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I would say it would be reasonable for you to go to your boss and say hey, wasn't I supposed to be trained? I have people asking me questions that I don't know the answer to. Where is my trainer? Is there someone else that can train me? I'm trying to do my best here, but how am I supposed to find out how to do my job if there is no one here to show me how to do my job??
But here is the problem with what you're proposing. Training has already taken place. The op has been there more than three months and said she has learned a ton.
When you're talking about a job with a lot of variables, training often doesn't include those. It would be overwhelming to go into every little scenario and the person being trained wouldn't sift through pages of notes to try and figure out how to handle X, when it may only come up once every couple of months. So training involves the framework and basics of doing the job - and you are taught how to handle the exceptions as they arise.
This is what we're talking about here. Not the training - but how to handle the exceptions or the oddball questions that come up. The supervisors can direct the op about how to handle those.
Saying, "I thought i was going to be trained" - particularly after three months - is only going to make her look bad - because she's already been trained.
I was in this situation once. My boss took a lot of days off, and after a month or so, I began keeping track. She was out of the office 40% of the workdays!! It was always something -- her mother was ill, her nephew was ill, the bus broke down, she had a dentist appointment.
About a year after I started working for her, she went out on disability -- for psychiatric reasons. I later learned that, among other things, she had a phobia about taking the bus to work. She lived in NJ and the bus went under the Hudson River to get to Manhattan, and she would have a panic attack in the middle of the tunnel.
I was in this situation once. My boss took a lot of days off, and after a month or so, I began keeping track. She was out of the office 40% of the workdays!! It was always something -- her mother was ill, her nephew was ill, the bus broke down, she had a dentist appointment.
About a year after I started working for her, she went out on disability -- for psychiatric reasons. I later learned that, among other things, she had a phobia about taking the bus to work. She lived in NJ and the bus went under the Hudson River to get to Manhattan, and she would have a panic attack in the middle of the tunnel.
She never returned to work.
So, there is hope!!
We had a situation like this once. Our chef sprained her ankle and it quickly snowballed into her simply not returning to work. Because, apparently, she was on sick leave they had to wait and she remained out of work for a total of 3 months and they were counting down the weeks, days, hours and minutes until they could send the notice of her termination. She was also harassing the workplace with claims of suing them... she was a very entitled, spoiled type of worker.
I've also heard of situations where people like your boss are simply ignored and unions are protecting them. But as much as it stands, I let other people live their lives, and if they don't show up to work as often or at all, unless it directly effects me, I simple don't care.
My mom worked with someone like this. She flaked out on work 2-3 days per week for almost 12 years. It might be that there is nothing you can do. In my mom's case they really didn't have any supervisors so a person could get away with anything.
"I'm sorry but I don't know the answer to that question. I'll make some calls to find the answer, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Do you mind waiting or may I have your phone number or email address?"
Then you text or call your co-worker and ask them the question (and now you know the answer if this question is asked in the future). You then immediately contact the woman with the answer.
If you don't get a timely response from your co-worker, you ask your supervisor the question. "Co-worker is not available right now, and I have a question from someone I'd like to be able to answer before the end of the day."
This is a positive reflection on you - you're not saying "I don't know" and then being dismissive. You're showing initiative that if you don't know the answer, you'll find the answer. You're being responsive to a request, and you're making it a priority. People will now know they can count on you. To top it off, you've learned something new.
Great post! If things come up that you are unclear about, write them down and then pick her brain when she is in and take notes.
Complaining, etc., will do you no good when the whole office seems to be in compliance with what she is doing. Like I said before, she probably has an FMLA in place.
"I'm sorry but I don't know the answer to that question. I'll make some calls to find the answer, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Do you mind waiting or may I have your phone number or email address?"
Then you text or call your co-worker and ask them the question (and now you know the answer if this question is asked in the future). You then immediately contact the woman with the answer.
If you don't get a timely response from your co-worker, you ask your supervisor the question. "Co-worker is not available right now, and I have a question from someone I'd like to be able to answer before the end of the day."
This is a positive reflection on you - you're not saying "I don't know" and then being dismissive. You're showing initiative that if you don't know the answer, you'll find the answer. You're being responsive to a request, and you're making it a priority. People will now know they can count on you. To top it off, you've learned something new.
To the OP: This is the best advice you're going to get. If you had a job that required you to read the first page of the newspaper every day, and every day, you picked up the paper and read the first page, you did your job. If the person whose job it was to read the second page happened to be absent, would you not read the second page to respond to a question? It's called "initiative" and it's what makes a person successful.
Most "training" consists of showing you where we keep the copy paper; how to make the coffee; the second floor rest room where the boss never goes; and what time is lunch. All the other stuff is incidental. You know where everything is and you have a pretty good idea of the answers to most questions. Somewhere along the line, that question has come up before. You do a little research or back-tracking and you'll find it.
As for the absent employee and the respect she gets from supervision, the late hubs used to have a saying - She knows where the bodies are buried and she knows who buried them. You weren't hired to keep track of her time off.
Usually I am in the camp of the "mind your own business" crowd, but I am in this exact same position and I understand how much it sucks.
There is another person on my team who has my exact same position who started a year after me. She is constantly 45 minutes late. One time she didn't come in and didn't call and my boss asked ME where SHE was. She always took 2 or 3 days a week off. Then she got pregnant and it got even worse. She moved 2 hours away from our office for 3 months and always needed to leave early. One time she called in bc she missed the train, which comes ever 30 minutes. She went on maternity leave and never even told me.
All I can say is good luck and look for another job, because its never going to get any better.
Why do employers/supervisors always allow such lazy sacks of **** to stay employed?
Well, everyone here seems to be in agreement with what the co-worker is doing.
I guess if you have never been on the receiving end, you wouldn't get it.
There is a backlog of work, and everyone acts as if the co-worker's absence has no effect on the OP. It does. She is only one person - and she is new.
IMO it is her business, and she has every right to be upset about it.
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She was also harassing the workplace with claims of suing them... she was a very entitled, spoiled type of worker.
