Perpetual Ruminations

Not a Clue?

Well, it's the end of February and getting right close to spring, even though it may be another few months before it really looks like it. Even so, we should be past the worst of the real cold weather, we are seeing much more of the sun, and it's getting lighter earlier and dark later. Spring is my favorite season and after the last month and a half, I'm ready to see life begin to renew itself.

Not that the problems of the last month and a half have been resolved. They may have been, but I find myself in doubt. Perhaps I should explain the problem. Mid January one of our better employees quit to pursue another job in his career field. Great for him, but not so good for us, as it left us short on help and made for little time off for the rest of us. We found a replacement shortly after, and it looked like things would get back to normal right soon.

The new hire trained and did great, she also does a great job and has a lot of potential. At the time I hired her, there were some red flags, but with a nice interview and a long chat, I tended to believe her that she was seriously attempting to make a new start and move past past problems. The company I work for did a background check and called with some question as to whether she should be hired or not, but put it up to me, if I felt confident in her, they would get her started.

Like I mentioned, she did great during training, and even now does a terrific job. The only problem is, she has an attendance problem; she has needed seven days off in the last month and a half. Not only does she need to take time off for all sorts of things, she has a problem with dropping this information one or two days before, making it a real problem. Since I supervise the site and my wife is the assistant supervisor, it's up to us to change our plans for our days off to cover for her when this happens.

In being fair, I had a long talk with my assistant supervisor about the problems, who then sat down and told the new hire that she was already treading on thin ice and if she did not correct the problem, would be facing corrective and disciplinary actions from me. She cried, she understood, and she stated that she would do her best to resolve the problem.

I was on site during this time talking to another employee and doing a bit of training with him over a recent change in policy. Yes, it was one of our few days off, but we both thought if we get the problem corrected now, it will prevent future issues. After we both finished our tasks, we went out for a nice dinner, the returned home. before relaxing for the evening, I logged into our work site and seen there had been three requests for time off submitted just two hours after the long talk about not taking so much time off and missing so much work.

Yes, she went home and requested more time off; I can only assume that the meeting was a waste of time and that things will only continue the same. I just don't get it, who sits through getting their butt chewed for taking too much time off only to go home and ask for more? For me, it's looking like not only will I not have my time off, but I will be spending more time doing corrective actions and likely hiring and training another person. Time will tell if the message got through, but as I said, I have my doubts.

*** Update to entry added:

I guess my doubts are well founded, I just received a text requesting tomorrow off. Yep, she completely missed the point and the ice is cracking under her.