Rude Admins at Federal Agencies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our admin literally watches TV at her station. She doesn't pick up the phone, respond the email or in-person requests. To get her to do anything on rare occasions, we have to show her a copy of her job duties and point it out that she's required to comply. She also changed her signature line from the accurate "Receptionist III" to "Manager," which she obviously isn't. She's the worst, and we can't fire her (union).

That's bull. Have you done the necessary work required to fire. I've found that most managers do not or will not do what is required, and prefer to do nothing or pass the employee around.

Do what everyone else does -- find her another position and give her a glowing recommendation. I finally learned not to hire anyone from the federal government whose recommendation was too positive.

[Anonymous]

A manager tried to fire our extreme underperformers and they brought EEOC suits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A manager tried to fire our extreme underperformers and they brought EEOC suits.

And. EEOC and MSPB complaints come with the territory. Anyone can file a complaint. It's their right. Filing a complaint does not equal a meritorious complaint. As a personnel attorney, I've found that the primary problem lies with the supervisors. Too many people are promoted to the supervisory level, and have no clue how to supervise and manage. Many supervisors don't really want to do the job of supervising. It takes work, and it requires lots of documentation. Documentation is a dirty chore for some supervisors, and then they complain that they can't get rid of problem employees. Eventually, the supervisors stick unproductive employees in a corner with little responsibilities and wonder why such people are not doing work .

[Anonymous]

Where do you work?? I'm an "admin" and am a happy, upbeat, hardworking young professional. Looking for a better paying job and more opportunities.

[Anonymous]

The OP can't get the admin fired, it's not her admin. For those suggesting she just send her a strongly worded email
or some such, you've clearly never worked with someone who is dead set on being unhelpful or who is incompetent.
For the PP that said some people don't know better, yoy are right. It's not a low income/no college thing, but it is about what you were (and weren't) taught to do, either explicitly or by the example of those around you or those you admired and who you chose to emulate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our admin literally watches TV at her station. She doesn't pick up the phone, respond the email or in-person requests. To get her to do anything on rare occasions, we have to show her a copy of her job duties and point it out that she's required to comply. She also changed her signature line from the accurate "Receptionist III" to "Manager," which she obviously isn't. She's the worst, and we can't fire her (union).

That's bull. Have you done the necessary work required to fire. I've found that most managers do not or will not do what is required, and prefer to do nothing or pass the employee around.

I'm not her manager, so no, I haven't done anything required to fire her. She's known as a volatile, violent person and frankly I think her supervisor is scared of retribution. Maybe he figures it's better to let it slide and have a bad admin than a massacre.

Oh Please. Government employment attorney here. I get this all the time from managers, and yet, there has never been an incident of workplace violence in the 25 years I've been terminating federal employees -- who I terminate every single day.

[Anonymous]

We had a horrible admin and paralegal. Neither did anything and if you asked them for help with the simplest of tasks, they were rude about it. I switched to the private sector a year ago and am still getting accustomed to not doing everything myself!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some are good, some are bad. Like employees everywhere.

If every single admin is rude to you, you need to ask yourself what YOU are doing.

OP here. It's just one admin - I've never had an issue with any others. It's refusing to respond to emails, being rude whenever you ask her for anything, spending most of her day chatting, etc. I'm a supervisor and haven't had ink for the printer in my office for close to a year because she is "too busy" to order supplies. It means I have had to print performance appraisals and other confidential documents on a shared printer and then run down the hall to get them before someone sees them. We have another admin who is very helpful, but she's a contractor, and has to get approval from most things from the federal admin. It's just frustrating to see how much negativity an employee who contributes so little can bring to an environment.

This sounds like a problem with you not her. Why can't you order supplies or go to her supervisor and tell them supplies need to be ordered? The fact you let it go that long is mind boggling. Or call IT and tell them the printer isn't working. People get away with this behavior because other people let them.

[Anonymous]

Our agency does not have admins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone work with an admin at a federal agency that is not rude and somewhat lazy? I only need to deal with ours for limited tasks, but she acts as if everything she is asked to do is a huge burden. It's getting hard to deal with the lack of professionalism.

Welcome to working for a federal agency in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A manager tried to fire our extreme underperformers and they brought EEOC suits.

And. EEOC and MSPB complaints come with the territory. Anyone can file a complaint. It's their right. Filing a complaint does not equal a meritorious complaint. As a personnel attorney, I've found that the primary problem lies with the supervisors. Too many people are promoted to the supervisory level, and have no clue how to supervise and manage. Many supervisors don't really want to do the job of supervising. It takes work, and it requires lots of documentation. Documentation is a dirty chore for some supervisors, and then they complain that they can't get rid of problem employees. Eventually, the supervisors stick unproductive employees in a corner with little responsibilities and wonder why such people are not doing work .

We have a long-time problem employee who is a minority. Really doesn't do her job, defensive if we ask her to do anything, visits around the organization most days with friends, etc. We documented but were told "do not go there" So everyone just works around her.

[Anonymous]

Such a FWP. Seriously, I have never had an admin until this year and she's great. Next you'll be complaining that your diamond encrusted shoes are too tight and all your hundred dollar bills won't fit in your wallet.

[Anonymous]

Huh. Our admin has been with the government for decades, and she's great--she's a nice, friendly person, she keeps up with her regular duties, and is always willing to do anything you ask her (of course, we only ask for things that are reasonable to ask of an admin). Frankly, I've never worked with a bad admin.

[Anonymous]

I think that some admins are not treated well by people. There are no boundaries on their job duties, so often they feel like people can and do ask them to do all kinds of things on a regular basis that don't really fall under their duties.

They don't get promoted or get significant raises over the years, but there is a task and responsibility creep, especially if they are an admin for a group of professionals.

So the best way they find to set boundaries is basically to be rude. It keeps people from finding it too easy and comfortable to just keep piling on requests and tasks over the years that never amount to any professional promotion or recognition.

In the private sector, bosses and offices have more ways available to them to reward admin staff. So admins that go above and beyond actually might see either some professional recognition, monetary recognition, or at the very least perks. That doesn't happen in government agencies.