I work fulltime as a supervisor in a retail store. I report directly to the assistant manager and/or store manager depending on who's there but I oversee my area/department.
There's one girl I do a few shifts a week with who drives me bananas! Admittedly, she is good with customers and her KPIs are always excellent but when it comes to the 'boring' aspects of the job like store tidying, replenishing the shelves, fixing displays, unpacking new stock, paperwork etc I've noticed she has this really great skill of looking busy so that someone else will go and do the mundane tasks.
Honestly though, those things don't really bother me too much. She's not the first and won't be the last employee I've dealt with who's a tad lazy. I've implemented a bit of a system in any case, just so the same people aren't always doing the crap jobs.
I feel horrible even saying this but it's mainly her personality that's my issue. Obviously I would never tell her that, I am patient, pleasant and respectful towards her - that will never change.
She is just so negative and woe is me though! I'm not even joking, every time she speaks, it's to complain about something. Even about things that most people are happy about or enjoy, she will moan about. Her parents took her on a really extravagant holiday recently recently, when I asked her how her holiday went she rattled off all the things she hated about it. She almost turns things into a contest as well, kind of like she's the gatekeeper of negative experiences. For example, I mentioned the other day that I was tired but she basically said I didn't know what tired was because I'm not a uni student.
She also tends to exaggerate a lot and I suspect even outright lies at times. Every time a topic comes up, she'll have a friend who's been though it but 10 times worse. To the point it's pretty far fetched. Other times she'll mention to me that customer has just been disgustingly rude to her but I've been floating around and I never see or get a rude vibe from her customers. In a hurry maybe or not the kind of people who want to make chit chat but not rude.
She has been pretty open with me about her mental health struggles which I appreciate because it helps me understand her a little better and she is moving on from our workplace at the end of the year, so I really only have to tolerate her faults for another 6 months or so.
In the meantime though, how do I deal?
I mean, I come home absolutely fried, tense and emotionally drained when I've been on with her all day and I am starting to dread her shifts.
I could definitely use some annual leave and I plan on taking some as soon as I can but what else can I do to stop kind of taking on her negativity?

3 Replies
Following.
I'm late to work because I swear someone's getting a punch in the face today.
I don't ask open ended questions to people like this.
"How was your holiday?" is now "Your holiday must have been wonderful" "Tell me the favourite thing you did"
If you mention you are tired and she starts on how she's 'more' 'worse', I agree at the first opportunity "oh that must be challenging" and end the conversation.Completely disengage. Start doing a task that has no eye contact, walk away, even say "oh I better get on with xyz". Even if they start a negative convo "I got stuck in terrible traffic" I say something like "what a great opportunity to listen to your favourite music" and again disengage, walk away.
If they get the hint and talk about something positive, praise them up like a little kid. Good luck!
Find things to do so you don’t have time to chat.