Why do users hit me up on teams to ask me to help them with something, and when I ask if they are available for me to stop by, they ignore me? Then I go on about my day, and my manager comes to me later saying they complained that I never showed up to help them. Am I missing some unspoken rule of modern american office culture?
But then they are sometimes in a meeting or working from home. I just want to confirm they are available before I waste my time. Do people normally just walk down to the other person’s desk without confirming they are there and available? Why ask me for help now if you’re not now ready for ne to assist?
Just document, document, document. Cover your own ass. If they don’t get back to you through teams or email, document that you asked for time they are available for you to assist but never heard back. If you do decided to go walk to their desk and they are either unavailable or working from home, document that you attempted. This way it becomes their problem or their manager’s problem if they complain about it.
That’s good advice! I’ll definitely be taking this and applying it. Thank you so much!
You can also slightly change how you respond. Instead of “Are you available for me to come look at the issue?” you could ask “What time will you be available for me to come look at the issue?”
The idea is that your response clearly requires additional input from them. Asking if they’re available now means that you are available now, and some people assume that means you’re on the way.