There’s a girl like that at my work, she’s kinda my friend and we get along great but, like your co-worker, she does literally NOTHING!! I work in retail I make sure everything is always clean. If she has a full shif all day and I come in late that night…omg, it looks like a tornado ran through there. I hate it!! But, I remember this is not a career, this is just a job, a job a lot of teenagers take for granted. Even though she is a “parent” she mentally is not one she is still just 18 who wants a boyfriend and party and she just has to work to pay for food and diapers.

Have you spoken to your manager about this? Do you have examples of her not helping you?

I really wouldn’t judge someone on assistance. My mom and I used to be and she worked her butt off so that her and I could make ends meet.

Yes, I understand that, however you said around the words of she is lazy because she is on a lot of assistance.

I’ve run into those, they are there to kill time and finish their shift-not get work done. Does the shift supervisor/manager not say/do anything? I had great success (I’ve had a few I had to supervise) simply giving very strait forward direction to them, it’s like they don’t comprehend that they should go do something-so simply saying ‘ok go over to the board, pick an item, go do it, then clean up, then come tell me and you can pick another item to do’ worked great. Or simply ‘hey, can you go unload those boxes, then come tell me when your done?’ worked too. As a peer if you aren’t her supervisor, perhaps asking her to help you with something will get her moving? Or it may be time to speak to the manager. Not fair for everyone to pick up her slack and she makes a wage doing nothing.

How is being a mother relevant to her not working as hard as you’d like her to?
You really shouldn’t stoop to gossiping, especially with coworkers, its unprofessional and it generally reflects worse on you than the one your complaining about.

kamdynandsunshinesmom, isn’t this the same coworker you complained about this time last month in your post called “lies”?

In that post you got 2 pages worth of some very good suggestions on how to deal with her. I’d urge you to go back and reread your thread. I think you will find that there was both sympathy and practical steps described that you could take, and it sounds like you let the situation continue for several more weeks, so maybe it’s time to take one of those suggestions.

You’ll find that no matter where you work or what type of work you do, there will always be people who work harder than you and people who work less hard than you. There will even be people who seem to do no work at all. It’s just something that you have to learn to live with and not let it get to you.

 Elrohwen, I do SO work hard here!!!!! 

LOL Pam. How did you know I was talking about you?! I thought I was being so vague

Posted By kamdynandsunshinesmom on 12/05/2011 11:55 AM
I am going to start not letting it bother me I am going to do my job the best to my ability in the end it will pay off!

Good for you.  I think Elrohwen nailed it.  Even in “career” type of work, you will find exactly what Elrohwen is talking about.  It’s like that in so many aspects of life.  

It’s hard though because pushing down feelings of someone bothering you is not the same as it actually not bothering you.  It can take time.  And it won’t happen overnight. You will get bent and frustrated, but if you are able to say….eh…will I really care about this issue a year from now, then maybe you can feel the real importance of that moment…or more like how unimportant it is.   When you are stuck in a situation, you can report certain behaviors to management and/you can take some steps to encourage some common understanding and change,  but if nothing changes, you have to refocus your attention and just do the best you can.

 The moment she’s getting under your skin, just remember you are not  stuck with this person for life. It’s just a moment in time and so think about something else. 

Of course I am not advocating that people become doormats and allow co-workers to take advantage, but in general balance out what’s really important and try and go with the flow.   And again, just because you want to feel that way, doesn’t mean you will be successful right away.  It takes practice…so give yourself some time to adjust to “not letting her bother you….or at least bothering you….less”.   

Good luck.