谈话的目的是要就将来工作如何分配达成一致。“不要太纠缠于过去，”帕特森表示。“重点是看将来：‘我做这个，你做那个。对吧?’对方可能不这么看，但你需要了解对方怎么看。”

    只有在讨论没有结果的情况下，比如，讨论时对方点头微笑，然后一切照旧，这时一定要把老板拉进来。“即便这时，也不要自己一个人去，”帕特森表示。“把对方拉上，请老板明确工作是如何划分的。必须重申，你不是在问责，只是想明确责任。”

    这场会面应该会让你的同事明白，用你的话来说，你再也不愿意当一个傻瓜。这也可能是一场有益的讨论，究竟是什么(除了显而易见的懒惰或无动于衷)阻碍这个人完成自己应该做的工作。“有时候是能力障碍，此人缺乏必要的技能，因此需要进行一定的培训，”帕特森表示。“或者可能是一些个人因素，比如家人生病，让他要么无心工作，要么总是早早下班。”

    如果是后一种情况，帕特森表示，“你可能会同情他，但必须要坚持一点，他得想办法解决这个问题，很可能老板能提供一些帮助。千万不要说，“哦，好吧，我会继续帮你分担。”这对你不公平，他个人的一些问题，结果导致你的压力倍增——而且，可能一不小心，你会永远掉入这个怪圈，无法脱身。”

    祝你好运。

    反馈：你有没有和偷懒的人一起工作过？您是如何处理的？欢迎在下面留言。

    The point of this conversation is to reach an agreement on how the work will be divided from now on. "Don't get too hung up on the past," Patterson suggests. "Stay focused on what happens next: 'I'll be doing this, and you'll do that. Right?' The other person may not see it that way, but you need to find out how they do see it."

    Only if that discussion leads nowhere -- if, for example, your teammate nods and smiles and goes right back to slacking off -- do you involve the boss. "Even then, don't go there on your own," says Patterson. "Take your teammate with you and ask your boss to clarify how the work is supposed to be divvied up. Again, you're not assigning blame, just seeking clarity."

    This meeting should put your coworker on notice that you're no longer willing to be, as you put it, a chump. It also may lead to a useful discussion about what (besides sheer laziness or indifference) has been keeping this person from doing his job. "Sometimes it turns out that there's an ability barrier, where the person lacks a necessary skill, so that some training is in order," Patterson notes. "Or it could be that there's some kind of personal issue, like an illness in the family, that is distracting him or causing him to always leave early."

    If the latter is the case, Patterson adds, "You might feel sorry for him, but you have to insist he find some way to work it out, most likely with some help from the boss. Fight the temptation to essentially say, 'Oh, okay, I'll keep doing your work for you.' It's not fair to you for his personal situation to make your life harder -- and, if you're not careful, you'll have put yourself in a bind that you'll never get out of."

    Good luck.

    Talkback: Have you ever worked with someone who didn't do his or her fair share? How did you handle it? Leave a comment below.