TLDR: Was caught talking about lazy coworkers. Spoken to by management. Am definitely in the wrong . But management also said she “wants to write me up but HR said she shouldn’t”-why does that phrasing particularly hit hard?
Also I still feel the way I do about the new people, I did not intend for them to hear and to hurt anyone’s feelings though should I apologize to them for making them upset . Or should I move past and keep my head down?
So I have been here for 7 years , only 1 person has been here longer, we work in healthcare , have a senior role but not like a manager or anything with power.
We have 3 “new” people who are about 7 months in now. Last year I would notice they have tendencies to disappear for HOURS in addition to claiming they’re taking their break later (brake is only 30mins plus 2 15mins ones). And we have a list of tasks laid out we print every day so they also are aware what to check for . They’ll just be chatting and watching movies in our break room most the time. But the manager never notices so they know they can get away with it. And the work is rolling over to other shifts to finish-we lowkey do some saving work so I can’t just leave some things for the next day.
Last year I’m like ok they’re still new and learning I’ll try not to let it get to me. But they’ve been here for months and they know better now as they started putting them on a lot more my schedule to train they’re not present for me to train. So I’ve been telling since about January “hey those 3 disappear a lot, work is carrying over, I’m not getting out on time…” stuff along those lines. They claimed they’d talk to them and maybe they did but the new hires still do the same bad habits
So yes this is unprofessional of me but at night a lot of us long time workers vent to each other about them being lazy , I’m not the only one. And yes I shouldn’t have been bad mouthing coworkers not my intention to make anyone feel bad but they just stress me out and I feel like people above aren’t helping.
But I guess the new hires overheard me specifically saying how lazy I feel they are. , and they told management I’m making them feel uncomfortable. Again if other coworkers talk bad, I acknowledge it was wrong of me to do so too.
So my manager calls me in the office, she says multiple people have said they heard me talking about their work and I am making the environment uncomfortable. I did not deny anything. I was warned that I need to be more cautious of what I say to coworkers. And that if I continue to see them sitting around doing nothing for long hours I am to tell her and she’ll talk to them again. I just wish she had gotten more involved in the first place so I wouldn’t be in this mess
But the part that really struck me was at the end before leaving her office my manager says to me **I wanted to write you up, but HR advised me not to**
\^ that phrasing at the end really bothered me. Like it feels like she’s saying “oh I wanted to punish you but I was told I shouldn’t “ -am I reading that wrong? Like Sometime about that hits harder than if she had just said “ok I have to write you up”
Also I still feel the way I do about the new people, but should I apologize to them for making them upset . Or should I move past and keep my head down?