Am I being paranoid or is she trying to make me look shit?

[EmpressOfTheSofa]

I’m the manager of a store, very small company (three stores). I’ve only been with the company for a few months.

The assistant manager has been there longer than me (and I know went for my job). She’s a bit of a pain in my arse, tries to tell me what to do all the time, questions everything I ever say and can be weirdly aggressive in her manner towards me. I have already had to have a semi formal talk with her about her attitude and she’s reined it in a bit with me, mostly.

Anyway. I’m on annual leave this week. Apart from the fact she has been sending me multiple queries a day (all of which she should have been able to work out herself) there have been a few messages in the group chat (which goes to all the owners/head office/managers) that I feel are aimed at trying to throw me under the bus. She’s made herself look stupid each time tbf but I think I need to deal with this.

#1 ‘empress didn’t order enough X last week so we need extra this week’.
X is an item that I don’t order, it gets sent out by Head Office automatically.

#2 ‘we don’t have any Y and Empress hasn’t ordered any so can you send some’. My boss replied to say our system is showing we have lots of Y so we need to do a full stock take as if that’s wrong what else is. Surprise surprise we did indeed have plenty of Y.

#3 ‘It doesn’t look like XYZ was done last week so should I do it now?’ It WAS done, but yes you need to do again today if it needs doing and why are you even asking this on the group chat?

So. Am I being paranoid here or is she actively trying to make out I’m not doing my job properly? And do I just let her carry on and hoist herself or pull her up on it when I go back?

Also if she’s publicly saying these things, I wonder what she’s saying about you in store or behind your back. She’s might say things like “empress is doesn’t do things properly, look at all these issues” and then ruin morale for the rest of your colleagues when you’re back to managing them.

I'm a massive fan of giving people enough rope!

You can always reply something like "I ordered X amount of Y last week. It should be where it's always kept. If you can't remember where that is and are struggling to remember how to do the stock take to check please get back to me and I'll support you".

You need to try and make it sound friendly and not PA (which is really hard!) but basically point out she know know the answers to this question but if she doesn't you'll help her. Hopefully once she realises she's making herself look stupid and not you she'll get bored!

Unprofessional how?

& what is the point of your second comment? OP IS managing this woman. She's also on annual leave - what do you expect her to do - steam into work in a panic? Completely unnecessary. The 'assistant manager' is doing a grand job of making herself look like a dick.

I think it's evident she thinks she's showing you up whereas she's actually showing herself up.

It's an easy conversation to have. Hi Jane, how did you find covering for me last week? I'm a little concerned that some of the queries raised while I was away are standard procedure. Can I support you with additional training do it's easier next time or would you prefer someone else covered in future if that's better for you?.

Document in email thereafter.

Any grievance she has against you stems from jealousy and that will be obvious to anyone with half a clue.

I've had this but with someone at Executive Level who I do not report to. I8toys hasn't done this, I thought i8toys had done this but obviously hasn't. I called them out on it and said if you have any problems please copy me into the email so that I can action it as they weren't including me just criticizing me to everyone and others had to tell me about it. I'm keeping a copy of all of the times they've had a go for reference.

Read the OP

why are the owners / senior manager allowing this person to clog up the group messaging with inane questions (as stated by the OP), and incorrect information without raising it with her. Instead allowing it to rumble on

YANBU but I’d use this to your advantage.

Write down every mistake she’s made and then ask for a meeting with her and point out her faults and how it does not look good for the company if she is doing such simple things wrong.

She definitely needs more training and needs to be taken down a peg.

I would never be so passive aggressive in the group chat even if my boss did forget to do something.

I think this is an unprofessional set up too. Although it’s a small business, staff should be allowed to completely switch off when on leave, not sent non-urgent messages

There doesn’t seem to be a proper chain of command, this staff member should have a delegated leader to contact in OP’s absence. And the group chat could be moved to Teams vs WhatsApp, work messages sent to your personal number during leave is annoying. You shouldn’t be “always contactable”.

I’d also expect one of the other leaders to put the AM in their place during OP’s absence. Even if it’s a quick “please check stock properly before messaging about this again” to set unified expectations

I'd print off the messages naming you and send them to Head Office with a covering letter, pointing out this happened behind your back, when you were on leave , and clearly intend to lay false blame on you. This particularly worrying because its an escalation of some equally inappropriate behaviour by ms x face to face in the workplace.

You are bringing this to HR attention to seek their intervention.

Read the thread.

Nothing is rumbling on. The assistant manager's queries have been answered, & those answers have shown that she is either a troublemaker talking shit, or is woefully incompetent.

She is trying to make you look bad and failing. Get her in for a file noted conversation to address her training needs.
I would also hazard a guess that during your absence she won’t have done anything you needed her to in the handover and the shop will be a bit of a state-with her saying it’s your fault for going a/l and they were short staffed. So that can be a second file note. The more she gets the more she will realise that it is serious and she needs to sort it out.
Sadly I have dealt with this before, and embarrassingly enough was the assistant manager-I was poor at my job and was lucky a former manager saw something in me, told me the truth and gave me extra training. Hopefully she will see that you are trying to help and want her to be better to the point of being a manager. So she will leave haha!
Also, I personally hate that as a retail manager I have to be part of group chats but it is much easier than ringing!

YANBU OP, Sour grapes on her part I expect, she is making herself look a fool rather than damaging your reputation tbh. Wise to keep out of it.

Let her carry on, she is digging her own grave.

There is a reason this person didn't get the job in the first place and they will see it. I'd take great pleasure in sitting her down and saying that the seniors have raised some concerns about her and the issues raised when you was on A/L....... lol

Equally I would post In the group that you are on Al and as such you don't want to be disturbed unless a dier emergency.

What a silly idiot she sounds but you sound equal to dealing with her op just go for it

Seeing that this person seems to be putting someone down and questioning her manager, it would seem she should be guided by the owner and those other managers on the thread, who aren’t on annual leave, that this is not best practise

To my mind, this assistant manager is setting herself up for a warning; she clearly does not have the grasp of the systems and processes to be able to stand in for the OP when she is either on booked annual leave or, say, off sick unexpectedly, which is surely part of her job description.

All she has done is prove exactly what your manager thought, that she isnt capable of doing your job!

Is her ineptitude sufficient at this stage to go a bit further than just providing extra training and instead put her on a performance management plan? Then if she doesn’t pull her act together you have a route to managing her out.

I would also seriously address her tone in the WhatsApp messages too. It’s really unprofessional and especially not appropriate for a manager.

You mean practice.
And I'm still not quite sure what you are trying to imply.

The owner of OP's business has no need to involve herself right now.
OP is only away for a week, all the queries have been shown to be nonsense & have been dealt with from a logistics & organisation perspective.
All that remains is retraining/appraisal for the assistant manager, which OP - the manager who has just received a glowing appraisal herself - can deal with on her return.

The other managers on the thread don't work with OP, so I don't understand why you are referencing them as evidence of this lack of professionalism you are so desperately trying to spin. 😂

When you get back, you have a formal meeting with her to see how things went whilst you were away.

You let her speak.

Then you tell her that a few of her messages and queries raised concerns for you that she was slightly out of her depth managing the store.

Firstly, having to ask basic questions that you’d expect her to be able to manage without external input. Secondly, the inappropriate involvement of EVERYONE else in the business every time she has a question.

Explain that you’ll be providing extra training on stock management/ordering/reporting whatever the issue is.