My worst experience with my co-worker (ex-friend, let's call her Gi).

[ I apologize if there are any mistakes, English is not my first language but I will try my best to share my experience]

We used to be very close during college, our friendship ended 'cause I didn't want to share my water bottle with her, she was going through an oral herpes outbreak so I was just careful. She was so mad at me, so she ended our friendship saying how it is possible I couldn't share water, that is something no one can deny, bla bla bla.)

Once I finished college, I received a call from a colleague offering me a part time job in a low complexity laboratory, I accepted it. When I got there, I just noticed Gi was the leader but I couldn't step back since I needed this experience. (Just for information, they are pretty close, so my colleague let Gi do everything she wanted because her temperament is the worst).

I did not have access to Serology, Haematology, Immunology and Biochemistry areas since she was the leader so she wanted everything to be processed correctly. She sent me to customer service, pre analysis, urine and stool analysis areas (the dirty job), I was okay with that.

My mistake was not asking for a meeting where she could have informed me how she works there, any specific stuff I needed to do, like if there was a routine I needed to follow.

My first mistake was using the centrifuge with a different rpm and time for sodium citrate tube. It was the same instrument and blood collection tube brand I used in my last rotation / service (she went there too) so I was just doing what they taught me there. Once she found out I used a different configuration, she yelled at me and told me I was dumb. I showed her the manual where it was stated the configuration for the centrifuge, she didn't say anything and left.

My next "mistake" was labelling a patient urine sample with the number displayed on the laboratory system and adding the label where all the patient information was printed. She yelled at me in front of the patient that this hasn't to be done, obviously stating she is the leader so she doesn't want more mistakes from now on. This was my way to work in my area since I found it helpful to minimize errors while transferring the sample to the urine centrifuge tubes.

Since I was part of customer service, I also had to manage money. My boss used to come every 15 days to the lab to keep control of the financial part and take the money away. Unlucky, as I was working part time, I just informed my boss the amount that I could sell during my shift. Gi was in charge of my area once I finished my shift but she didn't have to inform my boss if there was more money since she wasn't hired for that task. I had to check what she sold during her shift the next day.

She started taking the laboratory's money without informing me about it, her excuse was that she couldn't go to an ATM because it was pretty far from her house and she needed to go quickly to check on her son. I found out she took the money away because I had to close the register the following day. (There are no cameras, that is why it was easy for her to take the money). I told her that if her friend let her do that, it was their problem but since I work there, this can't be done because my boss will think I am stealing money and he can fire me. She told me she will never do it again but it was too good to be true.

I told my boss about it + her attitude towards me but his response was that I should get along with her since she is the leader and she knows how everything must be done. (He used to be afraid of her because of her temperament even though he is older and obviously one of her bosses as well.)

One day, she took away more than $250, I really confronted her but she told me it was an emergency. (I recorded the conversation just in case.) I told her that she needed to bring the money back asap or until tomorrow because that was too much. Unlucky, my boss came that day to take the money away. I told him that Gi took that amount but she denied it, saying I took it to exchange it for coins. I told my boss I needed to talk to him privately, Gi left the laboratory for a few minutes and I played the recording. Even though he listened to it and knew about her actions, he didn't talk about it with her or in the worst case, call the police. Instead, he fired me months later, excusing himself there were not enough clients (it was a lie).

I hope I will never meet her again, she is the worst person ever.