I'm the youngest [20s-30sF] of our team. My two [30s-40sM] coworkers frequently show up 10-30 minutes late for work, cancel their inspections/employee performance checks/meetings, and leave work early (before our employee shifts are done) to go do extracurriculars and don't watch the department like they're supposed to (I know this because either our secretaries or our employees themselves will start calling me about problems on my off time). Or just get doctors notes and call off for a week at a time.
My boss [50-60sM] allows this. He complains that they're late or nothing is getting done or that our numbers are terrible when it is not my nights to run the department. But what does he do? Nothing.
I already know what you're going to say- don't do their work for them. Thing is- I don't have much of a choice if I want to do well here…. because my employees respect and trust me. I listen to them. I solve their daily issues. I don't leave for the night until they're all back. I don't talk down to them and I don't give them impossible directives. I am the only one in our department who can just go up to one of our staff, say “Hey Jerry, quit loafing and get this done in a reasonable timeframe,” and not get a harassment complaint… because I have helped them a thousand times before. And if I stop working so hard to help them do well, they won't do well. Then I'm just another lazy manager to them. I only cover the bare minimum for my two coworkers (like not doing their inspections/safety stuff), but I can't really solve problems if there's no follow through.
I'm tired. I'm annoyed that the bar is so much higher on me. I can't relocate for another six months. I make great $$$ and can't afford to quit.
Tbh… I am fairly inexperienced, and I feel like I'm not reaching my full potential. I also struggle with the workload and feel stressed and tired from it. My employees can/do occasionally run into dangerous situations, and my coworkers won't answer their phones, so they'll call me for help (like one of the boys had a crazy woman pull a weapon on him, and for whatever reason he called us before the police and I had to talk him and her down. Like if I had chosen not to answer, someone would have been seriously hurt.
TL;DR: How do I communicate with my boss that he needs to either allow me the same levity on being lazy (dont want this one as mucb tbh, I hage being lazy) or he needs to help me manage our 80+ staff sometimes?