A Clash Of Authority

Source

A few days ago, I got into a heated argument with my colleague, who is head of maintenance(HOM). The argument stemmed from some repairs at my branch of the company.

While he's at the headquarters, I'm at the sister branch overseeing all the work operations there, and my job includes recording items due for maintenance or repairs and then reporting to him directly.

During the course of my job, I reserve the right to act according to the tenancy agreement with the landlord of the sister branch, and one of the terms of this tenancy agreement was that whatever repairs or maintenance needed to be done in the building should be carried out by technicians provided by the landlord.

Where the issue arose was that the landlord’s representative was slow in giving us feedback after the technician's assessment, and our superior was on our neck to get all issues pertaining to repairs sorted.

Among these issues to be fixed was a faulty AC, which my superior was peculiar about. We were all under a lot of pressure, so my colleague in charge of maintenance called for a situation report, and I explained the challenges to him.

Seeing that the landlord's rep was not forthcoming, the HOM asked that I get an external technician to sort out the AC while we await the rep’s response for the other repairs.

I waited for him to finish, then I reminded him of the tenancy agreement. He brushed it off, saying it doesn't matter that I could get my colleague to bring the technician in with his car so that we could bypass the security check.

I wasn't comfortable with his plan, as I wondered, what if something goes wrong? So, in order to save my neck, I asked him to put his instructions in writing and email them to me, stating that he's giving me the authority to go against the tenancy agreement.

I was sure to be extremely polite to avoid any outburst because I know how aggressive mischievous people are when you try to commit them.

Despite my humble request, my colleague still flared up, stating that he would send no such mail. Hearing him say that gave me the authority to refuse his order, as I told him that if he won't send the mail, then no external technician would be allowed to work on the AC.

In that moment, it was like I stirred the hornet's nest as he roared, asking if I was alright in the head to be asking him to put his words in writing.

He was still ranting when I ended the call and called HR immediately to report the situation, as I was already pissed.

After speaking with HR, she promised to look into the matter, and as I got off the call, I noticed several missed calls from the said HOM. I also noticed that he sent a message, and as I was going through it, his call came in, which I picked up.

I was expecting him to apologize, but instead he was still claiming authority, questioning if it had gotten to the point where I would be ending the call on him.

Without hesitation, I threw the question back at him and questioned if it has also gotten to the point where he will use abusive words on me.

To my utmost dismay, my colleague started playing the victim, stating that he doesn’t appreciate the tone and manner in which I am speaking to him.

In that moment I decided to not wait for HR to handle the situation, so I gave him a sound warning never to disrespect or address me with such foul statement again. He tried to speak, but I didn’t let him, and then he ended the call.

I went back to his message and saw that he had sent the phone number of the technician who installed the AC initially.

He also stated that the technician was from the landlord, which I went on to confirm to be true. But I didn’t act on his words, as I texted to inform the landlord of our decision.

Given the urgency of the repair, we were permitted to repair the AC on the condition that we would bear the cost, which wasn’t a problem.

So, after settling with the landlord, I called the technician, and after his assessment, I emailed all the necessary information and cost to the HOM and thus, the issue with the AC was sorted.