Work one AIBU

[Covidbegone]

So I was asked to help out with a project months ago, but in the final stages, the editing down and smartening up stages. The people I’m helping have a reputation for being late to hand work in. The original lady who was liaising with them left her post before they got it to her. When she left she apologised to me and explained how long she’d been waiting and they were notorious for this.

Anyway new liaison lady comes on board. She gives them a deadline to work to. I go to her and explain that the deadline she has provided is in the middle of the Easter hols and I’ll be off as I have young kids. I ask if I can have the work a few days before as they will literally need the work on my return from A/L not leaving me any time to actually help out. This still leaves them a good few weeks to do the work. Anyway they complain they have not enough time. I advise them I can still help if they give me a day or 2 prior to leave.

A/L time arrives. I go on leave, no sign of the work. I return to work this week only to discover in the interim that the liaison lady has taken the job to my colleague who also has young children and is on A/L. My colleague however has done the work. I understand that that is her choice, however I feel completely undermined. It makes me look bad that I’m not willing to give up A/L for work, which tbf I’m not in this instance (they were given months and months to get something to me). I imagine that my colleague perhaps does not know the full story of repeated requests for work to be handed in by the original lady or myself. With all that in mind, would I be unreasonable to raise this with her? I just feel so undermined

Everyone can see my posts and yours. I'm pretty confident I'm not the asshole full of my own importance in this story.

Covidbegone

go ahead, do complain that the work went on while you were on annual leave, that the whole world didn't come to a standstill and they didn't "wait for you", and that a colleague dared working on a project while you were off.

Seriously, go for it.

@thebillyotea you just called me a bully and you wonder why I react to you?

People on this thread would want to get a grip of themselves

By the way, OP, I think the best thing you could do here is be gracious and thank your colleague for stepping in. Everyone likes someone who responds that way.

Why would you question why your colleague chose to work instead of take her A/L. It is absolutely none of your business. She may or may not have known the background but that is totally irrelevant. She was happy to do it you weren't simple as that.

[quote Covidbegone]@thebillyotea you just called me a bully and you wonder why I react to you?[/quote]
I said that you questioning your colleague the way you intend to made you a bully!

I stand by that.

I also said to be careful because in most work environment, that is frown upon and by the sound of it, you shouldn't add to a catalogue of questionable and unprofessional behaviour.

@thebillyotea you know absolutely nothing about my professional life, or how I would speak to my colleague, but you seem to believe you have me pegged. I’m talking about one incident that you disagree with and all of a sudden I’ve been labelled all kinds of horrible things

OP I get it and I think it was a little undermining. Rather than just work to the timescale you discussed with them you were circumvented. I think as mothers of young children in the workplace a lot of the time we feel like our caring requirements are an inconvenience to the business, and I can see how you taking legitimate a/l and getting ditched out of this piece of work sends that message. Equally, the workplace feels more precarious in these covid times so getting ditched from a piece of work just because you were on holiday and gave everyone ample opportunity to get it to you before, maybe jangled your nerves a little too who knows. If it was me I would raise it with the liaison. If I knew the other last I’d be tempted to tell her you should have each other’s backs and have an agreement not to sacrifice a/l just to do someone else’s work.

Lmao, if a colleague tried telling me when and when not to work while on leave, I'd firstly tell them where to get off, and secondly report them to HR.

It has nothing to do with anyone else why this person did the work. Nothing.

Stop being a princess and complaining someone else did some work cos you were on leave. The world doesn't stop for you clearly

I have to agree op if someone came up to me and wanted to know why I chose to work on vacation I’d answer politely and basically empathise and make it co away. But inside I’d be thinking what a competitive nutter.

I get where you’re coming from, and why it’s not sitting well with you. I’m not too sure what you can do though.
It’s resonated with me though as Ive recently given up some of my annual leave recently but I’ve worked flexibily to do so as it was something important for a key client. I did inwardly groan (a lot) at it though!!
If you do bring it up with the colleague maybe check the flexibility aspect too, it could be she’s worked around it?

Interesting you see it as me being competitive when I see it the other way around. To me, working you A/L suggests the level of competitiveness you’re willing to go to.

yep your colleague has set a precedent that employees should work when they are on annual leave and therefore she is a tit. If she had cancelled her leave and moved her schedule around to fit the work in, well that would be her look out, but just rolling over and doing the work when on leave is rubbish - is she a bit desperate?

just reading your posts, OP, nothing more.

You are not taking criticism and answers to your question in a very nice way, are you.

Ultimately, it's your problem, but I honestly don't think you will do yourself any favour at all.

Put yourself in your colleague shoes for 10 seconds. She did absolutely nothing wrong. You were not there! (you had every right not to be there, but you were not available).

I don't think you were unreasonable to say no to it. But nor was the organisation unreasonable to ask someone else, and she wasn't unreasonable to do it.

Where you are unreasonable, is to think that you have the right to be miffed about it. Being honest, you're most annoyed that she now looks more 'dedicated' than you, aren't you?

@Covidbegone

Interesting you see it as me being competitive when I see it the other way around. To me, working you A/L suggests the level of competitiveness you’re willing to go to.

I gave up a couple of days A/L recently to cover a colleague

Not that she asked me why (because it was none of her business) but the reason was it's lockdown and I was bored shitless, so thought I'd help out.

Some very nasty people on here! @Covidbegone just ignore them

YANBU if the late team was allowed to swan away with no consequences and your colleague was praised for ‘stepping up’ and the whole thing was made to look like your fault.
Also the more it happens the more the ‘willing to give up A/L’ people are prioritised for promotion creating an unhealthy culture. In my job we code and monitor live systems, something breaking is cause fo interrupting A/L but not something like this where other team was late.

Is your manager playing it this way?

@Covidbegone

Interesting you see it as me being competitive when I see it the other way around. To me, working you A/L suggests the level of competitiveness you’re willing to go to.

I think this nails it. You think she was competing and are pissed she did work intended for you, and made herself look good at the same time.

It’s competitive alright and it’s you. You may as well own it. That’s why you think you look bad in comparison to her.

I don’t know if she’s competing, or if she just was happy to do it. Bottom line is. She won this one op.

throwing a tantrum because her leave was taken into account, respected and someone else did the job is not professional.

Where has she thrown a tantrum? Currently she's on MN asking for opinions. She hasn't said or done anything in her workplace, unless I've missed something. So where's the tantrum?

Not the smug random poster on an internet forum who thinks it's funny to wind people up.

Who's that? Unless it's yourself, with your OTT insulting comments which are unnecessary?

Depends on your work environment tbh. If it's bitchy and political maybe I can see your point. In my workplace we have similar workflow stuff and if someone didn't do work on annual leave it wouldn't reflect badly on them at all. In fact my employer is pretty big sustainable/effective working so would be more likely to query if the other person felt pressured to work while on A.L as this wouldn't be encouraged!
So assuming your workplace is pretty standard and non toxic, I think you are likely to be reading too much into the situation - who knows- your colleague was wanting to save some A.L and decided working was better for her, it's her choice. To those who think you should have cancelled annual leave - this is pretty unusual in my many years of working that an employer would expect this. In fact employers need employees to take their regular holidays through the year - it stops the whole company coming to a stand still by everyone having 4 weeks of holiday to take at the end of the year! No need for martyrdom here 🤣

Also forgot to add - if it was an ACTUAL emergency they’d have called you up asking you to do it.
They didn’t and went straight to colleague - maybe because she’s a soft touch , or they wanted to bypass your manager?
Either way you didn’t refuse when asked (as you weren’t asked in the first place) so it’s not your fault.
If I’d given up my leave for every nitty gritty (esp for my job where skills aren’t easy interchangeable) I’d not only never be on leave I’d be working 24 hours...

@Bluntness100

The only way she is BU is being bothered that another colleague did the work.

I think the poster means Sheshard work and childish as she wants to complain, drag the woman who did the work in and thinks she looks bad becayse her colleague did the work and she’s pissed off about it,

I've re-read OP's posts in case I missed something.

She's only said she wanted to raise it with her colleague.

I don't agree, and think she's BU. But she hasn't talked about 'dragging' anyone in, she hasn't complained, sure she's pissed off & is airing that here, but I don't see how that makes her 'hard work' or deserving of the nasty post from that poster.

Tbh op you now know something you didn't know before about your colleague - they are competitive and they are willing to disrupt their AL to get a job done.

You can maintain your principles and refuse to compete - and good on you for that.

Or you can capitulate and do the same.

You can only control your own response, not your colleague's choices or decisions.

Is it possible she negotiated something for this? An extra day of AL at a later date, payment?

@GreenWillow

With respect, all your post does is confirm the fact the public sector is nothing at all like the real world.

What a stupid thing to say. The public sector is the real world. Where else does it exist? Some parallel universe? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was explaining that not all workplaces are the same.

With respect. 🤨