Venting is needed over an incompetent co-worker

There is never a dull moment at work. Never.

Last Wednesday, I was working from home, as I tend to do on Wednesdays. My manager sent me an instant message just after 09:30. He rarely comes in that early, let alone pings me on that application so early in the day.

He told me that a writer has resigned. I had a ton of thoughts flood my mind.

This writer has been with the company for over three years. As much as I am thrilled that she has found employment elsewhere and can only wish her well in her new position, I can't say that I will miss her as a writer on the team.

It sounds harsh. However, for the time that she has spent with the company, she has never successfully installed our product software. Frankly, she doesn't understand how our software applications work. It is a problem, as she needs to clearly write about them.

She has a difficult time expressing herself. Again, it has always been problematic and it shows in her work. She makes mistakes. She gets the information from software developers and basically places it in her documentation without fully understanding what it means.

She isn't a writer. She is more a data entry person who just wants to call it a day when 17:00 hits. The last intern who was here knew more about the product software than this writer did!

It has been clear for over a year that she does not like what she does. Frankly, she should have left the company a lot sooner.

I asked her on Friday whether she has a job lined up. She told me that she does. She also told me that "we'll see" how she does in the new job.

I found her reaction to be odd. If I were about to embark on a new job, I would be excited. I didn't see, hear, or feel any of that enthusiasm from her.

She wasn't a good fit on our team. My manager hired her. I knew within the first week of training her that she is dependent on others to tell her what to do. She isn't an independent thinker. Moreover, she is not a technical person, which is difficult when you are expected to write about technical topics.

This next statement may seem uncharacteristic for me to say. I do not want to pick up her workload. I have been doing that already with the writer who left last November. I clearly cannot do that again with another writer. I am overloaded.

A few weeks ago, I got annoyed at my manager for stating that I do more because I "earn more than the other writers." I do not think that I need to do even more than I do, which is the equivalent of two writers, simply because I make more money that the other writers. I make more money than they do because I have a graduate degree (they don't) and I have more writing experience than they do. In short, I am at my current salary because I have earned it through hard work and experience. 

Anyway, my guy and I have talked about this issue. We have both decided to focus on what I enjoy doing, which is training and working with co-op students, and writing. Someone else on the team needs to pick up the slack, as I have been doing it all the time. I back up writers who go on vacation. When I go on vacation, I do not have a backup.

Life is unfair, which isn't a newsflash. However, I should not be the one who always suffers because we are short-staffed and there is a hiring freeze taking place.

I actually feel a bit of relief that this writer is leaving. She is the one who decided to shun me from having lunch with the rest of the team in the past. I haven't enjoyed talking to her about anything since she treated me that way.

She tried to patch things up when I came back from my last vacation to Seattle. I was actually talking to another writer. She decided to hang out with us and join our conversation. Why now? I didn't even want to share what I did on my vacation with her. She didn't even want me to have lunch with her. I am thankful that I don't. I can't be around that negativity that she possesses.

Anyway, I am done with venting. Thanks for reading along. I will have a more cheerful post soon!