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Debate: Should you warn a coworker about a bad supervisor or stay out of it?
At my last job in a warehouse outside Denver, I had a supervisor who would yell at people for tiny mistakes like putting a box on the wrong pallet. One day I saw this new guy, Tim, make a small error and get chewed out for 10 minutes. I pulled him aside later and told him to watch his back around that supervisor. But then another coworker said I should have kept quiet because now Tim would be paranoid and maybe quit too soon. My side says he deserved a heads up so he could prepare or look for another job. The other side says meddling just makes people anxious and ruins their own experience. What do you all think, would you tell someone about a bad boss or let them figure it out on their own?
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emmajackson20d ago
My buddy warned a guy once and the guy reported him to HR for drama.
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noah41519d ago
Oh, that's a tough spot to be in. @emmajackson, I had something similar happen when I tried to warn a coworker about a project deadline we were both missing. Instead of saying "you should" or "you'd better," I just said "hey, I noticed we're both behind on this, want to figure it out together?" That way it sounded like I was including myself in the problem, not pointing fingers. It worked because I wasn't making it about them messing up, but about us both needing to solve it. That might help your buddy next time if he can frame it as a shared concern instead of a warning.
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