Six ways to name the gap, matched to how visible it already is -- without starting a fight.
You finish their part again, quietly, for the third time this month.
Nobody's said anything -- not you, not them, not your manager. The gap just keeps getting absorbed, mostly by you.
The problem was never that you didn't notice. It's that every version of saying something felt riskier than just doing the extra work.
Here's the part most people don't realize: naming a specific gap almost always goes better than staying quiet about it. Silence doesn't protect the relationship -- it just lets the pattern quietly become the norm, with you as the permanent backup.
But 'they keep missing deadlines' and 'they're checked out in every meeting' and 'my manager hasn't noticed' each need a completely different opening line -- so winging it means guessing which of six versions you're actually in, and hoping the right words show up under pressure. This gives you the version that's actually happening and the exact line to open with, plus what to say when they don't just fix it.
This isn't one conversation, it's six. A teammate who's quietly behind needs a different opening line than one about to blow a deadline in front of a client. Each response already includes the likely pushbacks and exactly how to handle them.
That's one of the six responses inside. Because the first sentence is rarely the hard part.
Every line in this guide was rewritten until it sounded like something a person would actually say under pressure -- tested against how these conversations really go with an easygoing coworker, not how they're supposed to go.
Which one sounds like your situation?
One PDF. Six situations, a Quick Deployment page if you need the response right now. Open it on your phone and go.
Because you stayed specific and calm when most people either say nothing or say too much.
Right now this is a five-minute conversation and a slightly awkward Tuesday. Wait another quarter and it's a settled arrangement everyone -- including your manager -- has quietly priced in, a much bigger conversation from a weaker position. $7 for the exact words to a conversation you're already absorbing the cost of anyway, either calmly this week or resentfully for another few months. If today's the day you finally say something, that's cheaper than one more week of covering.
P.S. If you skipped to the bottom -- you're already covering for someone and you know exactly which version of this you're in. Wait, and it just becomes the arrangement. $7. Instant download. 6 responses, 36 pushback branches, and the After Plan for the two weeks that follow. If it's not the right fit, we'll swap it.
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