Wednesday, July 01, 2009

What do you do about a screamer?

We've got one on our staff. She's a Ph.D who lives in Virgina and has worked at my company for years. She's brilliant, but sneaky and underhanded. My coworker is absolutely terrified of her and it seems those who work closely with her, are as well. How can you work for someone you're scared of? I guess times really are hard.

Anyway, we had a call with her yesterday and she proceeded to yell at pretty much everyone on the call. Who puts up with that kind of behavior? There is a way to talk to people with respect and dignity, even if you're angry. You certainly don't want to burn bridges or make enemies. I still feel badly, however, because I arranged the call. It was oh, so necessary. We had deadlines and they weren't going to be met. People were putting the blame on our department, but the blame was solely on hers. My boss is out of town, so something had to be done and right away. Honestly, my intent wasn't to get anyone in trouble, but merely to clear our name and alert everyone to the problems. I hope I didn't cause more problems as a result. My boss gets back today and I'm a bit worried.

On the home front, hubby is irritated with me as I am with him. He has clients, as I've said, but why do they call at all hours? Why does he have to answer the phone, when we're just sitting down to dinner or going to bed or talking? I was huffy and left him to his call last night, while the girls and I waited patiently for him to get off the phone so that we could eat dinner together. He claims I stormed off, but I really didn't. I was irritated, though and that's probably what he sensed. I even said as the phone was ringing,

"You need to set some hours!"

Honestly, can't he check the messages later...at least after dinner? This morning, he went to the gym, saying very little to me. I have a feeling he'll be pissy for the remainder of the day. Oh, well. I still feel how I feel. We can talk about it later.

3 comments:

Dee said...

the phone is an issue in many relationships
here's a great article
Times

Dee said...

oh, and yellers? Well, I think that some of them aren't worth challenging--just avoiding. If a person is underhanded enough to lose your job for you, they aren't worth challenging. However, some of them need a firm hand and a simple "excuse me?"

Enchantress said...

Thanks, GC. I sent the article to hubby. I also talked with him about it and he recognized that a little diplomacy is needed.

It's true. Most often, we avoid her but she is pivotal to a particular department and must be contacted on occasion. Normally, she's fine with me so, I don't have to deal with the screaming. I hope, however, that our call encouraged a little chat from her boss about how to talk to people.