Like Tree56Likes

Protecting myself against coworker's accusations

Closed Thread
Page 2 of 5 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
  1. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by MABinPengChau:
    It seems to me that personalities such as that of your CW flourish in larger bureaucratic organizations as many universities tend to be. Large companies...same. You may want to find a smaller organization... Also it's good if you are more responsible for individual projects so this kind of coworker has no impact. I work in a career where the work product is mostly individual output so any silliness by coworkers has had little impact on me over the years.

    Also are you an expat and CW a local? Could be an unfortunate "us-them" dynamic going on...

    Hopefully you can find something better, the money is not worth the aggravation...

    Good luck!
    Thank you! I was born and raised in HK but am from a different ethnic background. CW is originally from Sichuan, moved to America for a while where her children were born and came back to HK. She has no experience working in academia but, from what my manager has told me, she has excellent and professional communication skills in both English and Chinese for which she was chosen out of potential candidates for.

    Yes, I believe I can work well in a team - have other people's back and be argumentative. I mean, that's what all the group projects were for right? It seems that she doesn't want to work with me. I have told her and my manager that I will not touch anything she has worked on anymore. She can work on her own thing and so will I.

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    @tiredworkers - Curious, is this your first job out of uni? And how long have you worked at this place?
    I started working beginning of May, right after my classes finished, so it's been 6 months. I was offered the position which i applied for months before, as my final year project was based on the same topic and was recommended to me by my supervisor.

    The problem with CW, at least when she started to accuse me, in August. Before that I had her back on the mistakes she made (i.e. i did not report them to M because I felt that it was pointless to bring it up as I had pointed out the mistake and we had resolved it).

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,964

    - Do you have PR or are you local or on a grad visa type scheme?
    - Leaving at the 6 month mark will not look good to your future employer. You don't have enough experience to get a salary bump. In the 16K range, if you do not have some specific skills (sounds like you're in a general marketing function) it is easy to find a job, but not easy to find a good job.
    - Best to stay in the trenches for a little bit, pay your dues and try and network. Look for startups, smaller companies and don't be in a rush to quit.


  4. #14

    Something similar happened to me when I first came to Hong Kong.

    I worked for a a charity at that time. The environment was quite stifling and I felt a lot of frustration to the point where I questioned by own sensitivity. While the job did have some positives, I quit after 1.5 years. That was 10 years ago and I've never felt those frustrations since even though I've worked in highly-demanding environments. My advice would be to move on.

    hin23leung likes this.

  5. #15

    Document each and every episode in case as it happens in a diary you need to take this up with HR. You need to be tough else leave. This is HK office politics and will not end here.


  6. #16

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,964

    Sure, add destruction of company property to the list of things your employer to put on your next reference check.


  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by tiredworkers:
    I have no clue what she is doing half the time and she has spent almost 3 months working on the same thing while I have completed several tasks.
    This is something you will find in many office environments in Hong Kong unfortunately. Many folks spend long hours at work but accomplish little to nothing.
    If you can.... just pack your things and go, it is not worth fighting this with an incompetent manager.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    -
    Posts
    1,781

    Sounds like she perceives you as a threat that one day will take over her position.

    If you would like to stay working with university see if you can get a position in another department or faculty.

    answerer likes this.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    6,317
    Quote Originally Posted by Drunken Master:
    Sounds like she perceives you as a threat that one day will take over her position.

    If you would like to stay working with university see if you can get a position in another department or faculty.
    Yeah her position sounds like a dream job

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    159

    You summed it up here:
    "I have this feeling that as I am in a lower position than her she will not listen to anything that I say and I must keep to my rank. To me it feels like I am watching a car crash happening in slow motion. My attempts to stop it is being thwarted. "
    Like many people who perceive that they have the advantage of seniority, your CW has a problem with controlling her ego. She lacks humility and the ability or desire to cooperate with other members of the team in order to maintain an amicable working environment. People like this are often deeply damaged having problems with self-worth that need to be assuaged by abusing others in order to feel more powerful.
    Your situation is exacerbated by an apparently ineffectual manager/boss who either lacks the insight to see what is happening and/or the leadership ability and moral courage to do something about it. Since you're not in a position to effect change, it would seem that an exit strategy of some form is required for the sake of your own sanity.