I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable with a situation at work and not sure how to act around it.
I really enjoy my job and generally do well, positive feedback. One of my colleagues is good friends with our manager and has been for many years now before one managed the other. This is absolutely fine by me and makes no difference to my work as far as I’m concerned. Recently there has been a couple of times where things have been awkward. A few times my colleague has been privy to information before me and the rest of the team. Most recently, my colleague has messaged me on behalf of my manager (they were both together on this day) about a private matter which was not really any of colleague’s business and it should have definitely been my manager speaking to me and not her. I felt very awkward.
I struggle to put in boundaries and be polite so I end up just going along with it really but a few times recently this colleague has seemed to try and take charge of situations, make the final decision or come to a decision before consulting me. Maybe it is that I’m too permissive, but it almost feels as though she is trying to manage me. I am a lot younger and have less experience so I feel this could be why and I’m not always taken as seriously even on times where I have expressed an opinion.
I’m a little stuck, in so much as I’m not sure I can reasonably speak to my manager about the imbalance without her being - at best - privately biased towards my colleague and I fear it would just affect their treatment of me going forward if I spoke up about the dynamic, whether that’s right or not.
WWYD here? Have I just to get along with it?