Am I being rude or impersonal to the new girl at work?

Question

She has started because I need help, and I will be going on maternity leave soon. 60% of this job is phone based, the other 20% is data input, the other 20% is helping the other girls.

Business is very slow this time of year. There is not much to do, but in September it will pick up dramatically. I showed her the tool that I use to help customers. Its very simple to use, and there is a manual. I showed her once, I showed her twice. I gave her examples that she could use to make up fake scenarios yesterday for practice. She came to me again this morning asking me to show her this stuff again. She did not do the examples that I gave her to do.

I basically said business is slow and to occupy herself. I also said that I can't sit and watch everything she does in the system. I asked her to do it, then show me her work. It's impossible to mess it up.

Was that a mean thing to say? I'm concerned about her complaining to the boss that I'm not helping her.

Answer 1

It wasn't the kindest thing to do.

Some people are quite nervous when starting a new job.  Others do need things explained multiple times.  You will learn more about this when you become a parent.

Answer 2

i think that you have to look at it a number of ways. People learn in different fashions, and maybe she doesn't really have a whole lot of experience. I think that sometimes when we are really good at our jobs, we think it's simple but forget that others who aren't endowed with our knowledge may have a harder time with it. Just be patient. And the comment was somewhat rude, I would apologize for it if she seems down and in the future try to be more patient with her. Things take time.

Answer 3

You have to be cruel to be kind, they say. Some people just naturally 's***w up' with jobs, others just take a while to learn the works before they get the hang of it, and others are probably just nervous. She could be one of these or all three, nonetheless these people do need to be told if they're doing something wrong, otherwise what happens to the business?

You can't baby feed her all the time, and personally I think what you said was fine, you've done nothing wrong. Just be aware that she may be finding things difficult, not everyone can pick up things straight away and she's probably nervous about s******g up anyway. Try to be patient, and see if you can find someone else who'll guide her a little while you're away.

Answer 4

She should have done the examples you gave her.  It sounds like you did try to help her by showing her how to practice--most people learn best by doing!

I'd sit down with her and explain things one more time, and make it very clear that you expect her to do the practice examples, and that you want to see them tomorrow so that you can go over them together.  If you do that, no one could possibly say you didn't do your best to train her.

Answer 5

You were not mean.  She wants you to walk her through everything and hold her hand.  You can't do that.  You gave her "homework" that would have helped her learn to do it on her own.  She failed to even try it.  She'll have to learn how to do things through trial and error to get it right.  If she complains to the boss, tell the boss what you told us.  You showed her how to do her tasks TWICE.  You gave her the manual.  You even gave her examples of what to do in a bad scenario.  If she still can't learn it, maybe she shouldn't be working there.

Answer 6

I do not think you were mean at all. There is only so much you can do to teach someone and if she cannot get it, then she is not the right person for the job. It sounds like they better look for someone else to replace her before you leave. Or someone else will get stuck working with her and trying to teach her something she may not be capable of doing. Have someone to observe her and try to see what her problem is. It sounds like she is just not qualified to do the job.

As far as being mean, that is not the issue, but rather can she do the job. You will not be there to do it for her and if she is not willing to forth some effort to learn how to do it, she does not need to be there.