I nearly fired a guy today

He's a pile of E36 M3.. but... what a wild thought.... To take away this guys career, everything he's hoped for and worked for..... .....

Happy Birthday to me...

btw... he really is a pile of E36 M3.

Is he a benefit to your needs, if his E36 M3tiness outweighs his value, dump his stoopid arse

The reality is that you will be doing him a favor. Let him see what he is doing is bad, counterproductive, you will help him grow. Unless he is a total douche, in which case, you are down one douchebag.

Wait for him to quit so you dont have to pay unemployment.

Just don't be hostile to him or you are SOL.

aussiesmg wrote: Is he a benefit to your needs, if his E36 M3tiness outweighs his value, dump his stoopid arse

He's been with the company 37 years. I've been with the company 6 months.

ugggghhhh....

three steward calls in 12 hours.....

I need another beer.

Do him the favor of a "shape up or ship out" conversation. Beats the hell out of blindsiding someone.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Do him the favor of a "shape up or ship out" conversation. Beats the hell out of blindsiding someone.

yup... We've done that step.

I'm sending emails to myself to document actions.

ignorant wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Is he a benefit to your needs, if his E36 M3tiness outweighs his value, dump his stoopid arse

He's been with the company 37 years. I've been with the company 6 months. ugggghhhh.... three steward calls in 12 hours..... I need another beer.

I've been in situations similar to this before. Being the new boss is never fun as it seems there is always somebody that's going to see how far they can push to test your patience/abilities/boundary's. Even worse if you are significantly younger than them. Eventually they will come to respect you or they get made an example of. Hopefully for his own good he will realize that you don't E36M3 where you eat.

Marty! Good to the last drop.... wrote:

ignorant wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Is he a benefit to your needs, if his E36 M3tiness outweighs his value, dump his stoopid arse

He's been with the company 37 years. I've been with the company 6 months. ugggghhhh.... three steward calls in 12 hours..... I need another beer.

I've been in situations similar to this before. Being the new boss is never fun as it seems there is always somebody that's going to see how far they can push to test your patience/abilities/boundary's. Even worse if you are significantly younger than them. Eventually they will come to respect you or they get made an example of. Hopefully for his own good he will realize that you don't E36M3 where you eat.

I'm half these dudes age...

Talk with him. Not to him. He's been there forever.Show him some respect...enough to know he's valued, but can be replaced.

Something like:

"3 steward calls in 12 hours?! Seriously, what's going on? You can talk to me, but this kinda stuff can't happen. Not good for everyone involved."

Here's what we used to do with employees who really needed to be working elsewhere. We'd fir ethe guy if we felt it was justified. The stewards are between a rock and a hard place. They almost have to support him. So we'd go through the whole grievance procedure and at the third step hearing we'd agree to take the employee back if he/she would sign a document saying that they wouldn't commit the same infraction ever again. The employee got his/her job back, the stewards could look him/her in the eye and say they had done their job by getting him/her back to work. It wouldn't take long for the employee to screw up and be gone permanently. We did that several times and it worked every time. We only used it on the real basket case types. The ones where the stewards and the other employees would tell you , off the record, that it was about time someone got rid of him.

We've got a guy like that at work. He's completely useless but he only costs minimum wage.

I use him for the E36 M3 work like sweeping the floor, unclogging toilets and any work that I don't want a $20.00/hr guy with real skills wasting his time on.

If he can't sweep the floor properly, he won't get a promotion to doing something better. Fortunately he's in his 50's and will probably never get past sweeping the floor and I doubt anyone else will hire him at this point.

Sad but true, if he's cheap and he's not likely to leave, just hand off the crappy jobs that don't have a deadline to him.

Shawn

steward calls? What's that?

And what line of work is somebody screwing up so badly in after 4 decades on the job?

DeadSkunk wrote: The ones where the stewards and the other employees would tell you , off the record, that it was about time someone got rid of him.

Yeah... I had the whole department pull me aside seperately and then as a group about this guy...

Do yourself a favor, call HR. They can help you do this right

I agree call HR to avoid any legal troubles. His attitude is affecting the whole mood and productivity of the place. On the flip side does he push everyone alse to do there jobs and thats why they hate him or was the guy you replaced his best friend??

Document and counsel.

Document and counsel.

Document and counsel.

Document and counsel.

C'ya.

914Driver wrote: Document and counsel. Document and counsel. Document and counsel. Document and counsel. C'ya.

that is how we do it too. I also stress it is not "the person" but it is "their performance" we have issues and concerns with.

Ive fired three people in the past week for theft... Stupid decisions seem to be rampant lately. Been firing people for years, literately thousands, and I still hate that part of the job. It ticks me off that people dont consider the consequences of their actions, and how it effects others around them. They often blame me for "ruining their life" , and fail to realize, im just holding them accountable for a bad decision they made. Many really freak out when the police show up... I take no pleasure for that part of my job, but I also hold no regrets. I can honestly say that every term ive had to conduct was based upon facts and irrefutable evidence. No fishing expeditions, no bs.. Im proud of that, I just hate to see people put themselves in positions where they have to deal with people like me...

Your reluctance to take away your report's livelihood is totally understandable…you’re showing compassion & have reverence for the huge ramifications associated with termination.

But…

[Elton John – Circle of Life Music]

At this moment, there’s somebody out there that’s struggling to find work and may even have a family counting on them to provide, but in either case, would literally bend over backwards if just given a chance.

In the grand scheme of things, you’re overriding a natural process resulting in the wrong person having the job at the direct expense of the right person having the job.

[/Elton John – Circle of Life Music]

+1 on getting HR involved

+1 on focusing on the performance rather than the person

+1 on having strong documentation

924guy wrote: Ive fired three people in the past week for theft... Stupid decisions seem to be rampant lately.

After 13 years of working in HR, I have been thinking about writing an article or a blog about the three "Shortcuts to Stupid" that seem to be at the heart of almost every situation where otherwise smart people use amazingly bad judgment.

The first is shortcut is drug (including alcohol) use. Things that you wouldn't do when your sober, don't seem like a big deal when you are high.

The second shortcut to stupid is exhaustion. I have seen more than I wanted to of bad mistakes and dangerous situations that were the result of someone trying to solder on after 13 hours (or more) without a break, or many months without good nutrition, time away from work or enough sleep.

The final shortcut to stupid is fear. This really deserves a number of pages to document all the different ways that fear will steer you to do stupid things. Whether it being needlessly aggressive because you don't want to look like a Bob Costas, being a Bob Costas because you are afraid people of people not liking you, or missing key information because you are afraid to admit that you don't understand something (and thus don't ask follow up questions and act on the information you have), fear drives a lot of the most destructive behavior you see. That's not to say that it is universally bad or that it doesn't have a useful place in well adjusted human beings. However, unchecked and unexamined, it will destroy you and everything you care about.

"you're fired! And Happy Birthday to me!"

ignorant wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Do him the favor of a "shape up or ship out" conversation. Beats the hell out of blindsiding someone.

yup... We've done that step. I'm sending emails to myself to document actions.

Smart. But, speaking from experience, officially "writing him up" and having him SIGN his name next to the part where it says "I, schmoe, understand that I f'd up" is smarter. It will help the company avoid litigation if you have to fire his ass. Is there any literature regarding this kind of situation in the company handbook?

Good luck. I know it's not a fun situation to deal with.

PS: Posting stuff about what a E36 M3 pile this dude is on message boards may not really be wise either. Not flaming, just being objective.

Video his attitude and his repeated errors for reference should it get turned around on you. You can't argue with video.

Type Q wrote: I have seen more than I wanted to of bad mistakes and dangerous situations that were the result of someone trying to solder on....

So, are you in electronics or plumbing?