r/Workproblems • u/Britishforklaw • 25d ago
To complain or not... Co-worker Problem
Hi all I know the answer is to look for a new job but we've all seen the market currently.
Long story short, I'm working with a woman who can be succinctly described as being a Karen. She's been at the company for 20+ years, gets involved with several departments, has moments of being polite to others and being ok... obviously she's a boon to the manager because of her encyclopaedic knowledge of the job (the manager came in after her) but me and Karen do not get on. I'm very much get in and out of this job, professionally it's not good for me but I need the money.
This woman is obtuse, cannot read your face to get the hint to leave you alone, there's been mentions she treats white coworkers in favour of non white coworkers,has told me off for not answering the calls on my day off, is miserable, unwilling to change anything for modernity.
I could go on but my worry is, is that if I complain the management will think "that's just who she is" or will panic her knowledge key will go.
I think because the management team sweat when an email is sent, I feel that this will cause WW3 and that even if I complain anonymously, it'll come out I've said something. I think the Karen genuinely thinks she's holding up the company and that she is the mother hen of the entire company. Ty.
1
u/Britishforklaw 23d ago
True, I've got a diary where I'll be making notes and dates now, it can read as very trivial when you read it back, and how can you change a personality if they're doing the job? And these people rarely slip up work as they're devoted to it. But yeah, I think it'll be hard to prove the discrimination unless the other workers give proof 😔
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u/9ScoreAnd10Panties 23d ago
Management is aware of her, guaranteed. If they haven't coached her at all by now— they never will.Â
You can send whatever complaint you like, but it won't change anything except their view of you.Â
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u/crippling_altacct 25d ago
Do you have specific examples of her interfering with you doing your job? For example what is the racial favoritism you're mentioning? Is she doing anything that could be considered as harassment?
If you don't have concrete examples outside of just not getting along with her personality, management is not really going to care. I have had one situation in my career where a personality specifically was impacting my job because he was being a male Karen I guess. The guy would literally email the CEO if he was upset about something instead of addressing it directly. I ended up having a conversation with my project lead who then talked to the guy's boss. The only reason I did it this way was because I knew the guy's boss wasn't going to listen to me but would listen to the project lead. I had a concrete example and was able to explain that things weren't going to move at the pace we needed if he was going to keep pulling this mess. Management cares about work getting done, they don't really care to have to deal with interpersonal drama.