Current Events > Just got a HR complaint for "down-talking a fellow employee"...

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I was absolutely confused because I had no idea what "down-talking" meant. When I was talking with the head of HR, he apparently told me that I was "triggering" one of our employee by saying disparaging things about their work. I showed the head of HR my emails and messages on Microsoft Teams to show this employee was lying and/or overexagerrating.

So then he talks to the employee seperately. Apparently, this employee thinks that me giving feedback on his messy work on AP invoices and telling him to go back and fix those mistakes is "down talking" him. Apparently, his previous Senior Manager would just fix the problems for him, but I absolutely refuse to do so because no way in hell am I going to go out of my way to do that shit EVERY SINGLE TIME. I also believe that having the employee fix the problem himself, will help prevent him from doing more in the future. The previous Senior Manager basically set this guy up for failure.

He then complains I should be affording him more respect because he worked at this firm longer than me (4 years and still does basic mistakes a rookie would make) because I only started working there 3 weeks ago. I basically told him that I don't give respect, it has to be earned regardless of their Seniority.

So now I'm home early (they send both of us home) while they try to figure something out. Like, how much of a coward do you have to be to pull something so stupid like this? People like him are fucking soft, I tell ya.

Keep the paper trail.

I basically told him that I don't give respect, it has to be earned regardless of their Seniority.

you should give everybody respect. Respect should be lost, not earned.

besides that, I think it sounds like youre in the right

Document EVERYTHING!!!

You are going to have to document every interaction with this person for the time being. He obviously has it out for you and if you don't document every interaction he might make things very difficult for you.

Your coworker sounds like the bitchiest of bitches. They better not put a note in your file for this nonsense

If he was in public accounting, I'd so send him a coaching note and send his EGA back.

What are the consequences for you if you let his mistakes go through? Like, how does that impact you in your job? Because if it's the sort of thing that comes back on him then I'd just let him hang himself here tbh

You're not a superior so you're within your right to criticize whonever's not doing their job right however this loser's gonna twist that context around making you out to be a harasser.

I'd stay away as much as possible until this situation is resolved. Don't acknowledge ever.

Yeah fuck that, make them have that guy start doing his own work. I can already tell if you ever have to fire him for poor performance hell threaten to sue for retaliation

MICHALECOLE posted...

you should give everybody respect. Respect should be lost, not earned.

besides that, I think it sounds like youre in the right

Yeah, I'm doing a lot of self-reflection right now. I could've probably said it nicer. Maybe that was the reason that set off this guy or something. The last thing I need is bad blood at a work place. I just wish the guy would approach me, because I had no idea he hated me or anything.

Dustin1280 posted...

You are going to have to document every interaction with this person for the time being. He obviously has it out for you and if you don't document every interaction he might make things very difficult for you.

I made the dumbass mistake on leaving the office without my laptop (my previous work was all desktop computers), but once I do get the laptop I'm going to be going through all my documents, emails, and chats to show my innocense. I just hope this isn't going on my record or escalate to something bigger (because this whole situation is stupid to begin with).

Only in 2022 would giving feedback on bad work be considered down-talking.

Jfc, thank god Im closer to retirement than not and Ive stopped giving a shit about work politics and playing nice at work

Your HR works very differently than mine. At my place they'd have blown him off after you sent your "down talking" emails. There's a difference between taking every complaint seriously and every complaint being serious.

Prestoff posted...

I made the dumbass mistake on leaving the office without my laptop (my previous work was all desktop computers), but once I do get the laptop I'm going to be going through all my documents, emails, and chats to show my innocense. I just hope this isn't going on my record or escalate to something bigger (because this whole situation is stupid to begin with).

You're a manager (right?), showing and explaining a pattern of employee incompetence to the higher-ups is part of managing.

DipDipDiver posted...

What are the consequences for you if you let his mistakes go through? Like, how does that impact you in your job? Because if it's the sort of thing that comes back on him then I'd just let him hang himself here tbh

If you know what AP invoicing is, it's a process a companies does to pay off outstanding balances to our Vendors/Consultants. Basically if its filled off incorrectly (like putting the wrong invoice #), the Vendors/Consultants don't get paid then we'll have them start hounding our asses why they didn't get their money. I would get penalized for it, so of course it means I have to double check people's work.

For context, the employee making the complaint never really made any "big mistakes", but it's always the same small mistakes that just annoys me. Yeah I can fix them, but it would be absolutely taking up my time to be doing other assignments. I rather take the proactive approach and having him learn from his mistakes. Apparently, he didn't take kindly to that.

This is exactly why I don't like office jobs. I hate working with people and I prefer to work on my own.

tell hr to fix him themselves or you'll be sending all of his errors to them in the future.

or not, that's probably disrespectful to somebody, too.

Just got an email from my workplace, they're going to be assigning the other employee to a different department while I stay at the same place. Probably for the best, I'm just kind of paranoid now if others might be planning on doing the same shit lol.

Questionmarktarius posted...

You're a manager (right?), showing and explaining a pattern of employee incompetence to the higher-ups is part of managing.

I think HR was more concern about me being verbally abusive, since I'm fairly new (3 weeks in). HR is just doing their job, trying to not take sides since I do work in a more "progressive" firm than my previous one.

If they are being assigned to another department, that's good news for you. Maybe this person has a history of complaints on them and their manager noticed and was forwarded to this one.

Be wary of anyone he might have been friends with

Yeah my friend told it to me best. The only reason I'm letting something so little like this get to me is because I like being liked. So if someone hates me, I take it personally. My old job, I was always the nice boss and I liked that feeling. This whole situation is stupid, but it is giving me a lot to self reflect lol.

Hold up. If wrong invoice number is sent somewhere else, does this mean you now must do his job?

So were you his senior manager or coworker?

CobraGT posted...

Hold up. If wrong invoice number is sent somewhere else, does this mean you now must do his job?

Well there's multiple ways to go about it. At my old job, people who filled out documents and invoices always had to sign their names to it saying they complete the work. The issue with my new job is that the software we're using doesn't show who submitted the invoice the moment it gets posted. So then either I send a mass email saying "who did this invoice" and hope someone responds to it and then have them fix the problem... or I could just fix the problem myself, either way upper division blames me for my negligence. What I want to do is to prevent that from happening to begin with, hence my way where I basically double check their work.

maxpkmf posted...

So were you his senior manager or coworker?

On LinkedIn it said the job position was a Senior Manager, but the firm has a different job title. I just forgot it lol.

invoice work sucks, I'd always make little errors but I'd never blame anyone else when I sucked. at the company where I did it, my manager would publish the error rate every month and I'd almost always have the worst percentage and the lowest output. that was tough since I was always worried about being fired but I think it was fair and I knew I wasn't long for that line of work anyway.

God, I cant stand people who cant just own up and fix their mistakes, and then work on not making that mistake anymore.

Absolute clownworld.

uh.... 3 weeks dude? 3 weeks?

You're reacting about as poorly as possible, but the colleague seems soft. Yall both need some people skillz

Why would the previous senior manages fix it for them? What kind of baby coddling bs is that?

Naysaspace posted...

You're reacting about as poorly as possible, but the colleague seems soft. Yall both need some people skillz

Well, its infuriating having an HR complaint about a non issue

MICHALECOLE posted...

you should give everybody respect. Respect should be lost, not earned.

besides that, I think it sounds like youre in the right

Nah, common courtesy is given. Respect is earned.

Guy sounds like a pussy. He's been working there for four years, imagine what that says about the company.

"respect is earned" is cringe boomer bullshit

dave_is_slick posted...

Nah, common courtesy is given. Respect is earned.

Really? I try to respect everybody unless given a reason not to.

Setfree posted...

"respect is earned" is cringe boomer bullshit

Considering that boomers more than anyone else demand they be respected for nothing, I don't think you got that right...

MICHALECOLE posted...

Really? I try to respect everybody unless given a reason not to.

Really. Being polite is human decency. Respect is something gained, but I suspect you for some reason are assuming I give disrespect first, which is ridiculous.

so do yall just go through life disrespecting people you don't even know "because they didn't earn it", or....?

Naysaspace posted...

so do yall just go through life disrespecting people you don't even know "because they didn't earn it", or....?

Neutral. That is a thing. Look it up since you seem to not know it existed.

lol yeah, being polite to coworkers is necessary but there have been plenty of other managers and coworkers/employees I've worked with that I didn't respect as employees at all

dave_is_slick posted...

Neutral. That is a thing. Look it up since you seem to not know it existed.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/0/AAFeIUAAD3Um.jpg