Bossy And Obnoxious New Hire

[Anonymous]

I work for a medium size defense contractor in DC. I've worked here at the Director level for 7 years but have worked in this industry in this town for 19 years.

I have a colleague named Bill. Bill has been here for 2 years and is below me on the org chart if you care about such things. Bill has a sister named Sue in her late 50s that just went through a bad divorce and relocated to DC to live with her brother. Bill got her an admin job (literally scanning old docs we've been meaning to digitize for a couple years). That is it. She scans for 15 hours a week. She has no real professional experience or education from what I can discern. She was a homemaker to 3 kids during her 'working years'.

She is obnoxious af. She chimes in unsolicited all the time on matters that she has zero business in. She does not get along with any of the women and she's just..... angry all the time.

On Friday I had a small cold and was in the office. Sue heard me sneeze and asked, loudly, "What are you doing here? You're going to get everyone sick!"

I replied that I had things in the office (confidential) that couldn't be taken home and that I'd be out shortly. She doubles down and says that I should have "taken leave".

I tell her, politely, that the how, when, and why I take leave will be decided by me and not her.

I got a text from my boss this morning saying that Sue had emailed him 3 times over the weekend about my 'blatatant' disregard for the health of the office and wanted to know what the hell is going on.

I wouldnt mind her getting fired but I don't want to be the reason, especially since I work closely with Bill all the time.

I also know that people get set up all the time and I'm not certain this isnt one of those times.

Advice?

[Anonymous]

Maybe you could have worn a mask after her comment, assuming you weren’t already. (Hospital mask makes it easy to breathe but satisfies the need for “mask theater.”)

She sounds very annoying. She probably has a ton of anger and unresolved emotions around her divorce and life change. She is probably pissed off every time she scans a document because that is not what she thought her life would be, and it’s possible she’s humiliated. And your shoes, I would be very matter of fact with her and not get into it. She will dig her own grave and ultimately annoy the boss with her emails like the one she sent about your cold. And I would just respond to your boss that you sneezed a couple of times, since you came in with a slight cold because you wanted to make sure to get XYZ work done because you knew how important it is. In other words, be very matter-of-fact and brief about the health issue, to make her sounds like a hyperactive nutter, and then pivot to how you are such a good and dedicated employee.

[Anonymous]

You email him back with exactly what you told her.

[Anonymous]

The truth seems to be the easiest path here.

Leave aside everything about Sue and simply tell your boss that you had the sniffles but came in briefly to take care of the Penske file. Sue expressed concern that you were in the office and you told her you had to complete a few tasks on Penske and then you'd leave. And you did.

Let the boss handle the rest with Sue being annoying.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to fire someone for being annoying. Avoid her from now on.

[Anonymous]

She sounds annoying but you shouldn’t be contaminating the office.ESH.

[Anonymous]

You should have put on a mask.

[Anonymous]

Who supervises her? It's their job to have a conversation setting expectations for what is within her role and what isn't. If you're not that person, have a conversation with that person and tell them what's going on. You do her no favors by not giving her feedback, because she will lose her job over this eventually and will have gained nothing about how to be in a professional workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who supervises her? It's their job to have a conversation setting expectations for what is within her role and what isn't. If you're not that person, have a conversation with that person and tell them what's going on. You do her no favors by not giving her feedback, because she will lose her job over this eventually and will have gained nothing about how to be in a professional workplace.

I mean, if she recognize that her firing came immediately after she was harassing a Director, and his boss, over the weekend, because of some sniffles, then she has zero business in a professional setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you could have worn a mask after her comment, assuming you weren’t already. (Hospital mask makes it easy to breathe but satisfies the need for “mask theater.”)

She sounds very annoying. She probably has a ton of anger and unresolved emotions around her divorce and life change. She is probably pissed off every time she scans a document because that is not what she thought her life would be, and it’s possible she’s humiliated. And your shoes, I would be very matter of fact with her and not get into it. She will dig her own grave and ultimately annoy the boss with her emails like the one she sent about your cold. And I would just respond to your boss that you sneezed a couple of times, since you came in with a slight cold because you wanted to make sure to get XYZ work done because you knew how important it is. In other words, be very matter-of-fact and brief about the health issue, to make her sounds like a hyperactive nutter, and then pivot to how you are such a good and dedicated employee.

Np, this is level-headed great advice.

[Anonymous]

Shes right if you were sick you shouldn't have been there. At the very least you should have put a mask on!

[Anonymous]

If you're a director, don't you have a private office? Why not confine your coughs to your office?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you could have worn a mask after her comment, assuming you weren’t already. (Hospital mask makes it easy to breathe but satisfies the need for “mask theater.”)

She sounds very annoying. She probably has a ton of anger and unresolved emotions around her divorce and life change. She is probably pissed off every time she scans a document because that is not what she thought her life would be, and it’s possible she’s humiliated. And your shoes, I would be very matter of fact with her and not get into it. She will dig her own grave and ultimately annoy the boss with her emails like the one she sent about your cold. And I would just respond to your boss that you sneezed a couple of times, since you came in with a slight cold because you wanted to make sure to get XYZ work done because you knew how important it is. In other words, be very matter-of-fact and brief about the health issue, to make her sounds like a hyperactive nutter, and then pivot to how you are such a good and dedicated employee.

Agree with all that.

[Anonymous]

I'm a partner in a firm of several hundred. I'm generally regarded as a very nice person and I feel like that's true.

I would have this person fired.

[Anonymous]

You're annoying too because you came into the office sick. If you were only there for a short while, why didn't you put on a mask while you were in the common area?