a coworker is manipulating my work load.    he's been upset about his heavy work load and when i told him "have a good weekend" he gave me a hard time because he had to work.   he told me he was going to talk to the boss to have the boss give me work to keep me there after hours and i thought he was joking, but the next week the boss was piling it on.    

plus this other guy was coming around several times a day to ask me work questions and the coworker  next to me said the guy is to loud and bothers him.   i told the guy to keep it down but he gets loud again.    the guy bothers me too because he's pushy, but i was told to help him.   I was told my priorities changed  with the added work load - so then i told the guy i was too busy to help him and he stopped coming around so much.   now he comes around about once a day to visit and complain about his boss (my old boss) and i am just too busy, but he won't take the hint (he's a selfish person) and my old boss is now really snotty to me.   

I've always been told to be political at work.   Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle someone that is undermining my work load ?    any tips on what to say to this guy ?    

Thanks in advance....

Hi sailing,

I don't think you should talk with the co-worker because I guess it won't change anything.  Your boss should properly communicate, implement and guide changes, discuss them in advance, so individual employees can focus on their tasks.  What has been discussed with the boss when you were assigned more work?  Maybe you could ask for additional clarity and support from your boss in this matter.  I would document everything and politely email the person who visits you that since your job priorities changed you don't have as much time to help him.  I also would discretely say to him that you feel uncomfortable with his complaining.  Good luck.

Thanks Jones, for your thoughts.   Most mgrs have said the "focus is the work", but had one that said it was not going to be the only focus and that some conflict is good - that job was the worse job - there was a lot of fighting between coworkers because mgrs were not discrete.  

The first thing i did when the work was piled on was ask what the priorities were.  That's a good point - i should have mentioned to that guy that "my priorities have changed" - hard to get a word in with this guy.    Since this guy, I'm catching too much heat - he's really pushy and has a lot of issues, but i think your right that i have to be discrete.

Thanks again.