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I work at a small company with ~20 employees at my location. I'm the supervisor that closes the store two of the seven days of the week.

Recently I found one of my closing checklists from almost a month ago with notes on it from the General Manager listing mistakes I allegedly made during that day's close. This checklist was pinned on the cork board at the back of the office quite literally everyone working at the store uses to store items or do paperwork, and it is very visible.

Needless to say, finding this checklist alleging mistakes I made (one was quite serious, alleging I failed to lock an exterior door) out where everyone can see it rubbed me the wrong way. I've been working for this company for nearly two years and this General Manager has been working at this company for a third the time.

How do I get him to bring up issues he has with my performance instead of "complaining behind my back"?

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  • I know the handwriting of everyone in the company - including the CEO and Owner. It’s a small company. I also work under the General Manager in a normal shift worker position once a week.
    – Bakna
    Jun 6, 2019 at 16:17
  • FWIW, this reads to me like you’re being set up to be fired. You might want to beat them to the punch.
    – Bill Horvath
    Jun 6, 2019 at 23:27

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How do I get him to bring up issues he has with my performance instead of "complaining behind my back"?

Ask him to bring the issues up to you in person.

The reality is that many problems can be resolved simply and directly.

If you want your boss to address you directly about these issues than ask him to address you directly about these issues. Simple. Direct. Done.

If that doesn't work then you can look into other methods of dealing with this situation. Start with the basics.

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    If nothing else, doing this allows one to get more information on the full nature of the problem.
    – Ed Grimm
    Jun 6, 2019 at 4:39
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Needless to say, finding this checklist alleging mistakes I made (one was quite serious, alleging I failed to lock an exterior door) out where everyone can see it rubbed me the wrong way.

How do I get him to bring up issues he has with my performance instead of "complaining behind my back"?

If you start off talking about "rubbing me the wrong way" or "complaining behind my back" you are likely to just make your manager defensive. That almost certainly won't lead to a constructive conversation.

Instead, focus initially on the issues with the checklist. Bring it with you.

Something like "I see some notes you made on my checklist here. Can we talk about them?" should help get a conversation started. Then go over each of the notes and clarify what is expected of you that your manager believes you didn't deliver.

When that part is resolved successfully, then something like "Okay, I understand. In the future, can we just talk these things out rather than post my checklist?" should elicit a positive response.

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