ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2006 > December > 11
Monday, December 11, 2006
Suffering at the hands of your co-worker?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you have ever worked as a part of a team or in any other type of position where you rely on other people to get your work done, you know how easily your world can come crashing down when someone isn’t pulling their weight.
Some of you have encountered the co-worker who is habitually “sick” when an important project is due, leaving it up to the rest of the team to work late to meet a deadline.
Others are burdened by extra work because a co-worker has to leave the office at least once a week to deal with a child care issue. Or perhaps some of you are the ones who are always stuck inside the office answering the phone while a coworker relaxes in the sunshine, taking twenty minute smoke breaks several times a day.
Being the reasonable person that you are, you understand that sometimes you have to “take one for the team,” as they say. When a co-worker is absent because of a legitimate illness or serious family crisis, that’s one thing. But there are those times, when you can’t help but resent the fact that you’re the one who’s suffering when your co-worker has an issue.
The tough thing about these kinds of situations is that it’s hard to bring it up to your supervisor without sounding petty. Yet, each time it occurs, you find it harder not to grow more and more resentful.
Do you have a colleague that takes advantage of your generosity and team spirit? How do you cope or deal with the person?
