Starting to get really irritated with a work colleague.

[theexmrsbarryscott]

My colleague works full time and I came back after 12 months maternity leave to do 3 days a week. My colleague has really begun to irritate me this last week, not just me but my other colleague too.

We all 3 do the same job but at different levels, before I went on maternity leave I would have been the more senior, with my annoying colleague (lets call her DJ) next in line and my other colleague had just started when I left for maternity leave. I havent come back in a less senior role but DJ does seem to have manipulated things somewhat.

It all started when one to one meetings were scheduled with our department manager, DJ went in first and her meeting took an hour, should have been half an hour, this meant that there wasnt any time for mine & my other colleagues meeting. Basically we don't trust her and dont know what she has been saying. She has worked for the company for 25 years and I know where her priorities lie, it's not that we do anything out of order (we both work a lot harder than she does) but since she has come out of this meeting she has been having subsequent meetings with the manager and we still havent had ours.

I know this may sound petty to some people but I've been lieing awake fuming about this person and how manipulative they are.

Any advice on what I should do.

Maybe it isn't about you at all...what makes you think it is?

ignore it, honestly, re-schedule your meeting, lie and say how much you are enjoying being back at work , and just stay out of the politics, being part time doesn't make you less senior, or make you less skilled, Or less valuable, just less available.

HB

Well, this is the thing, it may well not be about us but she likes to make out that it maybe about us, she's very coy and when we ask her what the meetings are about she just says that it's about where the department is going in the next 12 months blah blah.

It's just so annoying the little things that she is doing, ie taking it upon herself to write down the times the other staff when into the meeting and what time they came out - like she really needs to know this.

Thanks HB, I know what you're saying is right, I just feel like venting off my frustration - better to do it somewhere other than the meeting I suppose.

ahh, she must be very insecure with you back at work, shes had the newbie all to herself to train , and now you're back ha-ha
smile knowingly to yourself everytime she annoys you,and yuo will soon feel better, after all in such asmall place, nothing is secret for very long.Your boss was probably gagging to get her out of the office

Also, could there be some sort of jealousy on her part that there's so much more to your life than work these days? I am pretty conscious of that since I've been back, also 3 days/week.

Be the bigger person, these little petty things are making her happy whilst you have much more important things to think about. Especially as you're probably way more productive during the time you at work than you ever were before and that probably gets right her nose too.

I had a similar situation. Came back part-time and one less senior colleague in particular was quite smug and 'i've been part of things you haven't and i'm going to talk about it'. I left! However on reflection, it was a lot to do with how I felt about going back to work and fears being realised iykwim?
Perhaps what you need to do is arrange the meeting with your boss yourself and air how you feel about your return to work and get his/her assurance that everything is as it was before. Knickers to DJ, she sounds like a bit of a sad cow.

Why don't you express your concerns to your manager. Miss DJ out of the equation and ask for a quiet word with the organ grinder rather than the monkey, explain that the situation is making it awkward for you and your colleague. You obviously can't ask your manager what they have discussed but this is affecting you and you should have an explanation as to why your meeting has been missed and not re-scheduled and that your colleague is stirring. But don't be defensive.

thanks for all your advice - tiredali you have hit the nail on the head regarding DJ. I'm going to get the meeting re-scheduled and try & get some reassurance. thanks all.