To be getting increasingly irritated and frustrated with new work colleague!.

[Lj8893]

We have had a new girl start at work, she has been with us about 2 weeks. We work in a clothing and homewear brand store.

She's young (about 19) and quite shy and introverted, which is not a problem but she's still struggling with talking to customers properly! Which is the main part of her job.

She doesn't seem to listen to anything she's told, training wise and I find myself repeating everything I say over and over.

Yesterday she was about 10 minutes late for her shift (not an issue, traffic happens and we were quiet) but she didn't come in and apologise or explain, just walked in as usual. She then decided 10 minutes before her shift was due to finish, that she needed the toilet. So she went up to the toilet and spent the entire 10 minutes up there before leaving work dead on time.

There are many many examples of her not listening, or not understanding what she is being asked to do, I can't go into them all!

At the end of trade today, a couple minutes before she was due to finish she started to walk off the shop floor, I called her back and asked her to quickly take the hangers out, we have 2 boxes for hangers behind the till that we empty end of day.
I would have done it myself but was busy beginning cash up.
She took one box, and when she came back I realised the other box was full up so I said
"Thanks, but there's still some hangers in that box too"
She said oh right, and just walked off the floor to finish her shift.

AIBU in thinking that espessially when your new in a job role, you should be doing it properly and listening to your colleagues, particularly those senior to you?

I'm really laid back about most things, in fact I'm renowned for being laid back and calm at work. But this girl is really starting to frustrate me, any advice?

Sorry for the huge essay!!

Some people just don't "get it", iykwim. I don't work in retail but have had employees in the past. One girl was never on time, made loads of mistakes which she never apologised for and then buggered off on the dot whether she had finished the task or not. I am pretty relaxed so didnt really mind about the time keeping but on the two occasions i told her she really needed to be on time as i had to leave for meetings, she was still 20 mins late. Just too frustrating! Her replacement turned up each time 10-15 mins early so she could have a chat/pee/cup of tea/whatever and be absolutely ready to start work, was unnecessarily mortified at the very occasional mistake and never shot out of the door like a scalded cat!!

If you have tried to guide her but are still getting nowhere, I think you will need to talk to the manager and get rid. There are tons of people out there who want jobs and will actually make an effort. Do, though, ensure that she knows exactly why you are firing her so that she can learn from the experience and hopefully make some changes.

Sorry but being a teenager isn't an excuse. I work with some newly employed teenagers and they're amazingly competent. Better than a lot of the more experienced ones tbh. I have no qualms about getting them to help me out.

Yeah being young is no excuse. My DD has just started her first job (part time) in a big supermarket. She's 16 and had to jump through hoops to get it, jobs are at a premium these days. Especially decent ones that fit round school hours. Any time they ask her to do overtime, she's in there as she wants a reputation for being flexible and hard working. I feel your pain OP, I had loads of office juniors down the years who were sullen, lazy and downright obtuse. There were plenty of good ones as well but the arsey ones drove me insane.

if you are senior in role as opposed to length of service - yanbu

if you are an employee of the same level - yabu

YANBU. And I think everyone in every job has a colleague like her. I've had several and they drag the whole team down

K8, I have done all that. I asked her to make the time up, she said she couldn't as it would mean missing her last bus

Her last bus? What time does work finish? Next time tell her: don't ask. Then if she refuses you can report her for insubordination.

I accepted that and just said that perhaps if her bus is regularly stuck in traffic she ought to think about getting an earlier bus

Again, if this happens again she should be doing more than "looking into it". I can't belive that people really think someone her age shouldn't understand the requirements of timekeeping.

I think you must talk to her. She can't take liberties with her shift timings. As you say, we are all late sometimes. We all need the toilet. But an apology is not much to ask.

I had a similar problem some years ago. I was working as a PA and hired a temporary secretary to help me with my workload. I had never managed anyone before and didn't have a clue. I was over friendly and generous with her and she took the piss. She was always late in the mornings, always took too long a lunch and left early as well. I wouldn't have minded, but she was being paid by the hour and was actually earning more than me!

The worst thing was that she was useless at her job. I helped her again and again to work the switchboard etc but she just didn't get it. In the end, she left anyway so the problem resolved itself.

It's early days and she's probably nervous. She might find you a bit scary too, if she can sense you're getting frustrated with her. Best thing I think would be to give her just one or two particular new things each day to take on board. E.g. today I'd like you to think about how you can arrive on time each day, or today I'd like you to put the hangers out each time you see a box, without being asked. Then she won't be overwhelmed but she'll build up the skills she needs.

yanbu. You shouldn't have to babysit her or nanny her. Asking her to think about how she can arrive on time? Seriously? She's there to do a job, not be mothered.

Speak to your manager about her and see if the manager speaking to her will help.

Asking her to think about how she can arrive on time? Seriously?

Yes, because I don't think coming down too hard on her is going to help. By all means be straightforward with her, but I don't think someone like this is going to respond to taking a very tough line.

She's young, inexperienced in the workplace, and I'm sure she'll appreciate it if you tell her in a nice way how she's not currently meeting expectations. If she was obviously being rude or taking the mickey then that would be worse, but it sounds like she just hasn't been in this sort of situation before, and obviously she won't get it all right straight away.

Good luck

I got the impression that the OP has tried repeatedly to show her how she's not meeting expectations. I'd hope the manager on return would tell her to shape up or they'll be getting rid.

Notyomomma, I already said I was a supervisor.

Today was a tad more successful, i was more direct with her and that worked slightly.

What really worked though was saying things to a fellow supervisor in this way for example,

"E is going to take control of the fitting room today, and get us some really good sales, isn't that right E?"

Somehow she listened and learnt when I put it like that, perhaps it was because I got another supervisor involved and she realised she couldn't get away with it, or perhaps it sounded like I was trusting her with more responsibility that motivated her. Who knows, who cares, it worked!!

She did try sneaking off 5 minutes early though, and I cheekily said, "is your watch fast?" I embarrassed her but hopefully made my point!