Uncooperative colleague

So far I have tried flattery, threatening, brute force (well, sort of) and goodness knows what, but I have still failed to get Jerry's co-operation on the Pentagon project. Right now I have just about reached the end of my tether and I haven't got a clue what to do next. With the deadline fast approaching I feel like a helpless rabbit caught in the glaring headlights of the oncoming lorry, waiting for the inevitable. When the brown smelly stuff finally hits the fan I know that I will be the one left carrying the can. Jerry will not be touched because he is infallible. I am a mere apprentice who will always be in the line of fire when things go pear-shaped.

Some days ago I had to go to a meeting with Tom Fisher from the Production team but I didn't have all the information I needed. Summoning up some courage I went to Jerry and asked, in the most polite way possible, for the documentation that he had, relating to the Pentagon project.

"You do not need it, Andy He said dismissively. "The remit of your meeting should be confined to the top level points contained in the original memorandum."

I muttered my apologies for disturbing his work and made a mournful retreat. Of course he was absolutely right. Surely I should know that by now after working with the company for three years. The only trouble was I only had a vague and fuzzy notion of what the 'top level points' might have been, and as for the so called 'original memorandum' it was safely tucked away in Jerry's private folder under lock and key, having probably never been seen by anybody else!

I blundered my way through the meeting with Tom. Not much was achieved, really. Except that he managed to extract a promise out of me that we would be able to deliver the next phase of the project on time. Promises are easy, of course, keeping them is another thing.

Later that day I decided that I would have a word with Carol, the Division Superintendent (that is the fancy name for our team manager). She was fully aware about the problems that I had been having trying to get information from Jerry. However she was pretty much as helpless as I was about the whole situation. But she was the boss. And as bosses weren't meant to be helpless, therefore she would never admit that Jerry was in the wrong, and I know where that left me.

I caught up with Carol in the tea room and asked if I could have a moment of her time when she could spare it.

"Why not now?" she said, "I think meeting room 37A may be vacant"

We went into Room 37A taking our tea with us. I struggled in my mind to compose what I wanted to say. It was clear in my mind that I wanted to request Carol to use her authority to persuade Jerry to be more co-operative, but I could not afford it to sound like a complaint. I would have liked to say that Jerry was obstructing the progress of the project by his attitude but I would not like to be seen to be undermining the team spirit by complaining to the boss about team members. It was very difficult to criticise Jerry because he had a quick answer to everything. He had been in the company for 23 years and he knew the business inside out. Seeming to be content with the role of assistant superintendent, and never rising to full management, he had seen scores of managers come and go. Like all managers before her, Carol had done all she could to avoid conflict with Jerry. As far as I could see he had simply become a law unto himself.

So I couldn't just blurt out my reservations and frustrations. I knew that without Jerry's co-operation the project was going nowhere. He would simply sit on his own part of the work making out that he was waiting for input from the production team. The whole situation was completely useless.

Carol sat down, looked at me and said 'So, what can I do for you?' I did not sit down. I hesitated for a few moments and then I said, "I've decided to resign".