Redleo12 here again with yet more in the Maggie-Connie story (honestly, I could write a soap opera).
Short background, Connie is a PITA who sits around all day talking and doesn't do any work. Instead, she dumps it all on Abby (another co-worker) and bills the project as if she's done the work anyway. Maggie is now our supervisor (as of Monday), and Connie is not happy, as she antagonized Maggie on a daily basis. I have worked with Maggie longer than Connie and Abby have, but I worked with the two of them back at the smaller company before the current bigger company bought it. Immediately after I left smaller company for a job at bigger company (but still on the Admin team), Connie ganged up with my former supervisor (I'll call her Cheryl) and started bullying Abby into turning against me. Abby resisted, but told me all about it when staf from smaller company finally merged with larger company. Especially heinous, as Cheryl was still Abby's boss at the time, and it put her in a terrible position.
Fats forward to now, Abby and Connie now work for Maggie. Cheryl doesn't manage anyone anymore, and sits upstairs in our Corporate division. Connie and Cheryl are still very close, and tried to continue badgering Abby when they got over here, asking her all kinds of questions about what it is I'm doing, what projects I'm working on, what is my husband doing now, ANYTHING they could find out about me. I told Maggie that, now that Connie is no longer in a position to antagonize her, the attention will be focused on me. I have worked hard for three years to build my skills and clientele into a full-time editorial position, and management has FINALLY conferred that position upon me. Connie is furious, as she doesn't think she should be "just an admin" either, but she has no skills to move her to do anything else. Connie tried a few times to market herself as an editor to some of the project managers, but few of them really took her seriously. Now I have effectively closed that door for her and she can't stand it.
So Maggie got a phone call from Cheryl this morning. Cheryl wanted to offer some "unsolicited advice" about being a supervisor. She opens right up with how the perception on the team is that Maggie showcases my skills more than anyone else's and I come off looking like the favorite. Cheryl said, "You have to treat everyone equally and you can't just market one person on your team or you'll lose some friendships." Maggie played dumb and asked her if she could give her any examples. Cheryl then reminded Maggie that she sent out an email a few weeks ago when we all got snowed out, which said that we have a really talented Tech Editor on our team and we are trying to keep her billable during the storm, so please forward any editorial requests to her.
Maggie came right back at Cheryl and very calmly said, "First of all, Cheryl, Redleo12 is the only person on my team who has asked for my help finding work. Anyone who wants my help is welcome to it, but if they don't talk to me, how am I going to know what they can do? Second of all, I didn't just send that email out on my own accord. That directive came down from your boss." She further told Cheryl that I am the only one who responds to her when SHE asks for help, and frankly, she doesn't feel comfortable sticking her neck out for someone when she doesn't know what their skills are. She could put herself in a bad place by doing that, and she isn't willing to squander her strong relationships with project managers on anyone who hasn't proven that they can perform.
Of course, Maggie said all of this knowing full well that every word of it would go right back to Connie. I told Maggie flat-out that she has to be prepared for Connie to cause some real trouble for me. Now that she can't push Maggie around anymore, that aggressive energy has to go somewhere, and I think it will come back full-circle on me. I did also tell Maggie that I plan to be sweet as pie to Connie, but that she isn't going to push me around and if she gets in the way of my work, there would be serious problems. Maggie understood, but I'm still pretty skeptical about Connie's miraculous turnaround where Maggie is concerned. Why can't she just go away?
