the unstoppable force of my velvet-smooth but adamantine certainty

I just realized that this new policy at work where we have to get our issue resolutions approved by Boss before posting them can help me, because if Zippy keeps submitting things to her, she's going to tell him to quit butting in and doing my job. Yay!

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I spoke too soon. Zippy has a creative way to not get yelled at by her - he just isn't doing what she told us to do.

I sat here and watched as Zippy closed an entry while I was waiting for Boss' approval on the resolution I wrote up. I'm positive he didn't ask her for approval, because if he had, she would have said to one of us that she gave approval to the other one.

So I have crafted this email to him. And as I type here, I keep editing. Suggestions are welcome. I'm trying to come off not sounding as frustrated as I am.

You know what? I'm hopeless at this. I have a lot I want to say, some of which I shouldn't, and it's getting in my way. On one hand, if he's not doing his job right, I don't care, it's not my job to police him. On the other hand, I do care when he's getting in my way.

If I were making a bullet list I'd want to say:
- stop doing this stupid thing you did yesterday and today
- stop doing my job, period

I don't know how. Time to go back to "Crucial Conversations".

This is what I wrote so far. I'm trying to stick strictly to the bottom line and not add in a lot of explanation or talk about my feelings or what I want, since I think that will fail and just confuse the issue.

Zippy,

For the second time in two days, you closed and resolved an issue while I was waiting for Boss’s approval on my resolution. [debated musing or asking if Boss is giving us both approval, by way of saying "I'm following the process but I suspect you aren't and if you were, I wouldn't be having this problem."]

You shouldn't be closing these tickets anyway, unless I'm not here. [There are exceptions, but I felt like detailing those would just muddle things.] But when you do, we can't be following two different processes. I was sitting at my desk waiting for approval to close this ticket, and suddenly, you had done it.

Please let me handle closing the help desk tickets during the workday (when I’m not at lunch). [REALLY need help figuring out how to say "except for the 3-4 cases where you do need to close tickets, keep your hands off!"]

Suggestions or edits welcome. Zippy and Boss are in a meeting right now and I don't want to send it while they're in together. I debated cc'ing her on it and then debated not doing that... I'd bcc her, but the last time I did that, she responded to both of us and blew my cover. When I have tried in the past just talking to her, even when she's brought him in and said "don't do this any more," it makes no difference in his behavior.