LOOK AT HER, LOOK AT HER

I work for a small company as their bookkeeper and HR department. Originally hired as their bookkeeper, they soon decided that they needed an HR department. I’m guessing their thought process was “she’s the bookkeeper, obviously good with keeping private topics private, lets give her the HR duties too.


For the most part I don’t mind the extra duties. The owners are brilliant, the office manager is wonderful – however, there is one employee that will either drive me to an early death or make me a murderer.

I was warned from the previous accountant to “don’t trust her any farther than you can throw her”. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She wouldn’t be that bad, would she? But it didn’t take her long before the inane requests came barreling in -

“I need to get my paycheck early b/c I can’t pay my bills”

“I need my paycheck b/c I’ve bounced a lot of checks. Can I have it now”

My response is the usual “No you can’t b/c pay day isn’t for another 3 days”

“But, I don’t have any food” (this being said right after she order in lunch from a local restaurant AND was updating her order from the plate of the month club)

This conversation happens like clock work every two weeks. Along with this one –

“I don’t get paid enough”
“I can’t believe they won’t give me a raise”
“why don’t you ask them for a raise for me?”
“you know how much I make, ask them okay”

She got reprimanded a few weeks ago for making too many personal phone calls and surfing the net all day (gee I don’t know why she hasn’t gotten a raise) She was pissed and moody and didn’t talk OR surf the net for a WHOLE day. We were hopeful that this was the turning point.

But oh how we were wrong.

Every week there’s another incident to jot down. A few days ago I made a call to our old accountant. We exchanged pleasantries and within a minute of my conversation she was yelling at the top of her lungs “personal phone call, personal phone call. YOU ARE making a personal phone call”

A few days before that incident, I emailed her regarding the repayment of her personal loan to the company. She freaked out. The office was fairly quiet right after I sent her the email but even quieter after she yelled “I WANT TO MAKE WHAT YOU MAKE. YOU MAKE THE MOST” in response to my email.

This afternoon she proudly exclaimed to me “LOOK AT ME, I’m still working. I’m not surfing the net or talking on the phone. LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME”.


I’ve tried ignoring her b/c I’m worried that I will yell out something completely inappropriate to her if I actually pay attention to what she is telling me. But it’ not working. So I have a meeting schedule for late next week with the owners to discuss moving my office/cube to a different floor, far far away from her.