General Etiquette > All In A Day's Work

Excuse me!

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MerryRaven:
I had an employee tell me a few weeks ago that she wanted me to make sure she had all the information to do her job and to keep communicating with her.

Okay.

So today our server went down and there were new procedures to deal with for that contingency and I was trying to make sure everybody knew them and helping people so they didn't make mistakes.  This particular employee was about ready to make a boo-boo.  Not a big deal, but it was and easy mistake to make and I had almost made it myself until anotherone of my employees pointed it out to me.

So I was going to return the favor.  I opened my mouth to say watch out for X, and she turned to me and said "Stop hovering over me. I can't work when people hover over me." 

So I shut my mouth because there was a customer there and waited and watched while she made the error.  Afterword I pointed out that I was trying to give her information she requested in a new situation.  She said that I 'made her nervous' and that is why she made the mistake.

The only reason I was hanging around everybody that this was an emergency using a procedure that I am more familiar with than everyone else.  There is a high probability for mistakes and as I am responsible for the operation of my department I am suppose to see that mistakes do not happen.  That means sometimes I have to hang around and peak over other people's shoulders.  I didn't mind when my own potential mistakes was pointed out.

I just told her I thought she was having a problem and to get over it which wasn't very nice but sheesh.

Slartibartfast:
Hmmm . . . when I'm in a situation where I'm not sure what to do, I tend to want one of two things: either the information to do my job, or the lack of supervision to make an error and not get blamed for it.  Sounds like this employee would have rather just made the small error and let you clean up afterwards.

platys:
People hovering over my shoulder makes me very nervous as well, especially when its someone who is an authority figure.  I pretty much lose all ability to think.  If I had a manager who did it on a regular basis, I'd be the ditziest, most nervous wreck.   

When she said she wanted more communication, she might have meant that she wanted to have things written down so that she could refer to things, for example.

Lisbeth:
I'll admit I don't like it when people look over my shoulder.

I guess in your situation I would have asked her what kind of help she wanted in making sure she had everything she needed to do her job.  Then, once you gave it to her, I would have let her make her own mistakes and take the consequences for them.

bostonbetty:
I also don't like it when people hover over my shoulder, and I probably wouldn't want to be corrected in front of anyone. BUT I also wouldn't tolerate her speaking to you like that in front of a customer.

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