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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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To have left him stuck in the cellar?

534 replies

FreddysTash · 02/05/2019 14:13

We have a new starter at work who is a pain in the arse. He’s shadowing me and constantly disappears and is always off exploring rather than doing what he should be doing. This morning we were in the office and he asked me where he should put clinical waste. I told him we put it in the cellar but that we didn’t have time to do it now as we had to go out of office. He said he’d be quick. I said no because it takes ages to get down there, he’d need codes for the lift down there, and two different doors. He grabbed a pen and paper and asked me for the codes. Getting frustrated I wrote down the codes and told him to be really quick and off he goes.

15 minutes later he’s still not back so I check time and decide if he isn’t back by half past I’d do without him. Half past came so I packed up and headed to my car. I’d just set off when I got a frantic phone saying he was stuck in one of the rooms in the cellar. I told him to repeat the code he had and it was right so I said he’d just have to keep trying. I drove off. 5 minutes later he started ringing again. I ignored it. All in all 4 missed calls. I rang him back and he admitted he was in a different room and that’s why the code wasn’t working. I told him I’d be back at lunch. It was 9.45 at the time. He started getting irate saying it stunk down there, it was freezing, pitch black and the wind was hammering on the fire doors. I left him until 11. AIBU as he got stuck because he went where he wasn’t supposed to go?

OP posts:
TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 17:43

Why are there codes on the doors of unrestricted areas, in that case? And why are you dealing with clinical waste outside of a medical setting? The mind boggles.

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 02/05/2019 17:44

I'm sure it's the same in most jobs that when you are appointed a trainee to "shadow" you there's an allowance made that your performance or productivity could be affected ever so slightly to reflect this. So in terms of your own workload you accept things will be up a n the air for a few days. I'm guessing you were chosen for this as a role model and example of what expected performance and behaviour should be. You needed to lead by example.

Regardless of the attitude of the person who is shadowing you it wasn't your call to decide how to teach him a lesson for annoying you/going against instructions. Your job is to make sure he knows what is and isn't expected of him in terms of the job and if he fucks up either accidentally or because he's blatantly ignored an instruction then you document and raise this immediately. You don't carry out your own hilarious hazing ceremony type of affair instead.

Hopefully he has laughed it off and he won't be so daft again but you absolutely have masses of responsibility in what happened.

And those screaming "snowflake" that's bugger all to do with it. OP messed up, simple as.

TheLazyDuchess · 02/05/2019 17:44

I don't think you did anything wrong? Why didn't he ring someone who was actually in the building, to come get him? It's his own fault for being nosey and not having the sense to ring the office when you missed his first call. It's hillarious, and defo his bad not yours.

At least you freed him in the end, you could have just switched your phone off and let someone else sort it. He would probably still be down there 😂

He sounds like hard work, maybe don't let him go down there alone again. Though his enthusiasm might be a bit dampened now anyway...

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 17:45

Wasn’t it noticed that he wasn’t in attendance at the meeting, op? How did you explain his absence?

sonjadog · 02/05/2019 17:49

Tbh, I think if he could have called someone and chose not to, then that is his own look out.

Topseyt · 02/05/2019 17:50

It is pointless putting codes on the doors of an area if it isn't to some degree restricted.

So I don't believe the OP's latest claim that it is not a restricted area either.

AlexaAmbidextra · 02/05/2019 17:51

Are you sure a newbie that you're still training is allowed to dispose of clinical waste?

Let’s not get over-dramatic. She said clinical waste not nuclear waste. Clinical waste can be something as basic as used inco pads.

TheLazyDuchess · 02/05/2019 17:54

Buy him a pack of these, as an apology gift (instead of flowers?)

To have left him stuck in the cellar?
plattercake · 02/05/2019 17:55

The OP's later posts explain everything but the effect was quite comedic by leaving out that the details that the grown man had multiple ways to help himself out of this situation, but wouldn't.

Even so telling someone was the wise thing for her to do (especially seeing as he is an idiot who wont be told) and its wise to put a disclaimer on AIBU obvs, but now we know the context and that he was safe at all times and not a poor young vulnerable epileptic lad, how about we read the thread back and empathise with the OP who has herself a PITA know-it-all trainee who is old enough to know better. And have a small laugh at this dick head!

longwayoff · 02/05/2019 17:55

Watch yourself OP. If you treat your staff like this he could well be doing your job next year.

BananasAreTheSourceOfEvil · 02/05/2019 17:57

Im dubious of the drip feeds.

Especially as in the original post she describes him as 'stuck'. If he had a way out, he wouldn't be stuck.

Then hes upset at not being able to get out of a smelly, pitch black, freezing room after a brief period of time, but over an hour later its funny and he's laughing?

Hmm.

Sparklingbrook · 02/05/2019 18:01

People are making a lot of assumptions here.

Probably due to lack of information more than anything.

Love a good flounce though. Grin

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 18:07

Like fuck was he laughing. Why the thread, in that case.. if both you and he thought what you did was perfectly fine?
I blame the pathetically unfunny fucking Penis Beaker for these nonsensical threads. Everyone trying their damnedest to be the next hilarious sensation Hmm

goodwinter · 02/05/2019 18:09

If you need a code to get in somewhere, then it is by definition a "restricted area".

GreytExpectations · 02/05/2019 18:12

Op yabu and a bully. You arent leaving the thread because you "should have acted differently" you are leaving because this didnt turn into a thread where everyone said how funny and cool you were for being a workplace bully. I also dont believe your additional back track drip feed, nor do i believe he was joking about it after

TheInvestigator · 02/05/2019 18:14

@goodwinter

Oh come on, you know what OP meant. People on here are acting like she gave him the code to the CDC containment lab when it's just a code to keep the public out coz it's private business. I worked in a bookshop and we had codes on the door to the staff room and the staff toilets. Nothing secret going on in there, we just didn't want customers wandering in! Every member of staff got the code, even the cleaners.
I studied biomed sciences and when I worked on labs, all the doors had codes but everyone had the codes. No big secret stuff, we just don't want Joe Bloggs wandering in.

It's a door with a code because it's staff only. He is staff. Giving him the code isn't a big deal. But he wandered off into rooms he wasn't meant to be in and got himself stuck. His fault.

(I am against the OP handled it though as said in my PP).

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 18:16

To keep the public out Grin. The general public don’t normally go mooching about in the cellars containing clinical waste; in most normal business environments!

Raspberrytruffle · 02/05/2019 18:16

Yabu, proper work place bitch

Mammylamb · 02/05/2019 18:20

Yabvu! Supposing there was a fire and he was trapped! You should be disciplined at work for this

Margot33 · 02/05/2019 18:23

No that wasn't professional. You should have gone down to see if he was alright, when he didn't return. What if he had a medical issue or a fire broke out? That's awful. I'd rather be 10 minutes late for a meeting to check on the safety of a colleague.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 18:25

And don’t forget, he was supposed to be at the same meeting Hmm

icannotremember · 02/05/2019 18:26

Oh op, you are a nasty piece of work. He needs to complain about this and you should be disciplined. What a.horrible thing to do.

TheInvestigator · 02/05/2019 18:27

@TheGrey1houndSpeaks

Delivery people. Maintenance people. Investors. Whoever.

All sorts of people walk through buildings containing labs and research clinics even though they don't work there. You our codes on the doors to keep them out, but all staff can go on. Giving him the codes wasn't the problem, other than the fact she didn't want to teach him that part of the job at that moment.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/05/2019 18:29

Cellars, though?

TheInvestigator · 02/05/2019 18:31

People go places they shouldn't. They are nosey. Even the guy who works there decided to go snooping in random rooms and he could just find out by asking!