AboutJoan Schramm Expertise I can answer questions about handling difficult bosses or co-workers, motivation, team-building, and just getting along in an organization. I am also an expert on conflict resolution and communication as well as other issues dealing with business relationships.
Experience Joan is a professional Coach and the founder of Momentum Coaching, www.achieve-momentum.com. Her experience is from over twenty-five years of business leadership, training and coaching.
Organizations Coach Training Alliance, Coachville, Attractionville, 247 Coaching, Solo-E
Publications Many of my articles have appeared in local newspapers and online at sites like www.ezines.com, www.marketingseek.com, www.articlecity.com, www.exactseek.com and others.
Education/Credentials BS in English
MS in Human Resource Management
Certified Coach through the Coach Training Alliance
Question Hi Joan. I have quite a bit of a problem at my job. I work as an appointment clerk for a military air force clinic. So the tiny office that I work in consist of me and three other employees. I have been at this job for 1 year now and I know my job well. (Also, my husband is active duty and works there as well - in a different area). The problem that I am having is that the three of them are extremely immature. They are forever gossiping about practically everyone. I know for a fact that every time I step out of the office, something is said about me - I know this from a previous employee that i got along with very well.
One of my biggest issues is that my supervisor is totally into this whole gossip thing. I do all that I can to ignore the topics. She and I have had our issues in the past. I found out that she cheats on her time sheets, lies about the times that she works and would get paid for it. I finally had to say something since I work hard all day and she forever hangs up on patients, comes in late and leaves early and is forever on personal calls. With all of this I was on wits end and had to tell the person in charge of us (who is also a friend of hers and works directly with my husband). This is like a federal offense. We work for the government and to me, that's like stealing money from the government. So she was confronted on this, and her answer was that she works from home. That is totally impossible since the systems that we work with are confidential patient information to make appts and can no way be used outside of the clinic. Also, who the heck can make appointments from home? And to top it off, nothing was done about it.
So she held a grudge against me for a while and eventually got over it. She has hired 2 of her friends and is definitely showing favoritism. I come in second as far as the totem pole goes, yet she makes her "friend" who works there less than I have (and also is forever asking me for help) the second in command.
She has written me up at least twice already, once stating that I went through her desk without her knowledge, (all I did was take the patient handbook that is there for all of us to use). The other was that I had violated HIPPA (confidential patient information law). She even made a conference call with the owner of our contract, without my knowledge and called me into the room, unexpectedly! She claimed that I went through patient's files, read their information, etc. My job is also to send messages to the patient's nurses, so obviously I have access to these things and see it all day. Never have I ONCE discussed patient info outside the office. The penalty for this is extremely high fines including jail time!! Yet at the same time, the lady that I sit next to does it right in front of us and nothing has been said to her at all! Not to mention that her daughter and friends are forever in our office, not HIPPA certified, with access to all of this information while our computer screens are up. No one is technically allowed in our office if they are not HIPPA certified.
I am seriously beginning to feel cornered here and I don't know what to do. What I mentioned here is just a few of the things that go on here.
I have received two awards from the Colonel of the Medical Group for outstanding customer service and I know that this drives them nuts. I'm trying my hardest to get out of this job, but I can not leave until I have something to fall back on. It's really difficult to work with 3 people in the office who are complete immature back stabbers.
I really don't like to start trouble. It is hard to work with 3 people, 2 of them being close friends with the supervisor. So obviously if I make even an anonymous complaint, obviously it is me.
So in a nutshell, I am accused of violating a serious law, constantly denied requested time off, and written up for every little thing that I do. Please help, I don't know where else to go when everyone is everybody's friend except me. I am seriously at wits end here.
Answer You're in a difficult situation. On one hand, the things you're telling me are definitely violations of the regs and should be reported. On the other hand, if they do get reported, it will probably be apparent that you did the reporting.
First, if you're not already doing do, start documenting the things that happen, especially if it's something that you're involved in. Don't go into her office or desk unless someone else is there as a witness to what you're doing. Don't give this woman any opportunity to "catch" you doing she thinks is wrong.
Second, you have to decide whether you can live with the things that are going on. I wouldn't want to, but that's a personal decision. You need to be looking for another job, but in the meantime, maybe these things need to be told to the base IG. Only you can decide if it's worth it, since you will probably come under the gun. You need to consider that, if someone else reports the abuses, you could come under suspician, too, since you are part of the work group. If that happens, how will it affect your husband's career?
My recommendation? Get out as soon as you can and let these people blow themselves up. You can't change them, and if you've already reported some of this stuff to the person in charge and nothing came of it, you can be pretty sure that nothing's going to change.
