What does it mean when you make a grievance, & the person says, "What do you want me to do?"?

Question

I made a grievance against one of the nurses at my clinic, & the guy who everyone makes complaints to asked me, "What do you want me to do to her, fire her?" Just because I make a complaint against her doesn't mean I want her fired.

Answer 1

He sounds like such an incompetent a**. Tell him to discipline her accordingly and give her a warning to straighten up.

Answer 2

Grievance processes are often, in my experience, there because they have to be. No one in administration likes them,and employees who use them to report other people for what administration considers to be frivolous things are treated poorly, branded as malcontents and worse. Administration thinks that employees should solve interpersonal communication issues among themselves.
Save the grievances for things that could be pursued legally: sexual harassment, or any other kind, a dangerous work situation that you have reported, and it has not been fixed. Or for situations where the person is causing discomfort with the patients, and losing business for it, or is doing something that, again, could be pursued in a court. Or for when you have been treated unfairly by administration.
Administrators do indeed have to have a solid reason to talk to an employee, or discipline, or fire them. And if they do not have that, won't bother with someone. They know the bad employee will eventually move on. Know that this person you complained to may well have been doing exactly what he was told to do in that situation.
Don't know how big your clinic is, or how many employees, but since you complained, you best be doing things better than anyone else, a model of compassion and efficiency, because now, you are being watched. And know that the person you take your grievences to is an administrator, they are not there for you, they are there for the business. And the standard answer is the one you got.

Answer 3

Sounds like a person who shouldn't Be in that Position. He seems to display only 2 Choice: Fire, or Do Nothing.

Instead of being Annoyed, he should Work out a Solution. Talk to the Person about Changing her Behavior sounds a Great Deal better to me than Firing someone! If it's his Decision that You were at Fault, Explaining Why might be Useful in Resolving a Conflict.

Not knowing the Circumstances, I can't tell what would be the Best Solution....But I'd say that he would be a Better Leader if he Read your Complaints, and Answered "I'll look into this."
Perhaps: "What do You Feel would Solve this Situation?" "Does she Know you Feel this way?" "May I explain What Options I have here?"

Other than that, you have to Deal With the Boss you are Given. If you feel it is Necessary, you can Take it up the Ladder/Chain of Command.
Remember, though: Pick your Fights Carefully! No One wants to hear a Complainer, so make sure yours are Valid, Well Put, and Worth the Fight.

Answer 4

I may say you have encountered a bad complaint/grievance redress master here. Instead of addressing the real issues regarding the specific nurse or problems highlighted... he gave a lame response. Not the right person to approach when you need to highlight issues.

Answer 5

He was being an a s s. You had a valid complaint but instead of addressing your complaint he asks YOU what you wanted done about it. Why should you care what he does about it?, he just needs to fix it so that things work better for you at the clinic.

If he ever asks you that again, tell him, "No, I just want you to fix the situation." or you can tell him, "No, I just want you to do your job and take care of this matter."

Answer 6

Sounds like he just didn't want to here your complaint-there are some people out there who don't like to hear talk and make you aware of it-in this situation, he was probably being mean-have you had "grievances" in the past or was this your first vocal occurrence? Sometimes people don't want to hear the noise, yet we all have it, and some people are just suggesting there may be action behind words-It's like the French, always complaining but never acting.

Answer 7

Old military leadership trick: A person is not allowed to complain about something unless they have some constructive suggestions on how to improve it.

You can not complain about how slow the chow line is without making some good suggestions on how to speed it up.

You can not complain about the lack of toilet paper in Iraq unless you have a suggestion on how to fix the problem.

What this person is doing is listening to your complain and then giving you the opportunity to give him your suggestions, but is doing so in a rather unprofessional manner.

Your response should be "No, but here are some suggestions on how to fix YOUR problem so people will not be complaining to YOU in the future." Then give him your suggestions.

If you have no suggestions on how to fix the problem, then do not bring the problem up in the first place.

Answer 8

I would have said "No, I don't want you to fire her. I want you to come up with a solution or compromise so we can find an answer and resolve this". If she wasn't following protocol, I would say she needs to be spoken to by her superiors at least.

Answer 9

He asked your opinion, and offered one solution. YOU tell him what you expect to make you happy. You have a million opinions, it is you that have complained; and the man asked what would compensate you for the problem, or did you just want to complain??
Happened to me last week, I told the one I was complaining to that I wanted a refund of $1000 usd, I got it.

Answer 10

That's his job to figure out how it should be handled. If he's answering a question with a question you need to go to the next level of management.