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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:
Babybeesmama · 03/05/2019 17:42

You were in my opinion very unreason. How were you to know he wasn't diabetic? Or has some other medical complaint.

If there are issues with his behaviour then tackle them in the proper way.. don't behave like a child.

You could've landed yourself in hot water had something happened to him

Northernparent68 · 03/05/2019 17:43

You could get sacked for this.

nuxe1984 · 03/05/2019 17:44

Why on earth didn't you call him and tell him you'd be leaving in 5/10/15 minutes and if he wasn't back you'd let another staff member know where he was, and he could report back to them when he came back upstairs? Probably because you're a nasty, power tripping, bully that's why

Because it's not her job! He's meant to be shadowing her, not going off and exploring, doing his own thing, etc. She told him she was leaving and he didn't bother hurrying. Why should she have her work day interrupted, mucked up, delayed, etc. because some smart Alec thinks he knows better?

Fowles94 · 03/05/2019 17:45

It could be classed as funny for 5 minute's possibly but after that is dangerous and cruel.

Reallyevilmuffin · 03/05/2019 17:45

It's down some dark stairs. What if he had fallen? In that timescale of you going out he could have potentially bled out. Sounds like a bit of a tool but very unsafe.

PhalangeReginaPhalange · 03/05/2019 17:46

I do think this was a bit much. I’m one for pranks etc but I’d have hated it happening to me and he sounded a bit panicked seeing as there were also 4 missed calls yabu

PhalangeReginaPhalange · 03/05/2019 17:47

@Fowles94 exactly

BlueJava · 03/05/2019 17:51

It doesn't sound UR, but really stupid thing to do on your part. If he took this to HR you wouldn't have a leg to stand on and it's a H&S issue for sure.

mummyhat · 03/05/2019 17:55

Trapped in a dark cold room with bags of clinical waste (which has an utterly nauseating smell after 24hrs) for over an hour. In the ?cellar of some kind of clinical setting. (Mindful that in hospitals the morgue is in the basement.) yeah, that’s traumatic.

But, I agree with many other posters’ assertions that this story doesn’t ring true:
a) it just doesn’t figure that you can enter a coded room but not be able to leave
b) fire doors open outwards that’s the point
c) if true she’s already got her head on the block hence starting this post in her meagre defence as wishful evidence to senior employers
d) yes (especially if the genders were reversed) this would already be a modern slavery headline if c) were the case.

Really curiousHmm

TheresWaldo · 03/05/2019 17:57

I know this is made up but I hope he reports you and you get in deep shit.

Tattygran14 · 03/05/2019 17:58

I am so very glad that I'm retired. All this sanctimonious rubbish about the delicate flower who had no need at all to be (a) in the cellar or (b) 'unable' to get out. Not true. Served him right. Hopefully he will listen in future. I doubt it.

Indie139 · 03/05/2019 18:04

LOOOL

SaltSpoon · 03/05/2019 18:05

Jesus, you were REALLY awful. That level of nasty unprofessional behaviour would get you written up where I work. What a horrible person you are.

cdtaylornats · 03/05/2019 18:14

You wasted 105 minutes of your employers time.

elfies · 03/05/2019 18:27

If he was diabetic or asthmatic, he could have collapsed (or worse ) .
He could have left insulin or an inhaler in his desk , so needed immediate help.
I do hope he was ok

247mummsy · 03/05/2019 18:29

☝🏼 I was just about to write what if he was diabetic and needed his insulin, he needs to report you, you are not mature enough to be in a senior position looking after people.

thedancingbear · 03/05/2019 18:37

I fucking hate bullies.

Looking at you OP.

AuldJosey · 03/05/2019 18:39

I've been reading this thread during a very long hospital wait and have now lost where I was in the thread. Did the OP ever say how he managed to get into the room he got locked into? If he managed to get in, sure he could have managed to get out?

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 03/05/2019 18:42

That’s just one of the reasons it’s sounding like pure bollocks, Josey. Even op can’t come up with anything believable.

Thatdilemma · 03/05/2019 18:44

AuldJosey she let him out around 11am.
She did a massive drip feed saying he could have rang all her co workers to get out but chose not to so that he didn't get in trouble.
Op hasn't explained how someone could get in a room but not out.

AuldJosey · 03/05/2019 18:46

I used to work in an industry where staff were frequently off-site (on sites ironically) and we had a whatsapp group to make sure they were ok and would call them if they were later than expected back to the office or didn't check-in to say they had left site.

It was very unsafe practice OP. And I think you know that. You can't be at that craic! Totally unprofessional, no matter how much of an arsehole he is. Newbies can be really irritating until they get the hang of the culture/role etc. but it was part of our company policy that they were all mentored for 6 months minimum until we were 100% sure of their expertise. And safety!
Only one person went unaccounted for under my watch (guess who? - the newbie). Client called to see where he was as he was late for the appointment (he had left the office an hour earlier) - turns out he had just gotten lost - but it was a matter that was taken seriously until he checked in again!

AuldJosey · 03/05/2019 18:47

Must be a nonsense thread so.

thedancingbear · 03/05/2019 18:47

We've got rooms in my place where the only way to get out without a pass/code is to break one of those 'break glass in emergency' things so I don't find that bit hard to believe.

U2HasTheEdge · 03/05/2019 18:47

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AuldJosey · 03/05/2019 18:48

@thedancingbear Do you work in a prison? Grin