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Originally Posted by Gilda
Nope. I've never directly supervised another employee before. We had a secretary at the middle school, but about all she did for teachers was make copies, and I always did that myself anyway.
I've had three different student teachers before, but that's different, as they're not there to help me; instead it was my job to help them.
This is a brand new situation for me.
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Have you ever been directly supervised yourself? What did they do for you to get you to do the work? Don't you supervise, in a manner of speaking, your students? How do you get them to do the work?
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I don't know. I ask her to do X, she says she'll do her best, then it doesn't get done. It's not like she's being insubordinate, refusing to do work, it just isnt' getting done.
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Same thing in the grand scheme of things, in my opinion. Incompetence, insubordination...whatever, the fact is the work isn't getting done and she's to blame.
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Heh. She is my support staff. I know I'm not giving her reason to think she can just do what she wants, as I've been very clear about what I want her to do. I'll be doing it in writing [sigh, more work] from now on.
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But you have given her reason. Sure you're clear on what you expect, but, so what? As long as you refuse to penalize her for her actions, she's just going to keep jerking you around. It's human nature. It appeals to the spendthrift in all of us. Get as much as you can for as little as you can. She gets to make her half-assed attempt at being your TA and still get all the benefits of being a TA.
She's the subordinate and you're the boss. You have a job that needs done, it's her job to see it done. Period. She has an obligation to you through the university and if she can't meet that obligation then maybe she shouldn't be working for the university. Her workload may be tremendous, but I'll bet there are tons of other students who would love to be in her position, yes?
You're in charge. Until you start acting the part...well, I can't imagine it's going to get any better for you anytime soon.