Coworker criticizes worker who has been doing all of her work for her, prompting them to no longer help her: 'Okay I'll focus entirely on my work'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Feb 23, 2025 12:00 PM EST

Balancing customer service with administrative duties is always a difficult thing to work around—and that's without having to do your coworker's job too.

One example of this is in plenty of retail locations, even as a manager, you'll be expected to help out on the floor with customers during busy times, on top of staying caught up with administrative duties. This is all well and good, except when you enter into a consistently busy period and the constant onslaught of customers and foot traffic keeps you from ever sitting down at the computer to work—that and your brain is so fried from talking to customers and solving their problems that it's almost impossible to switch gears and do your tasks when you have a minute.

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  • 01
    Okay, I'll focus entirely on my work.
    via Shingi Rice

  • It's always the least productive coworkers who have the most to say about what other workers are doing, even if the people they're criticizing get three times as much work done as them.
     

    This older coworker repeatedly criticized how this worker spent her downtime between tasks, while herself spending plenty of time on the phone taking personal calls and having non-work related conversations. This prompted the worker to no longer help the coworker with her tasks, leaving her to manage her fair share of the workload.
     

  • 02
    So we have a fairly loose system at my work, where we're allowed to do other things if there is nothing else going on at the time. We also have a fairly even split between customer interactions and paperwork that needs doing.
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 03
    The coworker who works next to me is an older woman with some views I find 'antiquated' at best, so I already didn't like her, but I was content to keep my mouth shut and not talk about that sort of thing at work (even though she likes to bring up her views such as calling people with schizophrenia drug addicts). Live and let live, trying to get along at work, whatever.
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 04
    Now while there isn't anything going on, I tend to work on creative endeavours. Admittedly, there has been some times where I've been stressed out and done this instead of administrative work, although I always put it down the moment any customer interaction (in person or over the phone) needed to be done. This was wrong of me, I'll own up to that. She pointed it out (and I will admit I didn't like her scolding tone and found it condescending, but I was willing to ignore that) which was well wit
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 05
    The thing is, she has a habit of chatting, a LOT. Up to half an hour at a time of chatting and doing nothing else, not admin or customer interactions, leaving it all to anyone else at the desk (usually me, as she sometimes chats to the other person at the desk). She also makes long personal calls, not only booking in medical appointments but shopping around for the best price for these.
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 06
    I did try to be polite and tell her that she was right to pick me up on slacking off before I brought up that it would be good if she could be aware of just answering the phone while she's talking about non-work related things. I don't know, maybe my tone was off, but she very much did not like that. Admittedly when she IS paying attention she's faster to get to the phone than me, so she does take a lot of calls. My issue is when she isn't, and I'm basically working solo. She got even more conde
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 07
    She's right, So I decided, f admin needs to get done. So now instead of multitasking (which I was sure to do even when I was not slacking off, doing admin until I saw someone come to the desk or until a phone call came in, taking care of that and then returning to admin), I'm going to focus hard on what I'm doing. I'm working on a form and someone comes to the desk? She can stop what she's doing to help. I'm checking data is accurate and a phone call comes in? Well she made sure to tell me how m
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 08
    Obviously I'm trying to balance this with not impacting the customers too much. If it's a long form I will put it down to help them after a minute or so, if no- one else has. I won't leave a call ringing more than a minute and a half, that sort of thing. When I do finish the bit of admin I'm on I'll help the person or take the call. But I'm not pushing myself to make it easier for her to chatter away anymore.
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 09
    Cheezburger Image 10470727424
    via Shingi Rice

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 10
    Supergoid 49m ago Need to be more aggressive, less passive about it. "Hey Jolene, quit yer yapping to Barbara, there's a customer here and I'm busy!"
    via Recent-Patient-6449
  • 11
    Pluperfectt • 26m ago Ask if she works there . . .
    via Recent-Patient-6449

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