Perpetual Ruminations

Thursday

It's already begun. I can hear the song playing in the background, again. You know, that song by the group Queen, Another One Bits the Dust? See we had some trouble some employees at work when I started a year ago. After two and a half months, I was promoted to supervisor and the first one of these problems was given the choice, quit or get fired.

Then, things kind of got better, but a lot of little things still needed fixing, and the other problems resisted and continued to make life difficult. I tried over and over to get through to them, that what I was doing was policy and for their best. They could not see this. In January, one of them messed up big, and I had y opportunity, I requested termination from the home office. They said giver her another chance, but a one time warning.

Over the winter, more headaches and stress, and nothing but resistance. Then, things started to work out and get better. There was still a lot of problems, but one by one things were getting better, until early spring when another problem worker decided to step up to the bat and try her luck. Each schedule, she needed time off.

I addressed her, explained to her, and adjusted the schedule to try and work with her. It did no good. No matter how I tried to work things, she continued to need time off instead of setting things up for her days off. So, I changed the schedule one last time, setting her up with two week days off one week, and four days off the following week, in conjunction with payday weekend. Now, she would have no reason to need any days off.

But, again there was no working with her and soon she had herself into a jam she could not get out of. She even tried going over my head, but the corporate office backed me and policy, she could not return to work until she complied. The only thing she accomplished was to get the home office involved and make it even more difficult for her to hold her job. This was in April, she never did come back. Second problem gone.

But, the third problem had gone over a year on the job, gotten her annual evaluation, that looked better than it was. If she had really read the comments, she would have understood that it did not say she was doing good, but that she had shown recent improvements in most areas. Her score reflected that she was doing her job little better than at the start.

But, she did not take the time to read it through, just like she did not listen to warning after warning. Also, since it would be another year before she would have to worry about an evaluation, she slipped right back into her old patterns. She was lazy and liked to do things contrary to the rules. She got busted on a little problem at the same time she broke another policy. I addressed her on the one, and a day later, I questioned something, and in her ignorance, she admitted doing something not allowed. I could have written her up on the spot, and been one step closer to terminating her. With the information that came in a couple days later, I would have been able to terminate her.

But instead, I told her if there were anymore infractions, no matter how small, I would have to write it up and take disciplinary action. Yes, one more warning. But she had gotten tired of getting warned I guess and just walked off the job. Third problem gone.

Now, things should have gotten better, the other two problems should have seen how things were going. We had two new people hired and things should have been getting back to a normal routine for all of us, when another problem decided to act up and whether he really ill or not, he did the same mistake the other medical problem had done, he did not keep in touch, he did not get me any documentation and he missed three days in a row.

I could not let him return to work without a doctors statement of why he had missed, and that he was able to work. Instead of providing it, he called me and gave me two weeks notice. I asked for him to put it in writing and drop it off, but as of yet, he has provided nothing. The fourth problem is gone.

That leaves just the one left. He was the supervisor, the one I replaced when the company demoted him. He has three corrective actions and could have been terminated with the last one. The corporate office gave me the final say, and I told him that. This is it, any more problems and your gone. Unfortunately, he is not heeding my warnings.

Right now, I need two more employees to cover the hours, we are all going over into a little overtime except the newest hire, who is still training and has limited hours she can work. So, I am kind of stuck with this problem as long as he does not violate any major policies and performs his duties satisfactory.

But, he has been messing up his duties, he is violating policies and he is starting to pick up where the others left off. He is pushing and thinking he will get away with what the others did not. Why he cannot see that if there is a problem, it will either remove itself or it will get removed. So far, my record is great, four problems removed, and not a one fired. No liability with the company, they just quit, end of story. This guy seems to want to push and see if I will go through with firing him. What he doesn't know, is I will, and not mind at all.

Not that I am cold-hearted and want to fire people, but I have no problems with terminating someone who refuses every chance they are given. It's not my choice, but theirs, they can work with me, or they can work themselves out of their job. If they quit, fine, if they don't, I will do my job and terminate them. How is this one going to work out? Only time will tell.

I interview another person today, and hope to have us back under on hours. If the problem continues, we will be back to where we are right now, and he will be gone. I will give him the same opportunity as the rest, quit on your own, or get fired and have that on your record.

On a side note, with the little time I have right now when I'm not working, I'm creating a voluntary resignation form to make it easier for people to quit. Of course, most cases they will not use it anyway, but at least I tried to make it easy for them to go.