Closing Off Coworker Relations

[Coworker] and I tolerate each other. Not much more, not much less. My schedule lists that I am supposed to work 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and [Coworker] is supposed to work 2:00 pm to 9:00 pm (when we close). This isn’t new; in fact, it’s fairly regular business for her and me.

At around 4:30, [Coworker] goes to the boss’s office with the schedule book. I think nothing of it; the schedule for the week is done, and I figure that maybe she needs to talk about her weekend hours. Nothing is said to me, so I continue on with my day. 

Around 7:30, as we’re working on various closing procedures, [Coworker] starts telling me where stuff is. 

Coworker: “There’s still some beef out, but most of it is in the cooler.” 

Me: “Why are you telling me this?”

Coworker: “So you know.”

Me: “Know what?”

Coworker: “To put it away after I leave. Oh, that reminds me. Do you want me to count out that register before I leave?”

Me: “Uh, excuse me? I am leaving at 8:00 pm. You, [Coworker], are leaving at 9:00 pm after closing.”

Coworker: *Smugly* “Better check the schedule again.”

I go look at the schedule.

My hours now read 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and hers now say 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. It’s in the boss’s handwriting, so it’s not like she doctored the schedule herself. He gave approval for the change and did not inform me before leaving for the day.

Me: “When did the schedule change?”

No answer, of course, just a continued smug smile. Then, she clocked out and left the store.

I ended up kind of freaking out and running around like a madwoman trying to get everything settled. I had closed before, sure, but always with a coworker, NEVER alone. I managed to pull it off and thankfully was able to leave through a door that would lock itself behind me when I left through it, but I was fuming through two glasses of wine that night.

The next day, I walked into the boss’s office and had a very serious talk with my boss about the situation that I was thrust into.

He told me that he had changed the schedule himself and forgot to tell me — or, as I suspect, he “forgot” — because he was in a hurry to get home. He had nothing to say about me telling him that [Coworker] had also not said anything to me about the change until almost 8:00. He just gave me some weak compliment about how he was really impressed with how well I did despite the “short notice” on my closing the store.