question

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

have any of you ever worked in a position where you are servicing internal customers [aka helpdesk] and had one particular user who is both [1]precious to mgt and therefore immune to firing and [2] a complete and utter jerk that suddenly makes you dislike your job and all people in general ? In my case, my person is just verbally vicious and snide as well as generally paranoid. Because this person knows that i know they were doing inappropriate activities with their pc before, they now feel compelled to stand over me while i do any troubleshooting on their pc to verify i am not "violating their trust" and ask me stupid questions in the process. I went to mgt on the issue and was told that they will talk to the person but basically if they want to stand over me and watch that is there perogative. argh. of course the whole thing is inane because as the network admin if i really gave two flips about what the person was sending over email or reading on the web i could obviously find that out without ever having to go over to her desk.

headdesk headdesk headesk

any suggestions? anyone been in a similar situation? i am reaching the end of my rope here.

Comments

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Best thing to do would be have her killed by bikies and her corpse thrown into a river somewhere.

/not in the mood for persnickety details

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

there is no hr. this is a small office.

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

i am definitely documenting everything, and i appreciate your suggestions.

to clarify the situation a bit, and maybe shed some light, this is a congressional office. meaning we are all political appointees and can be let go at any time for any reason. meaning also that said evil coworker has a rich daddy who is a big campaign donor. my parents have squat. i got here on my skillset. starting to get the picture? :)

its times like this i wish i wasn't an only child. i don't have a lot of skills in the assertiveness and negotiation areas i think in part because i never had siblings around that i had to deal with during conflict. i have worked in mental hospitals [my degree was in psych, that was my first career field before i transitioned to IT] so i am skilled in conflict resolution with the the mentally ill, but this is different.

[newsedition.livejournal.com]

It's pretty obvious to me that there is only one course of action. Only one course of action will save you from termination and bring this evil co-worker in line.

You need to seduce her. Once she's your willing love-slave, you'll be fine.

I've already taken the liberty of sending her flowers in your name, the rest is up to you.

Good luck!

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

hahaha.

i'm not sure whether you know i am female and think lesbianism is just hot, or if you succumbed to the stereotype that IT=male.

;p

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

Wait, do you work for the congressman himself? Like, on the Hill or a field office? Have you tried talking to the AA or office manager?

I've worked for a congressman before (although as an intern; my degree is in political science) so I know how those offices are.

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

i work on the hill. in a congressional office. i've spoken to the CoS about the issue multiple times who agreed to talk to the end user in question and that did happen. However, said end user has persisted in her awfulness. Said end user has a wealthy father who donates to campaign so said user is not ever going away. :) make sense?

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

Hm. Hard to say. We never had this problem, but then, I worked on the Hill over ten years ago, so we had some pretty cruddy dos boxes, essentially :) And I was writing letters and talking to constituents, not fixing stuff... Plus, my congressman was a big believer in a small staff so he could pay his people more. We'd never have had an IT person. I think I was lucky -- we all adored our Congressman, he was the type who'd come out and wander around the office and check up on us all, and they treated the interns /very/ well.

I'm not sure if you can talk to the actual congressman or not -- depends on how open-door he/she is. Makes it hard. I'd say keep complaining to the CoS, but it does suck to have them permanently there because of donations. Can you just ignore the questions? I know I hate being stood over too, but it's hard to really stop it.

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

i think that is my only strategy to stay sane. that and in my mind think of this end user as a mental patient so that i don't let her derision erode my self-esteem.

i know i should feel good about my work. i got here on talent, not donations or family connections. but her badgering starts to make me feel bad about myself sometimes.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

Three words to bap over to HR

"Hostile Working Environment"

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

there is no hr. this is a small office.

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

as the network admin if i really gave two flips about what the person was sending over email or reading on the web i could obviously find that out without ever having to go over to her desk.

Tell her that. Watch her panic. It's fun.

In my case, my short bus student is our Executive Director. Fun times.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

When it's me having to deal with jerks, I tend to retreat into arrogance. I just start with the assumption that I'm this person's boss and can tell them to screw off and not come back until I say so, or they'll get no support for anything.

Oddly enough, this has resulted in a couple of promotions, and the tech boss now sends me to deal with people he doesn't like. This month, I've killed a software update that the project department was desperate to push through, made three levels of infrastructure have to rewrite all their documentation for the past five years, and told the local IRS-equivalent's IT department to go learn basic troubleshooting before bothering me.

You'd never think I just want to help people. *headdesk*

[jecook]

At my remote sites, if they annoy me, they lose their computer for a week. If they are lucky, it's not the week that they have to do their timesheets. ::evil grin::

the office staff lose their machines for a day or twoso I can "reimage the machine" and reload their data on it.

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

wow. if i can't fix someone's problem within a few hours i would be fired. even if its not physically possible to fix it. the way things work around here. and if you try to explain why its not possible you get "your not here to make excuses you are here to find solutions and fix the problem now."

[ashton-blaze.livejournal.com]

wow. what if a motherboard fried and it took two days to get another one in? what then? if they fire you, who's gonna fix it then?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

"I fixed the problem - I gave them your PC."

[jjjiii]

Solution to any problem they may be experiencing from now on will be to re-image their PC. Remotely.

[jjjiii]

Also? If they have objectionable material from their inappropriate activities on their workstation, depending on what that inappropriate activity is, you can always anonymously report that to the police. This is especially a good idea if your management does nothing with full knowledge of the activities. The right type of pr0n could get this luser out of your hair for the next 5-10 years.