Co-worker Issue..Would you let it go?

CouponQueen · ‎10-21-2010

Not my issue but my friends. I have a friend who works on one of the offices where we work. I work no shift ..all hours and days etc in the field.and go into the Office on occasion as needed.

My coworker/friend is having an issue with the Clerk. The Clerk is out a lot (another issue for another thread) and when she is out everybody else has to pitch in and cover. They use a database for demographic information. Name, age, race, etc. Well my friend uses Capital Letters in the Database such as Caucasion, Catholic, etc. The clerk comes on duty and goes behind her and changes it all to lowercase every single time. Then she uses a slang for a hospital and not the real name (in reality you can say the slang when referring to the hospital but when writing it, it should be the correct real legal name..). My coworker/friend uses the hospitals real name and not slang. The clerk also goes behind and will change that real name to the slang she uses. My friend changes it back..and the Clerk will change it right back again. She said at this point in time it is the point of the situation. You do not change another persons work because you do not like the way they did it.

My friend has about had it. The Supervisor is aware and told her she understands her being annoyed and if she wants to discuss it with her go ahead. Her thought is to let the Clerk have her way and do whatever she wants..'as that is her..'

I agree with my friend...enough is enough. If somebody went behind me and changed my work because it was not "her way" although information was still entered and correct. I would be annoyed to. Oh and my friend is in charge of the area at least once a week and other times when the Supervisor is not there.

Would you tell her nicely to knock it off..or let her go and change your work?

ive been framed · ‎06-08-2012

I would have a discussion with her about the changes she made and why she feels the importance of taking the time to make changes- discussed in a very business type way as opposed to personal.

But first, is this about accuracy in information on your friend's part or just the fact the clerk is overriding your friend's work as some power play (which I can see would be rather insulting)?

TaxyLady · ‎05-26-2011

I would let it go. I find this to be petty and not worth arguing over. Who cares if letters are capitalized or not. Maybe the clerk is just trying to make computer entries uniform. Who knows but I would not pick this battle.

JamicaJammer · ‎01-14-2013

How badly does your friend need that paycheck?

IMHO, ONLY if she's willing to risk being under the microscope and potentially released from her job, I'd ask for a meeting with the changer and the supervisor. I'd NEVER meet just with the changer.

And at the very start of the meeting, have my pad and pen ready to WRITE DOWN INFO.

That way, they know you're going to make a record of what was decided in that meeting.

If the supervisor refuses to meet with the 2 people, you know right then that the changer has passive/aggressive support of management, and your friend should either let it go or get another job.

Marp2 · ‎01-31-2012

Is your friend the only one that capitalizes and uses the proper hospital name?

If others also enter data the same way as your friend does the clerk also change their entries?

If the database is searched or sorted is it case sensitive?

Is there a trail to show that what your friend entered was changed by someone else?

To me the most critical question would be if there is a trail that shows someone else changed your friend's entry just in case a question came up about the entry at some point.

My inclination would be to try to learn why the clerk keeps making the changes and weather or not she does this to everyone or just your friend. If it is a case of principle at this point between the clerk and your friend I would let it go while trying to find out the underlying reasons why the clerk is singling out your friend.

MaggieToo · ‎03-09-2010

If a word is supposed to be capitalized, it should be. Some people are just getting to be too lazy about too many things these days. It is just as easy to be correct about things as it is to not be. Do it right.

Deb1010again · ‎05-28-2013

From what you've written it seems to me it's the CLERK'S job to maintain the database. It's important to have everything UNIFORM in a database. I'm sure that's the reason she's changing things. IMO that's dedication to your job. Perhaps your friend could nicely approach the clerk and ask some questions about the database and then ask why her work is being changed to confirm.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

On 3/5/2014 Marp2 said:
Is your friend the only one that capitalizes and uses the proper hospital name?

If others also enter data the same way as your friend does the clerk also change their entries?

If the database is searched or sorted is it case sensitive?

Is there a trail to show that what your friend entered was changed by someone else?

To me the most critical question would be if there is a trail that shows someone else changed your friend's entry just in case a question came up about the entry at some point.

My inclination would be to try to learn why the clerk keeps making the changes and weather or not she does this to everyone or just your friend. If it is a case of principle at this point between the clerk and your friend I would let it go while trying to find out the underlying reasons why the clerk is singling out your friend.

Excellent points. If none of the upper/lower case, hospital name things matter and if the clerk is doing it to other's entries, I'd just follow her system and forget it.

If it is something that can come back on your friend later, postings under her name/number that are incorrect because of not using proper names etc. then I would report the clerk to the appropriate supervisor. I don't like someone editing my work, where it can come back to look like that is how I entered it. I'd tell her if she is going to edit my work, she needs to note that she did the editing.

I think the clerk needs to get to work more often if she isn't happy with others filling in for her, or hold a training session on just how things should be entered.

ive been framed · ‎06-08-2012

Excellent, mominohio!

Marianne1 · ‎04-16-2013

Is there a written procedure somewhere to cover the database entries?

I used to be the circulation director for a national newsmagazine, and all of my staff had to follow the same instructions for data entry into the data bases as it made a difference in getting the data out for labels, reports, audits etc.