How to Deal with a Buck-Passing Coworker
Alan in New York sent us a great email about coworkers who “pass the buck”:
“I have a coworker who is driving me crazy! She’s like Teflon. When our boss asks why things are delayed, she refers him to me. When her work isn’t 100%, it’s someone else’s fault. When things go wrong, she expects everyone else to fix it. Oddly enough, though, when it comes time for recognition of a job well done, she’s at the head of the line…”
Buck-passers are often very insecure
Most of us have seen this type of behavior before. Buck-passing, after all, isn’t unusual in the workplace. It can be tremendously frustrating, though, when you’re working with someone who consistently won’t accept responsibility for their actions.
Although the buck-passer can sometimes appear confident, they’re often insecure about themselves or their job. They don’t like to be in a position where they might be perceived as less than perfect. It’s a defence mechanism — one that can have frequent negative consequences for the people around them.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you find yourself with a buck-passing coworker:
Two things to try with buck-passers
1. Document stuff
Just in case they get tempted to start pointing a finger at you, make sure you’ve got a paper (or electronic) trail.
2. Point it out
Be direct — but not nasty. The next time they try to pawn something off on you, say something. If you don’t confront the behavior, it will never stop.
If all else fails, you can even try a little light-hearted ribbing, with comments like:
- “Gee, Fred, is anything ever your fault?”
- “I’m going to call the Guinness Book of World Records. That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone get out of work!”
- “You must be responsible for something around here…”
- “Wow — even Houdini couldn’t get out of things that quickly!”
No guarantees — but doing something is almost always better than doing nothing!
