Has anyone ever made a formal complaint about you at work? If so what was the complaint? And how did you deal with it?

Question

Friendlybro79 · Accepted Answer

This brought back memories. The long story. Short stories suck lol.

When I was a kid working in a small retail store I had the most customer compliments and complaints lol. I think I made 5 dollars an hour and when customers were rude, demoralizing, demeaning, aggressive (yeah buying sneakers people would get aggressive), or use profanity, I would not tolerate it and embarrass the adults lol. I was prob 16-17 when this was happening.

I told my boss hey I'm a kid and when a customer is cursing because he doesn't believe we don't have more inventory in the back, and you walk away to not deal with it, I will. Feel free to fire me at any moment if you don't like me telling an adult to act like one lol.

My favorite one was when I was 16 and a guy asked me a question about a sporting goods item and he told me I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about. So I immediately said ok figure it out on your own then. Have a good day. As I was walking away he called me a bitch, in front of his kids and wife, and I turn around and say, "Did you call me a bitch in front of your wife and kids?

Would you like to apologize now and move on, or apologize later, after I verbally humiliate you in front of them. He was mad and and started yelling.. His wife was the one who defended me, which I knew she would because she seemed really nice, and she embarrassed him for me.

As he cools off, I said let's start over, but first a few rules. I'm 16, I make (4.25 an hour I checked lol), and I like working here but I don't care about your attitude problems. You can go somewhere else, I don't care, and you're going to be a better example to your kids while you're in front of me. If not walk out now and don't come back lol.

I'll never forget this because I used to get bullied at home so I won't tolerate. He walked out and left his wife and kids. I helped her and I apologized for putting my foot down. My manager overheard it all, never once coming to my defense, and he yelled at me in front of the wife.

So, I tell my manager what would you have me do? What magic words do I say to a grown man who's cursing at me because he's mad the baseball bat he wants to buy is too expensive, calls me a fucking idiot over it? I didn't set the price.

He said the customer is always right to which I said and... that's why people abuse us. You coddle their emotional outbursts like a child and they're rewarded for it. He tells me I'm fired on the spot.

The wife steps in almost in tears and says if you fire this young man I will certainly get you fired if you think we're always right. She said my husband's behavior was reprehensible and this young man didn't deserve it.

I look over at the kids and say. This is so boring right? And they giggled which helped us de-escalate lol. It worked out fine but this isn't abnormal for American customer behavior. Not the majority but enough that it's embarrassing.

OneViewpoint · Accepted Answer

The opposite actually. I took out a peer and my own boss who hired me into a private equity firm. Why? In one case a colleague who didn't report to me was being targeted by one of my peers while she was pregnant. She did not deserve that. He was a bully to people down the ladder from him and a shameless cocksucker to anyone up the ladder from him. She came to me in tears because I was trusted by the people I worked with. I ended his career within a few weeks.

As for my boss, he had his hand in the till and was covering up for a guy (direct report) who had put ~$125K of personal expenses on his company credit card. The accounting group called me because I was the only one they trusted. I ended him too.

3rd case one of our executive admins who supported a deal team was passed over in the annual bonus and salary process. Her deal partner and her entire deal team forgot about her. I missed it. The guy (my best friend) who oversaw all the executive admins missed it. HR missed it. We caught it in the final review. Unforgiveable. Our COO said forget about it, we'll make it up to her next year. Because he was afraid to admit the error to the managing partners. I went into a rage, grabbed the page with her numbers off the table and left the room without saying a word. Where did I go? To the office of the managing partner responsible for overseeing the compensation process. In 30 seconds I had the decision I wanted. She had her pay increase and her bonus. She never knew her team and the business failed her. Potential morale issue averted. damage to the COO's reputation... what he fucking deserved.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Mine is kind of funny. I was a supervisor with about 100 staff members a day. The mornings were tough. In a 45 minute window, I had to make sure all staff were present, re-arrange 40 or so morning schedules if someone was absent, re-print for every staffer, confirm supplies/programming with upper staff, then make sure everyone had morning assignments, all walkies were working, all areas were functioning, check and confirm event setups, check all areas had adequate paperwork, check in with the front desk, check my emails for anything important...and the list went on. Needless to say it was hectic, especially when multiple people called out. So I had a routine of just walk in the door, straight to my desk or whatever areas needed, and begin work.

One day, my boss called me into his office and he was like, I need you to sit down. I thought for sure, I'd somehow screwed something up but he then proceeds to tell me, multiple complaints were filed because I was not, and I quote, friendly enough which I didn't understand because during the day I frequently chatted with staff, shot the breeze, had a good laugh, whatever. But this, I literally almost laughed, but my boss looked very serious about it. He told me part of my job was to create a friendly welcoming supportive environment for the staff and I was not doing that. My work ethic was great, nothing wrong there, but like "could you smile a bit more, and greet everyone as you come in." Even as I protested all the reasons I had no time to fraternize in the mornings AND somehow get everything done, and told him my whole morning workload, he was still insistent.

So being super immature and petty because I felt really annoyed by this, OH BOY, I came in to work the next day with bells on. Came in blaring music, greeted every single staff member, hey there, hi there, ho there! Everyone okay? You okay? Everything good? Many of the staff were confused. The whole thing was just crazy. This lasted for about 2 weeks before I was allowed to resume not speaking again so I could get sh*t done in peace.

Nikki1989 · Accepted Answer

Surprisingly not yet!

Advisor Smith · Accepted Answer

During my career, I faced a situation where a colleague misunderstood my feedback in a collaborative project, resulting in a formal complaint. I addressed this by inviting the colleague for a discussion to understand their perspective and clarify my intentions. By communicating openly and empathetically, we resolved the misunderstanding and established stronger mutual respect and collaboration. This experience reinforced the importance of clear and respectful communication in the workplace.

1

Telekinetic-Potato · Answer

The best defense to complaints is to have an outstanding record and reputation.

I've had complaints at all sorts of jobs from customers and coworkers and bosses and they never went anywhere because

1. I'm willing to be the bigger asshole

2. I will always have the support of the most respected customers and employees... That's the most important part of what keeping your job boils down to

3. I always anticipate how I would explain my line of thinking if someone were to call me out for something and if I can't think of a good way to justify my actions, I won't choose that course of action.

Customer says you're rude. We'll I get people like that every day, guess what, I'm on a first name basis with 90% of the other customers who interact with me. And they're loyal. Maybe I didn't bend over backwards for this one but "do you think we can be profitable comping someone's order every time they nitpick something ridiculous? The people who like me are big spenders who don't complain, let's encourage more of those people." The customer is always right but not everyone walking in is a customer.

Anything past that is a little complicated but yea, be ruthless and intentional in your actions.

CupcakeTheDestroyer · Answer

A customer complained about me once, in fairness they were in the right and I made a huge mistake when interacting with them. I’m autistic so my ideas of what might be “customer friendly” banter aren’t always universal. I got written up, a good lesson to mind my own business when money is involved.

fishcake_buttie · Answer

Yes, my supervisor at the supermarket I used to work for, he complained to his manager about my attitude towards him and some other senior members of staff, he didn't like it because I wouldn't let him get away with bullying me and other younger members of staff, he was doing it in front of customers and getting away with it.

Then about two-dozen fresh chickens came in frozen and he had them dumped onto the customer service bay and they were still there ten hours later and were warm to the touch and he then demanded I put them out for sale and stop arguing about it... So I watched the fridges and told customers picking them up what had happened to them, so they wouldn't get sick from eating them... One of the customers asked my supervisor and he told his manager and the managers threatened me with a libel case and I told him to remove those chickens from sale and to bring it on because I have been recording the proof and have witnesses - no case was brought but I was then being targeted by the management, the union rep didn't care as she was friends with the management, I even fixed one of their freezers and got in trouble for that... I ended up in front of the general manager and he asked what my problem is, so I told him EXACTLY what I think about him, the management and that I knew he was having an affair with the floor manager, he went ballistic, I told him he is a c*nt and so is she and I stormed out of the office, came back and resigned and I am now banned for life from working for the company... D'aww!

aaron13547 · Answer

I feel like this is not the answer you want lol. On the construction site when we have a problem with someone we can't solve. After work you go the the sand pile and fight about it. Eventually you learn no one ever wins a fight. You both get bloody sandy and are sore. You both still have to work together tomorrow only now what sucks is you are sore and hurt because of a disagreement that didn't really matter... its funny how people say its childish to fight and that there are formal ways to solve problems. Formal ways dont solve problems they make more. Sand pile fist fights solve problems. No body wants to do that again tomorrow. Winner or loser. However respect is gained in a way a Formal solution can't provide.

AviatorTom · Answer

Yes, a very insecure woman who worked in our department claimed that I had offended her. Everyone in the department shared a computer system. She had a long software job running and I needed to use the computer, so I left her a note asking to call me when she was finished. She took offense to that and write a two page memo to the department head.

He called me into his office, agreed that it was a non-event, but according to HR rules, I had to go to a one-day seminar on sensitivity training and conflict resolution.

The department head made sure to never schedule the two of us on the same project in the future.

HawkPerception · Answer

I got a maintenance job at some factory when I was younger... like 24 ish if I had to guess. The supervisor complained about me, apparently saying I was unteachable.

The thing is, when he was training me, he showed me 1000 steps to maintain not just one but a ton of machines and I told him there's no way I'm remembering all of that. I asked him if there were instructions for the machines written down anywhere.

The person who hired me from the agency told me halfway through the shift, the supervisor said I was unteachable and I was let go. First fucking day. I was beyond pissed.

RxR0954 · Answer

Yep once this girl at work told another one i was “weird” and the other girl made a formal complaint about me for being “unprofessional”. When i got called up i was shook asf because barely even talk to the second girl, and i was also avoiding the first one for weeks because she just makes me uncomfortable with her compliments on my makeup and then giving me the “hater-stare” right after whenever she’s at a distance. I talked to my supervisor, who is also her supervisor (who also talked to her regarding the complaint before i came to him) and then he told me that sounds like i was being bullied and that he would have a talk with her about that. After that the strange vibes stopped

Zack-Bann · Answer

No I’m usually friends with everyone

I once offended the HR guy at my old job
Problem is he’s the one people complain to so he didn’t have anyone to make complaints to 😂

It did end well, I apologized for a misunderstanding.

And fortunately he was a pussy who hated confrontation

Darkest-Knight · Answer

A number of years ago I had a male supervisor file a sexual harassment complaint against me.

He overheard me say to a female co-worker "I like your hair style" (She had hair to her waist but one day came in with it shoulder length. Hence the compliment). The sexual harassment was dropped. But HR found me guilty of trying to gain "sexual advantage" over her. I was suspended without pay for a week.

This was about 20 years ago. I've never complimented anyone since.

Spencer10 · Answer

No I never have. Then again any work conflicts have been minor. So far i have been able to resolve conflicts person to person with communication.

PeachyPie93 · Answer

Never..  I got written up for not showing up to work because I didn't check my schedule right but never had a complaint lol..

RandomGirl42 · Answer

Lol! I work for my parents. Sometimes my evil, middle sister has complained to them about me. 🤣

Cidknee · Answer

Yes, a few times. I was fired both times. No judge, no jury, and no trial. Just execution. And both times I did nothing wrong. They did. Being female gave them the win.

DishLady · Answer

Nope. I’m the person folks come to to complain about other folks or to figure out their issues, etc.

WhitneySnow · Answer

No. Never. And I never complained about anybody else.

Jersey2 · Answer

A few times. Just noise, no one cared. It happens to many in management.

ABC1x1x · Answer

She complained that I was sexually harassing her by answering her questions about me and my wifes sex life. She was fired.

AngryCarl2 · Answer

I've had a few managers complain about my work performance.

Shiprex · Answer

No but I did one about my manager.

exitseven · Answer

Nope, not that I know of.

Alex-Snow · Answer

No I try to treat everyone with respect

Xawyx-2 · Answer

Nope, nothing formal.

sage2021 · Answer

No, they haven't.

Anonymous · Answer

Once back in 2002 at a shitty retail store

TonyMetal___86 · Answer

Nope

RedInnocent69 · Answer

Nope

Has anyone ever made a formal complaint about you at work? If so what was the complaint? And how did you deal with it?

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