How to work with someone who doesn’t do their share.

Che asks: What do I do with a co-worker who always does the planning and lets me do all the work?

Bite ‘em!

 

Well, that’s what I’d want to do.  Handsome is more of the “slap them hard on the side of the head” school.  Other suggestions would be to put thumbtacks on their chair, shave half their head’s hair while they’re sleeping, or make a video of them being lazy and show it to all the other co-workers.

 

But most likely, you don’t want to do anything that drastic.  Since as you’re the one who’ll get in trouble.  Especially if you bite – you might get sent to the pound!

 

So the best thing to do is to Manipulate the situation, in a way to make the work more fair.

 

One way to do that is to, when this person makes such a plan, where you do all the work, just help them along, with questions like “Great, so while I’m doing half of this, you’re doing the other half, right?”  Or, “and while I’m doing this, how will I know where to reach you?”  Another way is to “invite” others over.  For example, to say, “Cool.  I heard our boss will be stopping by that afternoon.  What will you be doing?”

 

You see, either this person actually believes they’re doing a decent amount of work (which means they need to become educated about the fact that they’re not), or else they know exactly what they’re doing (which means you need to stop their getting away with it!).  Either way, the trick will involve making their non-work less of a secret.

 

So find a way to expose it, but stay nice.  Once they’ve been “found out,” you won’t have to do anything more.  At that point, the less hostile you are, the better your working relationship will be.

 

Unless they openly insist on keeping the situation uneven.  And at that point, my lips curl up, the hair on my back stands, and I start thinking that biting them is a really great idea again!

 

Good Luck!

Shirelle

 

About the Author

Leave a Reply 0 comments

Leave a Reply: