I've been working with my coworker for about 8 months. We work at a school as orderlies. He seemed okay and we got along fine. I was the first to welcome him to our workplace and even fixed his daughter's computer a couple of times. Unlike me he doesn't have a permanent position. Recently he told me he was right behind me on the admittance list (I took the last permanent position) even though he's more experienced and older than I am. I was ahead of him due to having a great interview, more education and training, and also because I was on contract at the school before (he has more experience but in other schools with conditions very different from ours). I don't know if this is related to his recent outburst, but though I should say it.
I'm very calm in my demeanor and some people misinterpret it as being passive. Some people try to take advantage only to be surprised I'm actually very assertive when I have to. It's something I'm used to.
So, this week, me and my coworker are given an assignment (manual labor) which we will be doing ourselves away from the other coworkers for one week.
At first we are getting along fine as usual. During this he told me about his place on the list and that he's trying other schools. He also showed he was one of the people who mistake me for being passive when he told me I should stand up for myself with the other coworkers. I laughed and told him I'm fine, the others know me well enough and I can stand up for me when I have to, I just don't want needless conflicts and I can pick my battles. I took it has him being worried for me at the time and thought no more.
A couple of days later he had a major aggressive outburst out of nowhere. We had each bought our own drillers to do the job and since I'm a klutz I misplaced my charger. He was using my driller at the time when the battery died. I told him to look for the charger in my backpack (I wasn't close to him or the backpack). He looked and it wasn't there. I eventually went to him convinced he just missed it when I realized it wasn't there.
Obviously I started backtracking my steps wondering where could it be. I even called home to see if it was there. I start to realize he's starting to get angry which is puzzling for me, but I assumed he was just stressed because of the job. Until his reaction starts getting even more puzzling and I tell him to take it easy, why would he be angry I misplaced my own charger. He was no longer stressed, he was really angry. Eventually I get a feeling he thinks I'm accusing him of something so I quickly tell him that's not the case at all. It would never even cross my mind to contemplate him taking it. To take it easy, I just want to figure where I put it.
The more I look the angrier he got. I repeat several times he should take it easy. Eventually I get a call from home and I'm told the charger is there. And the mystery is solved. But now he gets even angrier. He starts saying (yelling) "I told you the charger wasn't here and you were insinuating I took it, see". I reminded him I kept telling him I never accused or did it even cross my mind. I was very apologetic since he was getting so angry.
Until I could take it no more. He was now in full blowing yelling mode until I cut him off sternly and told him "First of all, before anything you're going to lower your voice while you're talking to me, got it?". That's when he gave me an aggressive death stare and said "What did you say?!". I told him "I don't give a crap what you think I meant. I know what I said and this is the last time you ever yell at, are we clear?".
He wasn't. He tried to restart his rant and I cut him off after 2 seconds "This conversation is OVER". He just rambled "yeah, it's better...". I kept doing my job while he was fuming. I've kept the conversation strictly professional since then.
Yesterday I noticed he was trying to provoke me. Giving me "orders" (he has no authority over me, I actually respond directly to our supervisor) and telling me what to do. He was actually insisting I was doing something wrong and I blatantly ignored him and proved him wrong. When he kept trying to boss me around I just looked at him calmly and said "No, I'm not doing that". And ignored him and actually finished the job on schedule.
I'm not stupid, I know he has no power over me, but he'll try to make my life harder after this. Our supervisor is retiring in a couple of years and we get along pretty well. He delegates everything to me and mostly ignores my coworker and the word on the grapevine is that I'll be his successor.
Should I share what happened with my supervisor? What he did isn't serious enough to get him into trouble (nor would I want to) but maybe him knowing would work in my favor in case my coworker tries to get me into trouble. Or should I just ignore him and be confident there's nothing he can do to me? I know there isn't...but who knows, right. I don't like getting caught off-guard.
tl;dr: My coworker got angry at me due to his paranoia and disrespected me. I put him in his place and I might've made an enemy.
Submitted July 04, 2020 at 03:33PM by Tatoon83 https://ift.tt/3ixEgsI
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