Is my colleague taking the mick?

[Childfree]

I have a male colleague at work who is conveniently off sick with a sore throat and taking antibiotics.

I work in a company where you have to call the customer and keep them updated about their complaints.

I have 30 customers to look after and I am looking after them, I have 10 more customers that I am supposed to because they should be evenly distributed out between my colleagues.

My manager told me I should have a look at their colleagues work who is absent. But, I refuse to because he is on his facebook constantly updatin his status.. about his illness... I am sorry, if you are ill, you will not have time to go on your facebook!!


What do you think, do you have colleagues that do the same?!

[PracticaL Mentor]

This is a common problem in many offices where there are deadlines and processing goals. Although it is not your assignment, your boss is responsible for keeping the office running and on schedule. It does not seem fair to assign more work to those who already have a full schedule, and there is a danger that if you accomplish the additional work your normal load may be permanently increased. However, this may be an opportunity to demonstrate to your boss your willingness to be a team player. Explain that you are more than willing to help out in a pinch, but you already have a full schedule and adding more may put you behind. Tell him that your clients are important to you and keeping current with your assignments is your primary goal. Then if he still assigns the 10 extra cases, put them on the back burner and do maybe one or two a day. This will not over burden you or affect your work, your boss will think you are team player, and your sick co-worker will still be way behind when he returns to work. Good luck, The PracticaL Mentor