Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Colleague can’t drive I’m doing all the driving!!

238 replies

Gisele12 · 08/02/2018 18:00

This may be quite long. I work for a company where we travel for work. The arrangement was that I’d be the one being driven until my old partner left and the only other person who was trained in the role of my old partner cannot drive.

This girl is however taking lessons, I understand they are expensive and she is genuinely doing her best however I am just getting a little of sick of doing all the driving. I get paid probably 5x more per day than what this girl gets paid (my role is higher) so not sure if I am being unreasonable.

I am self employed and my partner is PAYE so I do sometimes feel I have no obgliations to cart this girl around. There is no one else who could replace this girl and in all honesty I love my job and our working days are always fun but I just can’t be sure if I should speak to our boss and see what he thinks?

What does everyone else think?

OP posts:
JeffJarrett · 10/02/2018 07:43

Am picturing OP like the Queen doing a little royal wave out of the back of the car.

Get over yourself. What a horrible entitled attitude to have.

StripySocksAndDocs · 10/02/2018 07:52

Are you a contract killer?

I'm not 100% sure of the usual conditions of the role. But having a drive does seem to be possible. Or at least a request that your 'employer's' probably wouldn't argue with (depending how volatile you are).

Anasnake · 10/02/2018 07:55

Maybe you could ask for a sedan chair ?

TheMaddHugger · 10/02/2018 07:56

JeffJarrett Sat 10-Feb-18 07:43:30
Am picturing OP like the Queen doing a little royal wave out of the back of the car.

Thanks, Now im down a rabbit hole of Queens a waving Grin

Colleague can’t drive I’m doing all the driving!!
Colleague can’t drive I’m doing all the driving!!
Leiaorganashair · 10/02/2018 07:57

I get that it may be an expected thing that the junior colleague drives. But the OP has acknowledged this new colleague got the job despite her lack of licence because she was the only candidate with the relevant training, driving aside. So what the OP expects her boss to do beyond waving a magic wand and having the junior colleague pass her test by Monday morning I really don't know.

ShiftyMcGifty · 10/02/2018 07:58

“Why do you earn 5 times what she does?
Wouldn't it be better for them to end the contract and take on more people at the lower pay rate?”

Have you worked, ever? Because that is called experience. People pay you a lot more money when you have it and can run things and are able to instruct those people who don’t know what to do.

OP, why were you not consulted in the hiring process when your “partner” was being interviewed and insist a valid driving license was a requirement? Even as self-employed contractor, you should have been consulted.

Why did you not refuse the arrangement on day one, if it’s part of your agreement to not be the primary driver?

It’s actually part of your contract to drive, isn’t it? Is it just an unspoken rule that the junior person does the driving?

And if you’re so in demand, why is the company antagonising you instead of trying to keep you happy (if this is indeed the unspoken norm in your field) so you renew your contract?

Any other issues with management?

Original poster
Gisele12 · 10/02/2018 08:03

My colleague was previously partnered with another colleague who was happy to do all the driving but when my old partner left, my other colleague decided she would do the job herself, so they then put this girl with me. I was happy at first, but not so much now.

There are no tasks to be carried out whilst driving. Just the actual work when we reach locations.

OP posts:
Original poster
Gisele12 · 10/02/2018 08:04

I couldn’t do the job without her though. She is an essential part of our job so I do feel massively stuck

OP posts:
Leiaorganashair · 10/02/2018 08:05

If there's nothing else you would be doing in the car Op then in the nicest possible way, you need to get a grip.

How long did it take you to pass your driving test?

Sunnyjac · 10/02/2018 08:07

Sounds like you need to get over yourself a bit. She can’t drive, end of. So look for another job where your partner can and will drive or stop moaning. Or learn to share when she does pass her test.

SoupDragon · 10/02/2018 08:19

Why don’t you pay for her to have more lessons out of your 5 times greater salary? The she can become your personal chauffeur.

shakeyourcaboose · 10/02/2018 08:20

Are you an out of hours gp and con tea so you go out for emergency detentions.. Or are you Care inspectorate/health governance who go out and inspect hospitals etc? (am trying to fit your level of grandiose thought processes to a job)

Tiddlywinks63 · 10/02/2018 08:31

I feel really sorry for your colleague being stuck with you.
Privileged prat much.

LoniceraJaponica · 10/02/2018 08:46

Given that you are clever and clearly able to do a job that is 5 times better paid than your work partner you seem to be unable to see it from any point of view other than your own.

You also seem to be unable to understand the practicalities that many posters have already pointed out.

Do you seriously think a newly qualified driver would be allowed to drive a company car?
Do you think she would want to go from zero driving a week to 18 hours plus straight away?
Would you feel comfortable being driven about by an inexperienced driver?
Why do you think that not sharing the driving is a suitable role model for your subordinate? Or do you just want to put her in her lowly place?
Why are you not taking on board posters' suggestions?

BakedBeans47 · 10/02/2018 08:50

so I do feel massively stuck

Why’s that then? I thought you’d easily find work elsewhere?

WitchesHatRim · 10/02/2018 08:52

She is an essential part of our job so I do feel massively stuck

As I'm sure they feel, being stuck with someone as stuck up and entitled as you

user1471465428 · 10/02/2018 09:03

I’m thinking you’re a paramedic and your colleague is a technician? Would explain the difference in pay (not sure if it would be 5 times as much though)

PeterPiperPickedSeaShells · 10/02/2018 09:06

I wondered about paramedic too, but I've never heard of a paramedic working on a self employed basis

Appuskidu · 10/02/2018 09:11

It’s just the way it goes in my job role. Even with other companies doing the same job, the professional would be driven by the other person

What is your job? I’m trying to think of the scale of 5x more pay-that seems such a lot, yet you can’t do the job without her (though your other colleague decided they could do the job on their own?!). £10k v £50k?

You sound like a total princess. Why don’t you leave and get a job somewhere else if your skills are so desirable?

Ideally-what would you like your management to do to resolve this?

Appuskidu · 10/02/2018 09:13

What other jobs involve driving to places in this way?

Care work
District nursing
?

LizardMonitor · 10/02/2018 09:14

Big Pharma sales rep.

Backenette · 10/02/2018 09:17

I’d expect to share the driving unless the job you do when you arrives requires you to be fully rested or you to be available to take calls in the car. But to be honest I can’t think of a role like that. It’s not like there are independent air traffic controllers/neurosurgeons...

I know a bloke who goes and sorts out the control systems for nuclear power plants. He does his own driving.

Why wouldn’t you expect to split the driving?
What role is it?
If you can’t do the job without the partner she is clearly critical in some way. Why is she on 5x less that you. That’s a big differential.

Backenette · 10/02/2018 09:19

Big Pharma sales rep.

Wouldn’t really need an underling along though. I work in a CRO and all the sales people (damn their black hearts) work solo.

insancerre · 10/02/2018 09:26

Are you a magician and your colleague is your assistant?
Do you get to cut her in half?

HundredMilesAnHour · 10/02/2018 09:58

OP Are you Alan Sugar?

Even Alan Sugar drives himself (he was behind me in his Rolls on the M25 not long ago - and no, he doesn't tailgate).

The OP sounds really unpleasant.

Swipe left for the next trending thread