I want to work alone but don't know how to tell the boss

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I don't mind working with people but the person I work with is difficult to work with.
It's our job to fully clean two buses a night, and we can either clean one each or clean two together. She prefers to do two with me, but she's the sort of person to want to do as little as possible. She rushes through the buses, missing out bits, talks on her phone a lot whilst working, and stops to smoke every 15 minutes (she smokes outside the bus but the smoke blows in and I breathe it in).
We get on OK but I think time will go by a lot quicker if we done our own buses (still will be two cleaned a night).
Yes it's a lovely, stress-free job, but she takes advantage of that. I don't take advantage of it, as I enjoy cleaning buses.

The thing is I don't like to tell the boss that I want to clean my own bus in case my co-worker takes it personally, or he might tell her that I prefer to do my own bus. I am not a grass, so I don't want to tell the boss that she is smoking and talking on her phone.

We both are the only bus cleaners so I'm the only other cleaner she has to work with if she wants to work with somebody.
I have casually said to her that maybe we could clean a bus each, but she said that it's best we do them together. I know that the reason behind that is so that she can gather up enough time to sit about. Then she whines that the time is going too slow.

How can I casually alter this without seeming like a snitch?

If I were you, I wouldn't bring it up at all.

The boss would ask why you want to clean a bus alone....no answer would be satisfactory, probably.

An obvious response to her complaint about time passing too slow is to tell her that time passes more quickly when you're really busy. Would need to be done tactfully though - that could be the tricky bit.

I mean, it might not upset her at all, as she might only avoid working on her own so that she can get away with doing less work. But even so, I don't want to take that chance. It'd be out of character for me to suddenly imply that I don't want to work with her any more of to snitch her up. To be fair, she does think I'm nice and easy to work with.

I think you're thinking this through well, Joe.

I think this could be a learning opportunity for you.

It might be that she is bored with the job and you make it more bearable for her?

She may have had a bad experience working with someone she didn't get along with so you are a godsend.

She might like your company especially as she has stated that you are easy to get along with.

We never know what another persons story is until we get to know them.

I know this doesn't help you with wanting to work alone but if you were to get to know her better you may be pleasantly surprised (or not lol).

I disagree with suggestions you should grin and bear it.

Tell your co-worker that you'd like to try each taking your own bus to thoroughly clean alone. You will enjoy your work so much more, ticking all the boxes and knowing you did it right. Your co-worker will enjoy it less, because (a) she's a trifle lazy, and (b) being probably neurotypical, she likes company. But so what? Should she always get to enjoy work more, while you enjoy work less?

As to how to handle this, just bring it up at the start of one shift or the end of another. If she needs a reason, say we tried it your way, now let's try it my way for a while. You can also say you enjoy working alone sometimes. Maybe you can offer to go back and forth between partners and solo acts if that seems more straightforward.

I like working with people, but cleaning a bus is more of a one-person job. You can get a whole bus cleaned properly in one shift on your own without needing help, and still have time for a drink or whatever.
If it was a more complicated job, like the mechanics do in the bus workshop, then it's more better to work with others.

When the girl I work with was off for a few days last week, I got on much better just working on a bus on my own. I got everything clean, both inside and out, with no distractions. When she's there, she kind of holds me back. When I ask her if she's done XYZ, she says she has, but sometimes it doesn't even look like it's been touched, but I don't like to go over it because I don't want to imply that she hasn't done it properly.

She's 6 years younger than me, but this is her first job. I think she likes my passive personality because she hates people telling her off or bossing her about. Yes, I think more about others than I do myself (which is why I hate being labelled as autistic because of autism='self').

But I could do what the above poster suggested: maybe say to her that we should try clean a bus each just for one night, just to see what it's like. I haven't had any time off since before this 'deep-clean 2 buses a night' system got brought in about 2 months ago, so I could say to her that it's best she cleans a bus on her own to see what it feels like should I have an annual leave or sick day, in the near future. She won't suspect a thing then. And, you never know, she might find she too prefers working on her own bus. At least she could then chat away on her phone and have countless smoking breaks without distracting anyone else.

If she enjoys plenty of smoking breaks and chatting on her phone, she might be better suited to driving a bus, at least in the company that operates in this area.

You mentioend that she rushes & misses things & that you have to work more to make up for her working less. I'm hoping that you won't be partially held responsible if she screws up & misses something that you may not catch cuz your doing your own stuff. I worked with people like her in the past & I hated it because I was doing alot more work & because I was the more responsible one, I had to take most of the heat when something wasn't done or not done rite. It shouldn't of been my job to supervise people who were there at least a while before I started & who always complained about me acting like a boss when I'd suggest or ask them anything. They even went so for as to complain to management about me acting like a boss. The manager asked my supervisor if I was in charge when certain people weren't around & he said Yes of coarse. The manger liked me & I think he new what my supervisor would say & only asked cuz he had to follow protocol.

I'm just worried in case I end up in trouble instead of her. Yesterday we only had one bus to work on, and my coworker rushed through it, then started sweeping the floor before I was finished. Then she got out the machine that washes the seats, which is a one-person task. I couldn't really do anything else on the bus while she was washing the seats down, and I asked her if she wanted to only wash half the seats then I wash the other half, but she said she wants to do it. So I ended up standing about twiddling my thumbs. I told the boss that we are becoming quicker and so we should start doing a bus each, but he just said, "it's up to you two."
Yes, the place is very laid-back and they do let you think for yourself instead of ordering you around, and that is good when you have anxiety disorder. But I feel that my co-worker dominates, and I'm not the sort of person to say anything, as I'm too passive and tactful.

What really needs to happen is for her to get caught rushing and talking on her phone. Her intention is to do as much work as she can to make it look like she works hard, but rush through it and miss bits out, so that she has more time to sit on her ass.
My intention is to have a bus to clean all to myself, so that I can work through it thoroughly and try to have as little time as possible to sit on my ass.
But I'm sure my co-worker is trying to make it look like she's the hard-working one and I'm the one that wants to sit on my ass.

Given
you're posting on WP,
it's probably a good bet
that you're not good
at discerning her intentions.
(No offense.)
At least not as good
as you think you are.

Don't waste your time.

Organize the crew time
more efficiently,
explicitly, together.
You've probably got
very different perspectives
on the problems.

She's a resource,
not a threat.

Wow, I didn't know you were in my workplace witnessing all this. Could you say hi next time perhaps?