A supervisor of mine had 1. Neglected to schedule enough people on one of our busiest nights, so we were horribly understaffed 2. Yelled at a coworker who was just trying to give her information and 3. Been on everyone about minuscule, unimportant things while not giving us any help (even though we were understaffed).
They were in the dining room, complaining about "crumbs" (tiny little white fluffs) that I had left. Since it had been my job to vacuum, they told me to pick them up. I had it. I told them that if they really wanted them picked up so badly, they could do it themselves. I heard an "excuse me?" from them and I stormed off in a huff to go fold more napkins.
Then they came to me and started crying, saying that they had to go to the other end of the building and asking if I had decided "not to do my job." I felt bad. Not for getting my thoughts out, but for causing them to cry. I could have handled the situation better.
I apologized to them later and they started crying again. They told me that they accepted my apology and that their supervisors had been on them about a number of things (though they had missed big things, namely items on the schedule). I tried to tell them, much more calmly, that we could have used more help from them as far as cleaning duties were concerned, especially since we were understaffed. They told me that helping too much could get them in trouble (I don't really buy that. Their supervisors go home before we start cleaning). I asked her how they would know, and they replied with, "don't ask me how they know! They just do!" I feel that either a. they are making things up because they do not want to help or b. they may be suffering from paranoia.
I think they definitely exhibit some symptoms of paranoid personality disorder, but I have not spoken to them enough times to make that assertion (plus I am not a psychologist, at least not in the sense of having a degree). They do contradict themselves quite a bit, but I do not think they purposefully lie. I think they simply become confused sometimes, either because their anxiety levels are so high that they forget (activation of the HPA axis during a stress response can damage memory over time) or because they have some level of delusion. Perhaps I should teach them some calming techniques and see if their behavior improves.
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