Happened last week. I was working on a task, but took a little break because of a problem and went to chat with other colleagues. we currently got way too much time so if we don't work for an hour its no deal, we have more time than work to do. Coworker then came around and gave me (and the apprentice) a task: “Go clean this entire area with the gel cleaner, walls too, and blast it off with the pressure washer”. Struggled to find the tools because nobody puts anything back, it took us 2 hours to just set everything up, especially the industrial pressure washer. I filled up the foam gun with the gel cleaner, since he didn't specify which one, I used my brain and came to the conclusion to use the red one, since this task was done elsewhere a day ago with the red gel cleaner.
Mid-prep he comes around and becomes furious. “why are you two setting up stuff, one person can do it just fine! what cleaner is that? I said the green gel cleaner! You should've asked!” He then proceeds to take the canister of red cleaner with him, and drops off a canister with the green cleaner..
See, we got 2 green cleaners currently. the regular one, and the “high performance” one. and the high performance one is also a gel, but is stored in a completely different area than the regular one. I found it of course questionable that he wants us to use the high performance one, but from experience I know NOT to question his “commands”, because he will get either angry or treat you like a moron. And since that cleaner is new, I figured “yea, makes sense”. unfortunately I did not know how the cleaner is used since its so new I never used it before.
first run he complains we didn't let it soak enough.. that cleaner is quite agressive and the time I gave it was the time that was written on the canister.Second run he complained we didn't do the walls.Third run he got really furious because we didn't do the floor drains as well. And after explaining that I don't know exactly how that cleaner is used because I never used it before, he got really pissed. He then eventually asked what cleaner that is and got even more furious because “IT'S THE COMPLETELY WRONG CLEANER. I SAID THE GREEN GEL CLEANER!” what he meant was the green regular cleaner. But what he dropped off was the green high performance cleaner, which is also gel. If he didn't drop off that container, I would've picked the regular one, him dropping off that specific one though confirmed he wanted us to use that one.
He then yelled at mostly me for not doing what he wanted me to do, and told me I should've asked him because he is “just a human” and “can make mistakes”.. when I asnwered with “So are we, so let us do it right this time”.. he caused a ton of problems, just by not giving CLEAR instructions, knowing full well that I will work with what information he gives me, and that I know where the cleaners we usually use are. If he just told us “clean that area, including walls and all with the green regular gel cleaner, thoroughly” I would've been done in 2 days with it all. This way, fixing the aftermath of using the wrong cleaner, it took us 5 full days.. and somehow I am now the bad guy.
I kinda wanted to vent this here. This guy is a catastrophe, when he is the only “high rank” employee in house, he goes completely “I'm the boss and everyone has to do what I say”, and it always ends in desaster. Hell, on Friday I even got him to yell even louder and be even angrier, but that is probably not as interesting.
Yea. I really need to get out of this job. fast.
tl;dr: coworker gives me pointless task because he wanna feel boss, gives me not enough details, gives me wrong cleaner, then gets furious that I used the wrong cleaner and didn't ask for clarification.