I caught my coworker blatantly lying about something I said, what do I do?

Question

My coworker will blatantly lie just to pin people in the office against each-other. An example is that she'll say to me, "Tom said you were fully to blame for the inventory issue on friday," then she will go to Tom and say "Jen (me) said you were fully to blame for the issue on friday." It's so juvenile but the women doing this is 55! And she does some real damage. My coworkers waste time figuring out these stupid fiascos rather then getting work done. I'm a supervisor, but I'm not really a boss, what do I do? Let it go or confront her? Is this normal in the workplace? I feel like a kindergarden teacher, with that said, our jobs are important, so I take these games very seriously.

Answer 1

Take the woman in question and the other co-worker into a private office or meeting room, and lay the issue on the table, in front of both of them. Be totally non-confrontational. The idea is to catch the other woman in the lie, with both parties witnessing. If she's shamed enough, it should stop the chatter for a bit.

Answer 2

If you are her supervisor, then you need to confront her about what you have heard (not who you heard it from), and tell her how doing that destroys your businesses bottom line and employee morale and will not be tolerated. If you are not her boss, then let her boss know what you were told and let them handle it. If it still goes on, encourage the co-workers to go to the office manager, adding that the situation has gone unresolved. That ought to control the situation a bit.