but you have to be firm but polite.

The other thing is in my company, we have to lock her keyboards if away from our desks.  Doesn't matter if you're answering the door, photocopying or making tea.  Now I do it automatically.

G

PS.  Is yours the only pc in the office?

[bethalize]

Oof! Dear girl, you do seem to be having a time of it. Control freaks are hard to deal with but at least this one seems to be a nice one. What about saying something like: "I really appreciate all the help you give me, but I'm concerned that it takes up a lot of your time when I should probably be doing it without your support now." She might get the message then. If she doesn't, then it is time to be assertive. Stop working and give her your full attention, saying: "sorry, did you want me?" and see if that works. She sounds like she is returning to her comfort zone. You have to be assertive - if you don't ask her to move the phone instead of sitting in your chair, she might not realise she's doing it.

With the e-mail, what is your office set-up? Is only one computer connected to the Internet? It sounds a very impractical way to do business. I suggest locking your screen when you move away from you desk. Is your office on a network? There will be a way to send the mail from your computer to everyone else using free software but it would take some effort to investigate and setup.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator