I walked in and saw a supervisor asleep at her desk and to me that is a BIG PROBLEM!?

Question

I was told he knows about her sleeping but since they are REAL good friends she would never get in trouble and being that I am new and seeing this kinda behavior under his management ,there's a problem. And from what I hear she does this all the time. I was reading my employee handbook and it even states NO SLEEPING!!! And to make it worst I have proof-I took a picture using my camera phone. I would like to take it to someone but I feel that maybe I should cover myself first. According to the handbook it has a chain of command system well the first person would be my boss but he is already aware so should I go above him. Keep in mind they are REAL good friends's. Other people have saw her sleeping but since they know our boss and her are friends's they turn the other cheek well I'm new and barely know about their friendship and I feel that if the company is going to have rules EVERYONE needs to follow them and if not whenever I feel sleepy can I take a nap?What should I do next.

Answer 1

Realistically -- it's not your place to rat on a supervisor for that particular violation -- that would be up to her supervisor. You don't know if that person might have medical issues that the company knows about -- and perhaps they then allow her to catnap.

Let it go. Just do your job well.

Answer 2

From a legal standpoint you have to ask yourself, 'Do you want to keep this job'? Yes, it is just that simple. You do not have an employment or union contract, so you can be terminated at any time for any reason, except discrimination.
If you pursue this you take a chance that you will be considered a tattle tale, NOT a team player, and someone who has way too much time on their hands. Your taking pictures of employees without their permission may also be used against you.

There is no law that forces you to report this person. Unless she is flying a plane, driving an 18 wheeler, or doing a job that would endanger the public, her sleeping is her & her bosses business NOT YOURS.

If you want to keep your job, stay out of this. The relationship between this supervisor and the managment has already been formed, it is not up to you to judge it. So she gets some perks that you do not, don't waste your time being jealous -- get back to work.

Answer 3

you did not mention what sort of job this is.

my niece works at a care home. ya, her written instructions say "no sleeping" on the job too. A state regulation says that minimum staffing is four people during the deep night shift.

RL problem is that wages are so low that the care home has trouble finding enough people. [Especially now that they're scared to knowingly hire illegal aliens.] Whole industry has this problem -- it is financially squeezed between the staffing regs and the government [Medicare] payments.

So when one of the deep night shift regular staffers calls in sick, the supervisor on the prior shift has to scramble to find someone to cover the shift. That frequently fails and the supers then have to cover the shift.

Well, if the deep night shift super is already scheduled to work and can't get anyone else, the preceding evening shift super has to do it. And since she's already worked an eight hour day by then, she's probably dead beat tired.

So she naps a few hours "on the job". While she does this, the deep night shift is there and is awake (as usual) and handles all the routine stuff [mostly reviews of paperwork for completeness and inventorying -- the patients sleep pretty well].

***
Now, is the situation you describe a critical one, or are you simply one of those people who has to do everything by the book??

Answer 4

Whistle blower are the first one to get blown. Nobody likes a snitch. So if I were you, I will just ignore it.

Listen to all the peoples opinion who posted here to answer your question. Actually, you can even talk to the supervisor and tell her that she is endangering her employment. That is if somebody who has a grudge against her can take her picture while she is sleeping and show it to the higher authorities. Then show her the picture you've taken, then erase it in front of her. This way you will get an ally instead of an enemy. This is my suggestion, it work for me when I was in the same situation as you are now.

Answer 5

If her sleeping isn't interfering with your work why worry. Perhaps she has a medical condition which the boss knows about and if you complain then you will look bad. Also in this world I am afraid life isn't fair and if they have a special relationship you could store up trouble for yourself. Of course you can keep the photo and use it to your advantage if your boss picks on you for something. After all that would be victimisation if he allows someone else to get away with stuff and you have the proof.

Answer 6

Do yourself a favor just go about your business. Eventually this problem will work out try and blend in as long as u don't break any rules. People like these eventually get caught and fired. But....do keep that pic on your phone if u ever have a problem. Go about your business though it might not fit who knows what that person who fell asleep goes through could be taking care of someone all day or has kids who knows but as long as it's not an air traffic controler leave it alone do yourself a favor !

Answer 7

Since you already took it up to the first in your chain of command and they didn't do anything you are able to take the issue higher and it is against the law to take retaliation against you for taking it higher since the first person didn't do anything about it, especially since it was in the employee handbook

Answer 8

Copy a paper copy of the pic and mail it by regular mail anonymously to the boss that doesn't know what is going on. Wipe all fingerprints off, type the address (not handwritten) and hopefully it would not be easy to figure out who sent it? Or else you could be jeopardizing your job. Of course if the people at the top like them both....they may let it continue. Sometimes there are other connections between people at the top that you may not know about (like being drinking buddies on their off time, etc).

Answer 9

1. Your a newbie to the office you don't tell others what to do.
2. She probably has been there much longer than you have; she might be sick and just trying to hold on before she goes on disability.
3. The boss is aware of the situation so there can be extenuating circumstances you dont' have a clue about.
4. If you rat on her you will probably be looking for a new job next week.

Answer 10

Normally you would follow that chain of command but since you feel threatened from retaliation, maybe also that you won't be taken seriously, you have full right and understanding to go to the next higher up to resolve your issue. In my company, whomever the person feels is the best to handle the situation from a non-biased opinion would be the best to discuss this info with. Good luck, I know how this can feel. I am going through something similar myself...Good Luck!