Posted on Oct 19, 2017
How do you handle a government civilian with an attitude?
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I work in a joint environment where myself and an Navy LT are the only military members and the other six are GGs. Got a snarky little GG-10 that thinks she can pop an attitude with me regardless of how nice I'm being with her. Wanted to tell her off today but held my breath. Our branch chief (GG-14) is outprocessing and is never around. Would you put her in her place in front of the rest of the office (which I think is best, not alone with just her and I), or would you just ignore her attitude?
Posted in these groups: 
DIA
Joint Service
DIA Joint Service
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 15
"not alone with just her and I"
NEVER just two, then it becomes he said she said and the report will detail how the "accused" threatened and terrorized" the poor little civilian.
Document, document, document and that includes witness statements, names, dates and times. Make light of it, not a big deal ''Hey, did she really just tell me to go mop something when i asked her if the weekly report was done?" When the other person says yes.... Just say ok and drop it...
then, on your won in privet, write down what, who said what and when.
When you have a strong of events that show a trend, you have two choices, you and a fellow office mate can address the issue to her and support it with what you have built.. or you can do that and then report it to a section chief. That supervisor can ignore a verbal complaint from you, but not when it comes with 10 events detailed in writing with specifics of what was said and who \else heard it and confirmed.
NEVER just two, then it becomes he said she said and the report will detail how the "accused" threatened and terrorized" the poor little civilian.
Document, document, document and that includes witness statements, names, dates and times. Make light of it, not a big deal ''Hey, did she really just tell me to go mop something when i asked her if the weekly report was done?" When the other person says yes.... Just say ok and drop it...
then, on your won in privet, write down what, who said what and when.
When you have a strong of events that show a trend, you have two choices, you and a fellow office mate can address the issue to her and support it with what you have built.. or you can do that and then report it to a section chief. That supervisor can ignore a verbal complaint from you, but not when it comes with 10 events detailed in writing with specifics of what was said and who \else heard it and confirmed.
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SGM Erik Marquez
I’ve worked in that environment where a good 50% of two or 300 people in the building our GS at the top level or SES some of that having an equivalent ranked one or two star general.
As the regional command E. Joint Operation Center, Sergeant Major I got along well with the majority of them some of them we agreed to not like each other and disagreed with what level of support and effort they actually put towards the nation but we weren’t antagonistic and then A few they just wanted to flaunt that they were in chain of command A and I was in chain of command B and there was nothing I could do about it
that proved less so than they had anticipated
As the regional command E. Joint Operation Center, Sergeant Major I got along well with the majority of them some of them we agreed to not like each other and disagreed with what level of support and effort they actually put towards the nation but we weren’t antagonistic and then A few they just wanted to flaunt that they were in chain of command A and I was in chain of command B and there was nothing I could do about it
that proved less so than they had anticipated
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I would not talk to a toxic person alone especially a female, she can say anything, if she gets butt hurt. I would test the other GGs and see if anyone else gets the same attitude, if so use them to get to her. You have to get the section chief involved bite your tongue until the new SC starts. I would log every interaction with her and make sure you cover your six.
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SFC (Join to see)
My thoughts exactly. I'm no trying to commit career suicide by talking with a female alone about an attitude problem.
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This is sort of a tricky situation. You have two things going against you right off the bat. A GG-10 generally is considered to be (based on pay grade alone) a higher level position (note I did not use the word outrank) than an E-6. So the higher management will more than likely side with her probably so they don't have to deal with the civilian unions. Second civilian employees are a bit different in how you have to deal with them. You can't talk to them the same way you would a Soldier. Well, I guess you could, but that probably would be a very bad idea. Dealing with the civilian unions and EEO complaints is a bigger headache than you want to be quite honest. The problem isn't so much what she can do, it's more who can she run to in order to get a favorable outcome for herself.
Isn't dealing with civilians fun? :)
In all seriousness, I would pull her aside but not completely alone and ask her politely if you have done anything to cause any issues with her. State that, you perceive her demeanor towards you indicates a problem that you all need to work through. Don't get visibly emotional and don't cuss her out.
I hate hearing when civilian employees act like this. Some forget that the only reason most of us have jobs is because of you all. Our entire function is to support the army and those in it. It is funny how easy it is for some civilian employees to remember that fact.
Isn't dealing with civilians fun? :)
In all seriousness, I would pull her aside but not completely alone and ask her politely if you have done anything to cause any issues with her. State that, you perceive her demeanor towards you indicates a problem that you all need to work through. Don't get visibly emotional and don't cuss her out.
I hate hearing when civilian employees act like this. Some forget that the only reason most of us have jobs is because of you all. Our entire function is to support the army and those in it. It is funny how easy it is for some civilian employees to remember that fact.
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CPO (Join to see)
I was at DIA as an E5 and a Watch Officer for our T1 Support team, which was made up of almost all Civilians. We got a new Female civilian in one day and she was put on the Night shift, the next morning she files 3 complaints about the male Civilians in the shop. They smelled, they farted, they said a dirty word, ect. Her Sec shift she decided she didn't like me when I told her to stop interrupting me as I was speaking with the other Techs and getting their updates for my reports, So she complained that I was disrespecting her. Her third shift I refused to listen to her complaints about the other Techs till after I had finished my coffee (I needed it to deal with her) she then went to the higher ups with a list of demands on how she expected the shop to be run and who she would or would not work with.... We did not see her for a fourth shift.
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SFC (Join to see)
Man oh man, that reminds me of this one Staff Sergeant that we had working with us.
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SGT David T.
SFC (Join to see) - Every job has folks like this unfortunately. Even in my current job I have some folks I would rather not deal with. We have this one I have to resist the urge to call them Stolen Valor lol. I have an application for a 13 out right now, so I don't want to be that guy who is seen as a complainer or one who will throw my coworkers under the bus. At least I can hide in my office in the back of the copy room so I don't have to interact with them much lol.
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SFC (Join to see)
SGT David T. - Yeah, I totally get it. They're are sucky people everywhere. Her snobbish attitude just rubs me the wrong way. Plus I've been in a crappy mood lately. Probably just caught eachother on a bad day.
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