Q: I recently started working at a small firm made up of sales and construction professionals. Only the president has an office; everyone else works in an open room. We don't even have movable wall panels for privacy, but I think all employees should know better than to hang around others' desks, listening to their conversations.
The owner of the company stopped by my desk to discuss the work done on a project, so when he spoke to me, I spontaneously expressed some of my thoughts on it. The conversation should have taken place in his private office, but I had to respond on the spot to his comments.
His secretary/administrative assistant whose desk is not anywhere near my workspace had passed by and stopped about 5 feet behind me, proceeding to stare and eavesdrop on our conversation. When I asked her a necessary question, she refused to answer and instead commented that things are difficult because "Mercury is in retrograde." Most recently she nastily referred to me as "him" when talking to the boss while standing near me. Her openly rude responses everyday suggest to me she has a serious personality problem. She has never been friendly, not even in our introduction, she goes out of her way to not be helpful, she is always sarcastic when she does speak and she often flat out ignores any comment or request. Her permanent mood is dour.
She seems to be in her late forties, but I don't know anything about her education, personal life or background. What I do know is that she is always openly rude, inappropriate and unprofessional for a business setting. She would never survive in a large company where etiquette and professionalism matters.
Unfortunately, she has worked for the president for several years and he has let her get away with her behavior without criticism or comment. I don't know how I might broach a conversation to him regarding her attitude, but it is unacceptable. If the office environment rates a five, she brings it down to a two.
A: You're in a precarious situation since you have very little information on his assistant or their relationship. He may employ her for a variety of reasons, whether business, personal or a combination of both. Any negative mention of her may upset him, even if he agrees with your conclusion of her lack of professionalism. Unless he initiates a conversation with you on her low performance level or a comment showing his lack of respect for her, it would be best to not to address the problem. His reasons for keeping an employee so far below professional standards could range from him feeling a sympathetic connection to her, or experiencing an extremely high turnover of employees in that position before she took the job, or knowing he is difficult to work for, all the way to having hired her as a deep-rooted favor to a family member or close friend.
Your first concern is to protect yourself from her foul personality, since you don't know the depth of her mental problems. Someone who has no concern for displaying conventional politeness may also have a vindictive side with no remorse. Since she was rude from your initial meeting, refrain from talking to her unless your work requires it. Dour individuals often approach life with a negative and angry attitude, so be assured her open rudeness and sarcasm will continue, and likely escalate the more she feels annoyed with you.
The reason for her foul personality is irrelevant since you can't change it. But it's most odd your boss hasn't made any attempts to correct it, since her unprofessional behavior reflects on him and his management ability. It would be unfortunate to leave a job due to this administrative assistant, but if she continues her verbal attacks on you, your time would be well spent starting a job search for a larger, more professionally managed firm.
Email career and life coach [email protected] with your workplace questions and experiences. For more information, visit www.lindseyparkernovak.com and for past columns, see www.creators.com/read/At-Work-Lindsey-Novak.
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