Uncomfortable Work Experiences

Today is the day I set aside to have a talk with one of my co-workers.  Our receptionist had been helping me out with data entry into our warranty database.  For the first few months or so, I would double check her work and make sure everything was entered correctly.  Once I was sure she grasped the concepts I stopped checking.  On Monday, my boss called me into her office because she was finding some inaccurate warranty information in the database.  I started looking through the information and discovered that most of the information entered in 2011 was inaccurate.  (Warranty dates were calculated incorrectly, vendor information was wrong, customer information was wrong, and two invoices were entered as one.)  My boss asked me to talk with our receptionist about it and explain why we wouldn't need her to enter invoices anymore.  I said I would and I completely agreed with her.

But now that it's come down to it, I don't want to hurt this girl's feelings either.  My boss asked me again yesterday if I'd talked to her about it and I said I would today since it would give her a couple of days before she had to come back in.   This makes me wonder if my boss is looking to see how I handle this situation which makes me even more nervous about it.  I hate the idea of making anyone feel badly about themselves or just bad in general.  Then to think it's some kind of test for me as well makes it worse.  I might be over thinking that last bit.  It could simply be that my boss realizes this is my thing and doesn't want to step on my toes.

So I've practiced with my other co-worker.  Her suggestion was that I offer to retrain the girl and give her another chance, but I got the feeling from my boss that she would rather the information be accurate from the beginning.  An unreliable database does not give our department legs to stand on when arguing a different issue.  But I can't just say to this girl you can't do this anymore without giving her a chance to correct her mistakes and redeem herself.  Hopefully my boss understands.