SOSplease
Sep 1, 2009, 06:02 PM
Hello, I am hoping anyone has some words of wisdom for me. My professional career includes over 20 years office/customer service experience. I have been at my current job for almost 10 months. I have never had an issue with a co-worker in my life that compares to this 61 yr old extremely unprofessional woman (fake name, Beth). When I first started, I caught this women in a few lies in the first week I met her. She was also very rude and nasty, but only when we were alone. If she wasn't being rude, she was bragging to me how wonderful the bosses think she is and how much the customers love her. Being new, I wasn't about to rock any boats so I just took my time to get to know everyone and began to feel I could trust a few to ask questions. They told me that Beth was rude to everyone, not to take it personally and don't believe anything she says. As time went on, I felt comfortable enough to tell my boss I was having problems with Beth. She too said everyone has had problems with her, but since they got bought out by a new corporation (they were formally a small family run business) that corporate told my manager that everyone starts new in their eyes and this woman got to start with a clean record. Long story short, this woman is very threatened by me. I get along with all of my co-workers and always have in all the years that I have worked. Problem is that whenever my mgr brings any HR issues up involving Beth, they seem to defend her (even though they were warned that they were about to fire her before they were bought).
She was caught editing 2 customer accounts in the past 2 months that terminated business with us before of her lack of professionalism. She edited these accounts after they canceled and after she knows they complained about her. Her edits were changed to slandering the customers, saying how difficult the customers were and complained they haggled too much about pricing, etc. She has been really harassing me since I had to bring these accounts to my manager's attention. I had no choice as I was the one who got both phone calls from the 2 different customers complaining to me as to why they were canceling.
This was brought to the attention of HR today, and they said that this was OK! As long as she edited her own logs and not one of another employee than no disciplinary action was necessary. She caused us to lose 2 customers due directly to her attitude and they state it's not an issue.
They did go on to say that if Beth and I can't get along then some disciplinary action may be taken against the both of us! How can this be? I know it's hard for anyone to comment as this is one side of the story, but I have very truthfully told you the facts as I am desperate for some real advice. I can not afford to quit, but I'll be damned if I let this women lie about me and slander my reputation. My manager said for me not to worry about it and just take the high road and ignore her, but this what I have been told for months and it's getting more difficult to do this. She sits behind me and whispers comments and will not get confrontational about anything if there is a witness.
I am guessing that HR is concerned over firing her because of her age (and that she sued 2 former employers for sexual harassment and they settled out of court). I am really up against a wall here. I guess they feel it's easier if she makes me quit than if they have to deal with her. She has 4 yrs to retirement.
Any advice on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated.
She was caught editing 2 customer accounts in the past 2 months that terminated business with us before of her lack of professionalism. She edited these accounts after they canceled and after she knows they complained about her. Her edits were changed to slandering the customers, saying how difficult the customers were and complained they haggled too much about pricing, etc. She has been really harassing me since I had to bring these accounts to my manager's attention. I had no choice as I was the one who got both phone calls from the 2 different customers complaining to me as to why they were canceling.
This was brought to the attention of HR today, and they said that this was OK! As long as she edited her own logs and not one of another employee than no disciplinary action was necessary. She caused us to lose 2 customers due directly to her attitude and they state it's not an issue.
They did go on to say that if Beth and I can't get along then some disciplinary action may be taken against the both of us! How can this be? I know it's hard for anyone to comment as this is one side of the story, but I have very truthfully told you the facts as I am desperate for some real advice. I can not afford to quit, but I'll be damned if I let this women lie about me and slander my reputation. My manager said for me not to worry about it and just take the high road and ignore her, but this what I have been told for months and it's getting more difficult to do this. She sits behind me and whispers comments and will not get confrontational about anything if there is a witness.
I am guessing that HR is concerned over firing her because of her age (and that she sued 2 former employers for sexual harassment and they settled out of court). I am really up against a wall here. I guess they feel it's easier if she makes me quit than if they have to deal with her. She has 4 yrs to retirement.
Any advice on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated.