How would you react to this?? (work-place situation)

[bumbershoot]

Now I used to work for a construction company and something similar but back to your machine, etc would be pretty common so I'm not thin skinned...

For me the main problem is that the employee that said it was NOT working at the time.

If I was an HR person, and someone came to me and said "John was snotty to me and said a curse and told me to go back in my box!" I would develop more of an "opinion" about the reporter than the reportee, regardless of any (likely relatively minimal) actions my company policies might require me to take.

Jane

At first I thought you were an HR person and I was going to ask where you worked so DH could avoid it. But now I see you're not.

I'm so glad hubby's company's HR people are good, and remember that they are HUMAN resources, not COMPANY, and that they have acted on the behalf of the employees...

My former boss was actually fired partially because he kept up the kind of nonsense that was described in the OP, not the swearing but the attitude, the feeling that no one was ever working, even when he wasn't, the rudeness. There were MANY other reasons, but everyone just transferred out of his department when they coudl'nt deal with him anymore. I finally tried to leave and wasn't allowed, sicne there had been too many people leave him already...and when he finally pushed me too far (a "joke" about 9/11 on the first anniversary, and him with his stepdad being a bigwig in FEMA, and he made this "joke" in email form) I had enough. I took any extra time I had forwarding his emails to my personal email account AND printed out the emails, then finally I quit, and in my exit interview I took it all into HR.

They took it seriously, and he ended up being fired partially because I was the first to take in proof of his nonsense.

And apart from the joke, most of what he did was very similar to what the OP describes. But he did it in email. So no one could sound whiny while reporting it...he did his own reporting in the emails....

I like an HR dept that takes their jobs seriously and doesn't feel that they are the company's man....

If one of the employees brought this to me my reaction would be the same. Go back to work and sort it out.
This here HR chick would have sent you back to your cubicle

Sad.

They sit at the receptionist's desk and while that spot holds absolutely no authority, I think the big leather chair might've gone to their head. LOL

I've actually dealt with that stuff from a receptionist...youngest person in the whole company (I was second youngest so I'm not against youth), was the receptionist, and thought she ran the place.

But in your case the person isn't even the receptionist!

 

[Arielle22]

I'm so glad hubby's company's HR people are good, and remember that they are HUMAN resources, not COMPANY, and that they have acted on the behalf of the employees...


I like an HR dept that takes their jobs seriously and doesn't feel that they are the company's man....QUOTE]

HR is there for the company's best interests. By making sure the company complies with all legal guidelines. If the company's interests and the employees' happen to cross that is even better.

So in your example, the manager was disrupting business with his attitude and causing hiring issues when everyone wanted to transfer out. That is bad for business and it was a good business decision to fire him.

 

[mamacatnv]

I'm so glad hubby's company's HR people are good, and remember that they are HUMAN resources, not COMPANY, and that they have acted on the behalf of the employees...

I like an HR dept that takes their jobs seriously and doesn't feel that they are the company's man....

Your perception of what an HR dept. is supposed to do is very skewed. If your DH's HR people only act on behalf of the employess they are not doing their job and they don't truly understand the parameters of their jobs.

HR is one of those fields that in some people's minds encompasses a lot and for some companies it does and others not so much. Often it depends on the size of the company, they type of business etc.

Employees need to learn to get along, they need to learn to sort out their issues to a certain degree. I have a cry baby employee, he drives me nuts. He can sure instigate but oh my, he cannot take it at all.
He has been banned from my office unless a certain series of steps are taken, documented and I then approve him to come visit me.
Since I instituted his complaint parameters I have not heard a peep out of him. His manager deals with it as he should. Just because I generally have an "open door" policy does not mean I want to hear every single complaint you have and it certainly does not mean I will act on said complaints.

Like I said earlier, HR is not the playground monitor and our job is to protect the company from the idiots who have no clue what is legal and what isn't in what they say, how they act etc.

 

[SeaSpray]

I don't have an HR dept here - its me, a few other employees, and the boss. We all go back and forth with each other, maybe not quite like that, but we are joking around here all the time - how else do you stay sane?? lol

Anyway, if you are employee #2, and its bothering you this much, go say something! You've made it obvious that your company would be very upset about it, and if you feel that your work enviorment will be "hurt" by this, you should do something. #2 seems to be "higher up" than #1 (the rude one), and probably been there longer. The company will value the longer standing employee more, so do something about it if you choose. Good luck!

Its not me, but I was there so I was thinking that I might've been asked about what happened. There's nothing like asking for opinions on the DIS to put things into perspective.

I've known Emp #2 since I started there almost 5 years ago, and I definitely know that Emp #1 was out of line in this particular case. Personally I think the Emp #1 is more suited to a different type of work environment.

Emp #2 was approached this afternoon and asked to write down exactly what happened. Apparently the person (an officer of the company) who overheard what happened, is very unhappy with the company that sent Emp #1 to work for our company. Also, Emp #2 was told that Emp #1 has already been spoken to about this, by our company as well as their company. At this point, it doesn't seem that anyone is going to ask me for an eye witness report.

 

[Minnie]

Sounds like a new temp will be in place soon......

 

[Tinijocaro]

I can't imagine any situation or tone that would make this ok to say. Unless maybe they are very close friends who joke lie this regularly and the one party knew that the other was joking. Other than that, completely inappropriate.