DEALING WITH THE OFFICE TATTLETALE

Dear Career Doctor:

Everyday my co-workers and I get flooded with requests to do short projects for other departments in the company. Whoever is free picks up a request and does it. We help each other out and, for the most part, everyone shares the work equally.

A new woman joined our team and complains if she feels people are not shouldering their load. I happened to be working on a lot of difficult requests last week and she got mad at me several times, claiming she had to do too much work because I wasn't being efficient.

Today I had my annual review and the boss said there had been complaints about my efficiency. Luckily he said the statistics showed I was doing as much as anyone else and he wasn't paying attention to those complaints. But I feel that he will be watching me carefully in the future.

Of course I know who complained and it makes me so angry! I don't know whether to tell her off or just not offer to help her in the future. Should I tell the boss how annoying she is to work with?

L.B.

Dear L.B.:

This new co-worker sounds very annoying, but do not let your anger bring your behavior down to her level. Since a complaint has been made about you, you must be careful to preserve your reputation by keeping your performance and demeanor professional.

The new co-worker sounds very holier-than-thou, so confronting her will probably only cause a fight and make her more difficult to deal with. Not helping her will just compound your problem and give her a legitimate complaint against you.

Usually, complainers cause their own downfalls because everyone considers them annoying and childish. However, if she continues to be difficult, ask co-workers if they are having a problem with her too. If so, a few of you might wish to speak to your boss. To keep from sounding as petty as she is, couch your complaints in terms of the "morale problem" she is causing by being a complainer instead of a cooperative member of the team.

The Career Doctor