How to work effectively with a difficult boss

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    I have to do imcompetent co-worker's work too!

    Posted by: cubemonkey
    Date: 11/7/2005 9:45:08 PM

    A much older co-worker controls our 4-person team but she is woefully undereducated and unskilled on the computer and my boss, the general manager, knows it and expects me to do everything she "can't handle". He lets her get away with everything by saying "well, she's from a different generation." If I try to correct her or teach her (not that she can remember anything, she IS almost 70!) she turns on me and yells at me in front of everyone. My boss also excuses this behavior and says "maybe she will retire soon". I'm at the end of my rope but afraid to quit because it's a rural area and I doubt I could get a job that pays as much as I've gained in the past 8 years I've worked there. I don't know what to do. Should I just quit and hope for the best? It's no use talking to our HR manager becuase he is just a figure head and has no power. And the corporate headquaters just lets every branch's manager run things the way they want to so there's no help there either. It's gotten so bad that I have to take a deep breath, clench my teeth, and force myself to walk into the building. I've hinted to my boss that I may quit if he won't move me to a differnt department or at least let me physically move my desk but he refuses, mostly because he knows if I am not available to my stupid co-worker, she will screw things up for him. Any ideas what I can do to change things? Help!

    Reply from: natalie
    Date: 11/8/2005 7:22:00 AM
    Reply: i see you have quite a problem, our boss is the same on the computer but 30 years younger! while ever you are constantly making amends to her incompetence (when you really would like them to fall flat on their face) they get away with it and the other guy just makes excuses to be kind to her, in grim reality she needs to get into the year 2005, instead of taking care of everything she can't handle why not try observing-directing over her while you teach her how to do it herself, it might gently put her in the situation whereby she accepts she must either try and learn this "new fangled stuff" or go home at the end of the day thinking about that retirement!
    Reply from: cubequeen
    Date: 12/6/2006 3:18:00 PM
    Reply: Yes, you are in a bad spot and it sounds eerily similar to mine. I have tried various things but the one that is appears to be the most successful is that i have slowed down and if things can't get done than it falls onto my boss to explain to others where their stuff is. It appears that the co-worker is the problem but I think the real issue is a lazy ineffectual boss who can't manage. So SLOW DOWN! You can only go so fast in this world. I do NOT recommend training this person unless you are getting paid to train. Find ways to make their failures glaringly obvious. You guys must be running a company that runs on welfare.

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