friend being targetted by her boss

Legacy_user

My friend works in retail. Her boss who she been her manager for 10 months does not like her. She gets told off by her for the same things as what other colleagues do.

My friend says none of the other colleagues are told to go to the manager's office to get a telling off.

The manager is a dept manager and been with the company for 12 years, a manager for 7 years and the 2nd stint at this shop. My friend started there about 4 months after her current boss left to work in another shop. They get told which shop to go to.

A colleague of my friend has a daughter who is a team leader at the shop where the boss worked between the two stints at this shop.

Both my friend and her boss share their first name. The team leader above said that this is the first time she has managed a colleague of the same first name as her.

A few of her colleagues believe the boss loves the sound of her name and does not like having a colleague sharing her name. She is victimising my friend.

She has no where to turn to for help and been looking at jobs in the area and nothing suitable. If she does anything, she is worried it will make her into actual trouble.

What can my friend do?

bryanb

If she doesn't break the rules there's no reason to tell her off. Even if others do it. Life isn't always "Fair"

Bantex_2

She could change her name.
To Henry.

duchy

I suppose if she really believes that is the only reason she could go to the boss and say "It gets really confusing with two Hermoine's in here. People never know which one of us they mean. Would it make life easier do you think if I went by Kylie in work ?

One job I was in there was already someone with the same name as me and I was told I would need to have a different name to avoid confusion. I just picked a name I liked and it was quite fun having a different persona. It did get confusing when worlds collided and I mixed friends who knew me by one name with others who knew me by the other.

hop3y

ScarletMarble wrote: »

My friend works in retail. Her boss who she been her manager for 10 months does not like her. She gets told off by her for the same things as what other colleagues do.

My friend says none of the other colleagues are told to go to the manager's office to get a telling off.

The manager is a dept manager and been with the company for 12 years, a manager for 7 years and the 2nd stint at this shop. My friend started there about 4 months after her current boss left to work in another shop. They get told which shop to go to.

A colleague of my friend has a daughter who is a team leader at the shop where the boss worked between the two stints at this shop.

Both my friend and her boss share their first name. The team leader above said that this is the first time she has managed a colleague of the same first name as her.

A few of her colleagues believe the boss loves the sound of her name and does not like having a colleague sharing her name. She is victimising my friend.

She has no where to turn to for help and been looking at jobs in the area and nothing suitable. If she does anything, she is worried it will make her into actual trouble.

What can my friend do?

Can she not speak to a HR representative at her work?

elsien

Being picked on because she has the same name as her boss? I think that's incredibly unlikely and gossip/complaining amongst colleagues is only going to lead her to blow things up out of all proportion in her own mind.
Forget what other people are and aren't doing - when it comes to disciplinaries that's rarely of any relevance.
As bryanb says, make sure she's doing things as she should be. If she's getting pulled up about things and she's not sure why, ask for more training or explanation as to how she should be doing things correctly. Keep a log about any relevant events/conversations with the boss and don't listen to what anyone says about what other people "get away with." If other staff's performance was being dealt with by the manager it should be confidential. It may well be happening but she doesn't know about it because there is no reason why she should.
Then if she's still feeling victimised look at the bullying/harassment and grievance procedure.
But tell her not to get drawn into he said/she said type conversations. Some colleagues exaggerate, others like to mix it up a bit. If she's going to deal with it she needs to do so correctly or it has the potential to backfire.

purpleshoes_2

ScarletMarble wrote: »

My friend works in retail. Her boss who she been her manager for 10 months does not like her. She gets told off by her for the same things as what other colleagues do.

My friend says none of the other colleagues are told to go to the manager's office to get a telling off.

The manager is a dept manager and been with the company for 12 years, a manager for 7 years and the 2nd stint at this shop. My friend started there about 4 months after her current boss left to work in another shop. They get told which shop to go to.

A colleague of my friend has a daughter who is a team leader at the shop where the boss worked between the two stints at this shop.

Both my friend and her boss share their first name. The team leader above said that this is the first time she has managed a colleague of the same first name as her.

A few of her colleagues believe the boss loves the sound of her name and does not like having a colleague sharing her name. She is victimising my friend.

She has no where to turn to for help and been looking at jobs in the area and nothing suitable. If she does anything, she is worried it will make her into actual trouble.

What can my friend do?

You havent given any specifics of whats actually going on, but for anyone who is in a job and going through a hard time, its wise to be in a union or find out if there are other procedures within the company where people can raise a grievance and be supported, some companies have supports in place for people where they can raise a grievance and be supported by other staff, but its not done through the union.

For example, if your friend feels like she is being ordered to go into meetings for telling offs, Id be asking the manager to put what the issues are in writing and ask if I can have a witness in with me during those meetings, its quite basic things you need to do to protect yourself sometimes.

Poppie68

If she feels she is being treated unfairly and different to her workmates she needs to put in a greviance. She has rights but if it is just a bit of banter with regards to the name issue is wouldn't be wise to mention that in the greviance as it may come across as her being sensitive to a bit of joking around. She needs to concentrate on the 'telling off' incidents and give any examples of other employees doing the same and no action was taken.

bluenoseam

It doesn't matter how many people do things, if it's wrong, it's wrong and each individual is responsible for their actions - so I'd start by asking your friend if SHE'S doing something she shouldn't be. If the answer is yes then she's being given a hard time for that, it's not fair that she's the only one, but ultimately it doesn't change the fact she's doing something wrong.

ohreally

How bizarre.

Given the events, why has she not joined a trade union. USDAW organise in retail.