To be angry/upset at this work situation?

[RomeeGodess]

Our workload has increased and it's very evident of who in our department can keep up and those who can't.

One colleague is struggling. She was told to not speak to any of her clients on Friday and to catch up on work.

I took a call for her (knowing nothing about the case) and got a loaf of abuse from this person for not having heard from colleague since opening his case and knowing how urgent it is.

I do understand it's not colleagues fault she couldn't take the call. But I felt so angry and upset at having to have abuse thrown at me for my colleagues failings. Aibu?

Meh. Have you never had an angry person call you at work before? It's pretty common!

Yes, you are being unreasonable
do you not do teamwork?

Yes a bit.

You should be angry at the person who threw the abuse at you as it was their fault.

Has your colleague caught up now?

You sound unsupportive of your colleague

You should not have to accept abuse and I would have warned the person involved that you would not, and put the phone down if it persisted.

When you took the call on her behalf, you accepted some responsibility for the case whether you like it or not.

The person who abused you obviously shouldn't, but your complaint should be directed against them.

If you believe that your colleague is incapable of doing her job properly, you should take it up with your superiors.

Unsupportive?

I've spent time helping her catch up on numerous occasions.

Only recently I once did two thirds of her outstanding work to help spending around 5 hours on it. Then she let it build back up again.

Take the call, be polite, apologise if needed, speak to colleague and manager and explain that you understand colleague is struggling but you do not feel you can take on their workload on top of your own. Perhaps the manager can come in and work or get agency (if appropriate) to cover for a day so colleague can catch up with their work. I've been in this situation, having to carry someone else, it only went on for so long until all the staff began to feel taken advantage of and insisted that we are all paid the same to do the same job.

Why are you more annoyed with your colleague than the abuser?

Do you work in law field? It sounds common from my experience and just part of the job

Thanks for clarifying

The client wasn’t calling you, he was calling your company. You and your colleague are both representing your company to this client. If that was your attitude on the phone call, I’m not surprised it escalated. You are the company to the client - it’s nothing to do with them how you’re internally set up and why one person is failing to provide the service your firm is being commissioned to provide.
I get enraged when I call up a company and the person I’m speaking to starts telling me how it’s nothing to do with her, excuse excuse excuse.

Its your managements fault.

I have a workload that is just managble however last year due to staff sickness it doubled. I was expected to manage it and no support was given by management.
When my standards slipped i was pulled in to discuss it
I was told it was my fault for not mentioning i could not cope. Despite them knowing full well my caseload had doubled and it was impossible to manage. Plus I had mentioned it in monthly supervisions.

I made a complaint to HR and it was upheld.
Encourage your collegue to speak to the manager formally about the workload.
Put the ranty client behind you it happens especially when dealing with the public.

Your colleague didn't cause the abuse, the person giving it did, so it's a strange thing to hold against her in my opinion.

I used to have to field calls regularly from angry clients when I was working as a legal secretary. It was tough to deal with but I used to tell myself that it wasn’t personal. I’ve worked in immigration, family and personal injury, and feelings can definitely run high. If you’re telling the client that there’s still no conclusion and there’s sod all you can do about it (especially with immigration) the clients will be hacked off.

It’s part of the job to deal with angry clients. Someone has to do it.

Management has made the decision for her to offload some work onto you. If you get flack from her clients, realistically, it’s not your job to appease them but you are a member of a team and things are being expected of you and perhaps unfairly. Realistically, it depends on the level you work at I suppose but I wouldn’t want to be carrying someone long term. Would it have been appropriate to put them through to a manager to appease them and get the person off your case?