I and Colleague A report to 1 manager. Both of us have been in the company for 2 years plus. Colleague A joined a few months before me. We started off in 2 different portfolio ownership but a year ago 2 team merged. But still report to the same manager.
A culture of the company is my manager(and others) would send work assignment NOT to a person but a few in the recipients. It goes something like “hi all, can either 1 of you take up this piece of work? Whoever wants to will take it up. Basically faster fingers gets it. Those who have take it up gained visibility among management.
Few months ago, my boss asked why am i not taking up work from him. I told him that i want to however my colleague responded to the email with “i will take it up” faster than me. There are times i would be in a meeting, in the middle of some work or away from my desk, i cant help it if the person is faster than me. He said next time he will assign it to me as he wants me to gain some visibility among the senior management staff.
Last wednesday, he sent an email to me and colleague A to shortlist a few vendors for procurement. My collaeague was fast to respond and replied “ok we will shortlist a few vendors” , (this is quoted). im not sure why she used “we”but i guess it is pretty common in communication these days, people dont wanna to take accountability or want to sound inclusive.
Today my boss email both of us on the progress. Being a team member i replied his email with the an attached email responses (“ok we will shortlist a few vendors”), said the colleague is working on it. He replied to both again asking how many vendors? I replied that only 1 vendor based on the email sent from the colleague. He said thats no right, there should be more.
To my horror, he emailed to me alone saying it is a simple task, it could have been performed earlier, he shouldnt be chasing me for it. I politely asked if we can have a zoom call. I told him that the colleague has taken ownership of it so i assumed that it is safe to be off my radar.
He became furious said no, this is under my portfolio i should handle it. Told him that colleague said in writing that she will take it up, shes my peer, i dont think it is right (out of respect) for me to chase her for it. (I also wanted to tell him that both teams have merged recently there is no sole ownership of the portfolio and since he threw the assignment in the open, i dont feel that i accountable for the delay but he didnt give me a chance)
He ended the call saying next time i should tell the person to hands off and return ownership to me or chase the person for updates. He also said im not being a team player for chasing that colleague.
Overall i feel that the boss is throwing a bone to a pack of dogs, causing them to pit against each other. It is really toxic and when things go wrong the accountable person gets scotfree, while i get the blame.
Redditors, can you decipher my situation? i've been applying to jobs recently, i cant wait to get out of here.