Conflict, not my thing
There was an incident at work Thursday that I witnessed and now I have to give my side to the human resourses manager when she comes back from vacation. Lucky me, huh? Here's what happened. I went down to the main office to get ready to go to a training meeting (and to get some candy off my friend's desk). One of the ladies was talking to one of the other ladies. I didn't bother to think about their conversation, it wasn't any of my business. The problem is, the office is laid out in cubicles pretty much. The desk they were talking at sits right in front of one of our salesman's desk. He has a tendecy to turn around when someone is talking near his desk. I don't know if this is his subtle way of telling people to shut up, or if he is trying to involve himself in someone's conversation.
Well, the lady who was visiting the desk of the other lady (hey that's a bit confusing but I'm trying to avoid using names), assumed that he was trying to butt into her conversation. So, in a voice loud enough for the entire office to hear, she tells him "Stop listening to our conversation. We're having a private conversation. You need to stop butting into our converstaion. You're rude!" To which he respnded, quietly, "Excuse me?" She stromed back to her desk and I hightailed it to the conference room for my meeting.
Here's a lovely kicker, they were both in the meeting with me! The guy came to the human resources manager, who was conducting the meeting, and pulled her aside to tell her what had happened. Then we started the meeting. The meeting was about harrassement, both sexual and general. This lady starts being confrontational with our human resorcues manager. Then the general operations manager of the company came and sat in on the meeting. Now would be a good time to tell you that the managers are brother and sister and their parents own the company. He heard this lady being confrontational with his sister. He let her know that harrassment was a serious issue and if she didn't want company protection if anything happened to her, that was her problem. I know from personal experience that he will back you all the way if you are being harrassed and you have documentation to prove it.
Anyway, to make a long story short, after the meeting, the human resources manager asked the two people involved in the incident to stay behind. The lady kept refusing, saying that she had work to do and that she would come back when everyone else left. I left as fast as I could. I then found out from the human resoures manager that I needed to talk to this woman's supervisor so that she can handel the situation. The supervisor e-mailed me today and said that I had to talk to the human resources manager when she comes back from vacation. I almost walked out of that meeting because of the confrontations that were going on. I don't want to be in the middle of this. But I also don't want to see her get away with it. I don't know what to do.
Well, the lady who was visiting the desk of the other lady (hey that's a bit confusing but I'm trying to avoid using names), assumed that he was trying to butt into her conversation. So, in a voice loud enough for the entire office to hear, she tells him "Stop listening to our conversation. We're having a private conversation. You need to stop butting into our converstaion. You're rude!" To which he respnded, quietly, "Excuse me?" She stromed back to her desk and I hightailed it to the conference room for my meeting.
Here's a lovely kicker, they were both in the meeting with me! The guy came to the human resources manager, who was conducting the meeting, and pulled her aside to tell her what had happened. Then we started the meeting. The meeting was about harrassement, both sexual and general. This lady starts being confrontational with our human resorcues manager. Then the general operations manager of the company came and sat in on the meeting. Now would be a good time to tell you that the managers are brother and sister and their parents own the company. He heard this lady being confrontational with his sister. He let her know that harrassment was a serious issue and if she didn't want company protection if anything happened to her, that was her problem. I know from personal experience that he will back you all the way if you are being harrassed and you have documentation to prove it.
Anyway, to make a long story short, after the meeting, the human resources manager asked the two people involved in the incident to stay behind. The lady kept refusing, saying that she had work to do and that she would come back when everyone else left. I left as fast as I could. I then found out from the human resoures manager that I needed to talk to this woman's supervisor so that she can handel the situation. The supervisor e-mailed me today and said that I had to talk to the human resources manager when she comes back from vacation. I almost walked out of that meeting because of the confrontations that were going on. I don't want to be in the middle of this. But I also don't want to see her get away with it. I don't know what to do.