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Original poster

New job 'buddy' putting mistakes into my work

89 replies

Creams0da · 04/04/2022 15:07

Recently started a new job in civil service and I'm tediously being 'trained' by a mansplainer, 20 years my senior, about how to use the internet Grin. Of course he's super experienced and knowledgeable about what he does and I respect that. But he just won't let me progress quicker or ask questions, and seems to think because he's been in his job for 10+ years that there's no way I could possibly understand these very simple processes which I could do standing on my head with my eyes closed, and are very common, standard practices for digital teams everywhere.

I'm now certain he's putting mistakes in my work that he's reviewing so he can correct me. I know he won't be training me forever but it's driving me nuts. Ultimately he totally doesn't want to be training me and has made that quite obvious.

Do I just cooperate and nod politely for the next few weeks or say something?

OP posts:
NotFoolproof · 04/04/2022 16:45

FYI - PDFs are editable too, although I'm not convinced this guy would know how.

I prefer a PP's idea of raising the issue with IT as it seems to be a recurrent issue Wink. Very passive aggressive but could almost guarantee the threat alone will stop it.

Depending on your manager, I'd be tempted to escalate too but appreciate you may not want to ruffle feathers too early on.

PussGirl · 04/04/2022 16:45

What a twat. Dob him in.

BlueOverYellow · 04/04/2022 16:47

@Creams0da

It has to be in a Word doc format so he can edit it unfortunately. I've got the originals saved on my desktop and clear changes have been made. He's saying something must have happened in the file transfer to delete sections haha.. I mean come on.
Screen shot them or make pdf copies for yourself before you send them to him.

If it continues to happen, go over his head.
Seriously.

crumpet · 04/04/2022 16:50

Agree - create a PDF as well as a word doc - on the basis that he has something to refer to in case the file transfer system has chosen again to amend/ delete sections…

crumpet · 04/04/2022 16:50

Send him both versions

Thumpkin · 04/04/2022 16:51

Tell him that you’re finding it strange that so many errors are finding their way into your work after you’ve saved it at your end, so you’d like that looking into by the IT dept as it makes you look less competent. Cc anyone relevant. He’s trying to make you look shit and him look superior, the sneaky little rat. If you can, move to Google docs as that shows who added every single edit.

crumpet · 04/04/2022 16:51

I think you can password protect a PDF can’t you?

Vanillalime · 04/04/2022 16:53

I think instead of tracked changes, you probably want to look at the version history of the document. So the original will show what you sent and any subsequent versions will show the changes made & who made them.

I would present this information to him & see how he tries to wriggle out of it. Get it all in writing!!

unim · 04/04/2022 17:00

Send your Word documents over to him along with PDF versions :-D

unim · 04/04/2022 17:01

And simultaneously log with IT that your manager thinks the file transfer system is deleting bits of your Word files!

bagsforlife20 · 04/04/2022 17:01

I'm now certain he's putting mistakes in my work that he's reviewing so he can correct me.

Elaborate on this please. It sounds like something you should raise with management. There may just be a “misunderstanding” but the bottom line is, it’s not a productive use of company time. He needs to know that you have enough experience to not need too much time to be spent on the basics either

I work in civil service and my first day of training was spent on the literal basics eg how to copy and paste. The rest of training was more technical and those who struggled with the basics were expected to spend 1-1 time outside of meetings with the trainer to catch up. The rest of us weren’t kept behind.

LookItsMeAgain · 04/04/2022 17:04

What is it about people like that? The ones that don't want to train in someone else? Do they honestly think that they are irreplaceable???

I have one who is currently "allowing" me to 'shadow' him until he retires. His documentation for handover is laughable. He is taking credit for writing a job aid that I know came from a supplier - simply because he has added some highlighting and circles around parts of it to draw my attention to the items that he has highlighted and circled. I know this because I got the original document sent to me some months ago (didn't really look at it in detail then) but I think it is laughable to be honest.

As for your situation @Creams0da, I would keep doing what you're doing. I would separately log a support ticket with your IT section, don't say that you're doing it until it's logged, and report that files you're sending to X are somehow getting edited/changed while in transit to his mailbox and you want to find out if there is anything amiss with the system, either at his end or yours. They should be able to advise you and then you can go to your manager with this information.

Eightiesfan · 04/04/2022 17:04

A PDF can be edited if you have the full version of Adobe, so don’t rely on this alone.

Planesmistakenforstars · 04/04/2022 17:10

He's saying something must have happened in the file transfer to delete sections haha.. I mean come on.

Obviously this isn't happening, but make sure you get it in writing that this is "what's happening" and that you aren't making the mistakes. Have an email exchange confirming everything, not just his verbal acknowledgement of it.

unim · 04/04/2022 17:10

I suppose you could screenshot if you think he will be able to edit PDFs? (I suspect editing PDFs would be beyond him)

Gonnagetgoing · 04/04/2022 17:13

Send over another version of doc, either password protected or tracked changes etc.

For what it’s worth when I’ve worked in civil service (contract temp) before, I found I occasionally worked with men and women like this but the men seemed to have more of an issue with this, very much mansplaining but really bloody annoying. I tended just to ignore them but be cooperative so they couldn’t complain. Sadly some of them take it even further and it escalated into bullying and it’s nigh on impossible to fire someone in the civil service.

PuppyMonkey · 04/04/2022 17:14

I’m not saying he’s right, but Word is notorious for things jumping around in the same document when it’s opened up on different computers, causing formatting errors which could well result in something like a particular section jumping to the next page. Page breaks jump about for instance.

Definitely send him a PDF version of everything too.

Fairislefandango · 04/04/2022 17:14

Shock God, you must be raging! The mansplaining is fury-inducing enough, but putting mistakes in your work is just beyond outrageous.

2018SoFarSoGreat · 04/04/2022 17:15

start sending him Redlined Word docs. Turn on Track Changes under Review tab. That will catch him out, or at least slow him down enough to see that he will be caught.

What a horror!

Doggirl · 04/04/2022 17:18

I wouldn't tackle it as he is tampering with your work. That has potential to backfire on you as you are the new person and he is the established employee.

This. I'm a civil servant of many years. For my 2nd job I moved to an entirely new section. My new line manager had chosen not to be involved in the recruitment process, but still made it clear he didn't like who he'd got. He was pretty overt with his digs at me(as well making others when other people weren't around), but as they weren't on any of the 'diversity' grounds the CS likes to big itself up for it was difficult to challenge him. I didn't even say anything to his boss about reporting my manager; but my boss still took me aside and basically said that as my manager had experience that was very useful to the sectionmy manager too was several decades older than mein any dispute that got HR involved my head boss would back my manager over me.

So you will have to consider how much you want to work there, if either 1) your 'buddy' has attributes that may render his superiors unwilling to challenge his behaviour and/or 2) more generally your management prefers to take the line of least resistance rather than actually manage (yeah, been there too).

TillyTopper · 04/04/2022 17:22

Arrange a meeting with him - show him your file and his file side by side. And very firmly but in a nice way call him out on it. Record it every time it happens. Probably once he knows you're on to his shit he'll stop, but if not then go to HR.

Quick question - alternatively do you not use online word so there is one version - then you can see who made what changes in the version history.

SpeckledlyHen · 04/04/2022 17:25

A lot of good advice has been given already, one more thing to ask is whether you use mimecast? I know with that you have to download the file first to see the details, if you don't then the document looks blank (excel etc). Just wondering if you are sending it as an attachment to him and he see's it blank because he hasn't downloaded it from mimecast.

NdefH81 · 04/04/2022 17:45

@Creams0da

It has to be in a Word doc format so he can edit it unfortunately. I've got the originals saved on my desktop and clear changes have been made. He's saying something must have happened in the file transfer to delete sections haha.. I mean come on.
Woman up op Send him original Plus revised

Ask him about the changes

Come on

TurquoiseDragon · 04/04/2022 18:08

@PuppyMonkey

I’m not saying he’s right, but Word is notorious for things jumping around in the same document when it’s opened up on different computers, causing formatting errors which could well result in something like a particular section jumping to the next page. Page breaks jump about for instance.

Definitely send him a PDF version of everything too.

I've worked with Word for over 30 years, and have never had that happen with any documents that I worked with.

And tracked changes, definitely. So many people don't seem to know how it works.

Indicatrice · 04/04/2022 18:11

Have you used track changes before OP? I would try that.