advice on petty work situation

I talked to my boss. She told me that the person in question is a hot head and she didnt say anything because she wanted the situation to cool off. She told me that the problem person has reacted that way with her too in the past. She told me to keep delegating work to the problem person.

She made it sound like it was a reality we had to live with.

The reality you have to live with is that these types of people exist in every workplace.

Either you can deal with it, or you can continue to run from it.

A qualified person who gets up and leaves may have some qualifications, but a qualification they lack is an ability to figure out how to work with others. Do it often enough and your work history shouts that the hiring manager will end up having to spend time, money, and energy finding your replacement sooner or later and will go with an equally credentialed person with a more stable history.

Put it this way, if one of my team members said this to me... They would be going down the disciplinary route..
There has to be respect within a team, you have to show that you mean business. No need to be a 'grinch' but you have to be respected by the team at the same time.

Definitely not something I would stand for!

- Stop being wusses. Just because someone sends you a mean message doesn't mean you go crying on to the printer to get your resume. Deal with the situation
- Have a quick chat with your boss to understand the pecking order and what her expectations are regarding tasks and accountabilities
- If boss says that he expects the junior person to own these tasks, let them deal with it and park the issue with your boss
- If the boss says that its your responsibility to own these tasks, communicate your expectations in a tactful manner with the junior staffer (example provided).
- Move on and focus on stuff that matters rather than petty BS

Example of message to send if you're in charge and HAVE TO manage the junior staffer:

"<Name>,

I really appreciate your efforts regarding <tasks>. The previous email was intended to pass along instructions designed to preempt any questions or miscommunications regarding <task>.

Lets set up some time to better understand how we can work together and set expectations around <this task and any other things you both need to work together on>.

Best regards,
<The Big Swinging Richard>

I talked to my boss. She told me that the person in question is a hot head and she didnt say anything because she wanted the situation to cool off. She told me that the problem person has reacted that way with her too in the past. She told me to keep delegating work to the problem person.

She made it sound like it was a reality we had to live with.

The reality you have to live with is that these types of people exist in every workplace.

Either you can deal with it, or you can continue to run from it.

Yep. I do not have the skill set to deal with confrontation. We are all highly qualified in our own ways.

Okay.

This is certainly a skill set that you should have learned a long time ago.

Good luck though..