Posted on 01/05/2017 3:56:45 PM PST by ezo4
So I'm sitting at a new position on one of the largest military bases in the USA and I have a nice cushy office, good pay and great benefits and it turns out on the second day.
I find out I'm working with a hard core (probably a card carrying communist) punk 30 year old that does nothing but sits at his computer, does no work and spouts off about Mr. Trump non stop, quotes CNN/MSNBC news like its Gospel and slams vets.
Any comments on what I might say come Monday morning to stop this?
Don't hold back :o)
ezo
Have you passed your probation period?
As others have said, if he’s a contractor, have the COR tell the contractor PM that he’s not wanted on the contract anymore. Cite the wasted time as the rationale.
If he is military, have patience and wait for him to comment on or after Jan 23d. Then Article 88 his ass (or Article 134). Remember the story about former USMC Sgt Gary Stein — this works both ways.
If he is a civil servant, you won’t be able to fire him (unless Trump manages somehow to make OPM great again). Try to help him get a promotion into another office. Then it’s somebody else’s problem.
“Private recording devices are probably against security regulations.”
Certainly possible. But I attended more than one briefing where it was suggested that in our new culture with ubiquitous cell phones, anyone might record anything at any time -— so appropriate behavior was expected at all times.
Before saying ANYTHING, you need to privately begin documenting this in affidavit format, Google is your friend.
I wouldn’t say ANYTHING until I had 3 or more nicely typed affidavits regarding this.
He’s been there longer and there is risk they’d simply get rid of YOU.
Baseball bat?
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That is soooo true!
My advice to you would be to ignore him as best as you can and do your job to the very best of your ability. Eventually I would think (hope) you will shine through as the better person and the better worker over time.
However, if his not doing his job has an effect on your doing your job, that is a different matter but that is the case, you need take it up with your supervisor but leave his and your personal opinions and political disagreements out of it and stick with the facts related to his job performance, but tread carefully and document everything and don’t jump the gun.
Also remember that opinions are like a$$holes - everybody has one. You are not likely to have any job were 100% of your co-workers share your very same POV or are not sometimes vocal about them.
With that being said, some things are just best not discussed at the work place during work time. Among them - politics and religion.
You might also simply and politely and firmly let him know that his spouting off his political opinions during work time when you are a captive audience is not appreciated and that you’d just rather keep your conversations limited to work related stuff. Or when he goes off on a tangent, laugh at him or try to change the subject – talk about football or the latest episode of The Walking Dead….
Some years ago, around 2009 I was working at a tech company, a benefits enrollment/admin company and was working with a senior programmer on a project on how to improve our customer facing reporting capabilities.
The guy was a very talented programmer but he was also a flaming liberal and very vocal about it. He was extolling Obamacare as a greatest thing since sliced bread but also not going far enough as he was for complete government paid universal health care and he also had a bulletin board with a map and push pins in his cubicle supposedly documenting every US soldier and civilian killed in Iraq and Afghanistan wars and signs saying that Bush was a war criminal and how 9-11 was an inside job and other stuff like vaccinations causes Autism….
One day I had a meeting with him in his cubicle on the project and when he saw me looking at the political stuff posted in his cube, he tried to engage me on it. But I told him, “I think we have some very different opinions on some issues but if you’d like to have a discussion about them, we could meet after work, perhaps over a hamburger and few beers and have at it, but right now we are meeting on the project so let’s keep our discussion focused on that.” And he agreed and even though we never did meet up after work, we actually ended up working well together on the project.
We never became BFF’s but we did find a way to have a good working relationship on the project once I set the ground rules that I wasn’t going to discuss politics or his conspiracy theories with him during work time.
If such an individual has managed to hang on for very long, I’d tend to suspect that he reports to someone who agrees with him. Tread very carefully. If the job is otherwise good and you find it agreeable, just tune him out and remain politically neutral at work. No good can come of it if people further up the food chain agree.
I had dinner tonite with a buddy who is a Lt colonel. He flat out
refuses to discuss politics but I know he’s on our side. I was having fun with “won’t it be great when Trump...” and knowing he wouldn’t do anything but smile.
“STFU, do your job and keep your politics to yourself”.
Accuse him of homophobic slurs... (just kidding).
That was my immediate thought. Somebody is feeding the beast. It would be interesting to see who pitches up if you are non- responsive to his rants especially if you request that he not talk about politics or religion on the job. If it is one of his superiors it would be interesting to know how long both of them have been in place.
There is supposed to be separation of church and state in terms of proselytizing and that is what he is doing. In terms of his political statements he is politicizing his office. Also a no go area.
I think you have him.
Garrote him and live stream it so we can watch.
Your and his boss might be more liberal than he is...Hang in there a while to see which way the smoke blows...
General Mattis would be my go to person.
Sounds like the person is not even doing their job .. and how many of our military are they putting in danger ..??
Yes, there should have been an “Act” after that “Hatch in my original post - your comment brings to mind that probably the prohibition against political activity goes beyond just duty time - I have a nephew who had a fairly high-level administrative job with the sky-marshal program in years past who said he couldn’t even put a campaign sign in his yard or a bumper-sticker for a candidate on his car - pretty sure they couldn’t get a LtCol for smiling at dinner though....
Politics should not be a consideration, but one needs to negate an oppressive, negative office atmosphere.
Also is he advocating political platforms/positions???Fed regulations against that kind of behavior. Hatch Act of 2939 (amended 2012) prohibits Fed employees from engaging in some political activity.
Then again..what is your position in the office as a new employee? As so many on this thread have warned...you may have to grin and bear it. Proceed cautiously, if at all, in the near future.
Talk to your boss and suggest the IT department start monitoring his internet usage to show he is surfing all day and not working. That will start the ball rolling to get him removed to a position without internet access or cushy office space. Preferably something outside involving lots of manual labor.
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