happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
Posts: 20,851
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Post by happyhoix on Jan 30, 2020 19:16:15 GMT -5
I have one direct report who is is firmly mediocre at his job. He does what he's assigned, but not much more than that. I don't have grounds to fire him, but he's not going to get promoted out of my department. No one else wants him. He's annoying as hell. He's one of those employees who 1) monitors all the other employees and bitches if he thinks someone else gets something he doesn't have, and 2) refuses to admit when he screws up, always having to find someone else to blame instead of just saying 'hey, I screwed up, sorry.' I don't know if he's gotten worse or if my tolerance is low, but when he sends me a whiny email complaining about whatever outrage he feels has been done to him, or narcing on a fellow employee he thinks screwed up, I want to just tell him to STFU. I'm not looking for advice with Mr Whine, but I'd love to hear some 'my worst employee' stories.... We did have a guy who was arrested, at work, for child porn. They walked him out of our building, the news cameras catching our company sign on the front of the building as he was frog marched to the cop car. They took his computer - a couple years later, I inherited his office and desk. He was worse that whiner (but the kiddie porn guy didn't work for me, so there's that).
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Deleted
Joined: Apr 17, 2024 15:03:59 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2020 19:34:42 GMT -5
When I worked at Kaiser we were called to investigate the porn on one of the male GYN doctor's computers.
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Tennesseer
Member Emeritus
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 21:58:42 GMT -5
Posts: 63,323
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Post by Tennesseer on Jan 31, 2020 10:30:19 GMT -5
My employer had a three-step appeal process for when an employee believed they had been treated unfairly. Issues could be unacceptable conduct, performance evaluation, excessive absences or tardiness, etc. All would have been issued an official warning letter or termination letter.
As an HR rep I was involved in either the step one or step three level. Step one being at the local director level, step two at the regional VP level, and step three and final level at the executive (CEO, COO, CPO, etc.) headquarters level.
At step three, I was required to review everything which took place at step one and two. Any questions I had I asked the director or VP. I also spoke with the employee and see if they wanted the executives to know something new.
I would prepare the final report along with any and all supporting documentation. I was also to add to the report what I believed should be the final outcome of the case: uphold management's decision, modify it (less severe), or completely overturn it.
Had a step three assigned to me of employee terminated for watching porn at work and on company computer. The executives always wondered what type of pictures these terminated employees were viewing on company time and computer.
So I included the pictures with the final report to the execs so they could decide for themselves. The execs board upheld the termination and said don't ever send the pictures. They now had a good idea what employees were viewing at work.
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Tiny
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 21:22:34 GMT -5
Posts: 13,361
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Post by Tiny on Jan 31, 2020 10:43:14 GMT -5
Not a direct report (I've never been a manager) but an "office mate". Floor space and work station space was tight back in the 90's. I got put into a tiny "corner office" with a guy who wasn't in my department (didn't report to my boss) but who worked with my department. He would use a several paper coffee cups each day - and would line them up on the window sill, his desk, the file cabinet, as he finished with them. Often they still had coffee (creamer/sugar) still in them. Over time he stacked the cups. While that was gross (really gross! he had about 100 of them lined/stacked up - when I complained about them)... the worst part was having to listen to him talk to his girlfriend on the phone (before cell phones and texting). They would talk 2 or 3 times per day - and he would often berate her, yell at her, tell her she was stupid (etc), just use a tone of voice that said "what is wrong with you?". It made me cringe. Since they had a "schedule" for the calls - I started making sure I wasn't in the office during these things. He'd use the same tone/types of phrases and words when talking "on the side" about coworkers he didn't like. He had a "I like you, you're my friend" voice too which he used for people he liked (and also didn't like but needed to schmooze or who he was afraid of). That shared office experience was the most stressful 8 months of my working life. I just wanted to slap him. I wanted to tell his girlfriend to lose the loser. I wanted to tell him he was a jerk and an asshole and that's why most of the people at work gave him the cold shoulder.
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shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
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Post by shanendoah on Jan 31, 2020 16:42:51 GMT -5
When I did IT support for a small company manufacturing company, I had one of our line supervisors come to me and tell me that her husband, who was our machine shop supervisor, needed my help with his computer. The contract welder who came in at night had used her husband's computer for looking at porn and gotten a billion pop up ads, some of the virus type that opened another pop-up ad when you tried to close it, and even though her husband hadn't done this, he was too embarrassed to come ask for my help. I fixed the computer, and reported the issue to my boss. We stopped working with that welder.
For my own employee, my direct support person was friends with my director's support person. Something went wrong in their friendship, and suddenly they could not even email each other in a professional manner, not even about setting up appointments between me and the director. My staff member tried, in a veiled way, to claim the other staff member had made threats against her, but in every email exchange they had, y employee was the aggressor. We brought in HR mediation. The upshot? The two weren't supposed to communicate anymore, so then I was responsible for handling all communication my office needed to have with the director's office. My staff person was also the timekeeper for all of our staff, and as such, had access to confidential information about all the other staff (as it pertained to timekeeping). One day, even though she wasn't supposed to have direct contact with the other person, she went in search of her. And when she could not find her, she made a comment to other people working in the area that revealed confidential information about that employee. I received reports of it from other employees, from other supervisors, etc. They were all horrified. I had a meeting with her about it. HR was there. I was pretty certain I was going to end up firing her about this. But then, during our meeting, she made a comment about just wanting to keep her job until she retired. After that, HR wouldn't let me do anything, even though we had the documented mediation process and 10+ witnesses to the revelation of confidential information, because she might sue us for age discrimination. (Mind you, the other employee was roughly the same age.) I did end up laying her off when we did our first round of budget cuts (I got laid off in the second round) about a year later. But with that, she got a severance package.
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Rukh O'Rorke
Senior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 10,018
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jan 31, 2020 16:43:55 GMT -5
I have one direct report who is is firmly mediocre at his job. He does what he's assigned, but not much more than that. I don't have grounds to fire him, but he's not going to get promoted out of my department. No one else wants him. He's annoying as hell. He's one of those employees who 1) monitors all the other employees and bitches if he thinks someone else gets something he doesn't have, and 2) refuses to admit when he screws up, always having to find someone else to blame instead of just saying 'hey, I screwed up, sorry.' I don't know if he's gotten worse or if my tolerance is low, but when he sends me a whiny email complaining about whatever outrage he feels has been done to him, or narcing on a fellow employee he thinks screwed up, I want to just tell him to STFU. I'm not looking for advice with Mr Whine, but I'd love to hear some 'my worst employee' stories.... We did have a guy who was arrested, at work, for child porn. They walked him out of our building, the news cameras catching our company sign on the front of the building as he was frog marched to the cop car. They took his computer - a couple years later, I inherited his office and desk. He was worse that whiner (but the kiddie porn guy didn't work for me, so there's that). I'm really confused about other industries - if he is screwing up more than once a year - how is it not possible to fire him? How many screw ups is generally tolerated?
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
Posts: 20,851
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Post by happyhoix on Jan 31, 2020 18:03:36 GMT -5
My employer had a three-step appeal process for when an employee believed they had been treated unfairly. Issues could be unacceptable conduct, performance evaluation, excessive absences or tardiness, etc. All would have been issued an official warning letter or termination letter. As an HR rep I was involved in either the step one or step three level. Step one being at the local director level, step two at the regional VP level, and step three and final level at the executive (CEO, COO, CPO, etc.) headquarters level. At step three, I was required to review everything which took place at step one and two. Any questions I had I asked the director or VP. I also spoke with the employee and see if they wanted the executives to know something new. I would prepare the final report along with any and all supporting documentation. I was also to add to the report what I believed should be the final outcome of the case: uphold management's decision, modify it (less severe), or completely overturn it. Had a step three assigned to me of employee terminated for watching porn at work and on company computer. The executives always wondered what type of pictures these terminated employees were viewing on company time and computer. So I included the pictures with the final report to the execs so they could decide for themselves. The execs board upheld the termination and said don't ever send the pictures. They now had a good idea what employees were viewing at work. We had one of our engineers get fired for sending a temp a dick pick. He was not some young, right out of school kid, he was mid thirties, married, wife just had a little baby, and he thinks it's fun to send dick picks to co-workers. Apparently he dumped the temp and to get back at him, she showed her phone to HR. Poor HR, you get stuck looking at all kinds of skeevy stuff...
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
Posts: 20,851
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Post by happyhoix on Jan 31, 2020 18:11:30 GMT -5
I have one direct report who is is firmly mediocre at his job. He does what he's assigned, but not much more than that. I don't have grounds to fire him, but he's not going to get promoted out of my department. No one else wants him. He's annoying as hell. He's one of those employees who 1) monitors all the other employees and bitches if he thinks someone else gets something he doesn't have, and 2) refuses to admit when he screws up, always having to find someone else to blame instead of just saying 'hey, I screwed up, sorry.' I don't know if he's gotten worse or if my tolerance is low, but when he sends me a whiny email complaining about whatever outrage he feels has been done to him, or narcing on a fellow employee he thinks screwed up, I want to just tell him to STFU. I'm not looking for advice with Mr Whine, but I'd love to hear some 'my worst employee' stories.... We did have a guy who was arrested, at work, for child porn. They walked him out of our building, the news cameras catching our company sign on the front of the building as he was frog marched to the cop car. They took his computer - a couple years later, I inherited his office and desk. He was worse that whiner (but the kiddie porn guy didn't work for me, so there's that). I'm really confused about other industries - if he is screwing up more than once a year - how is it not possible to fire him? How many screw ups is generally tolerated? These are just minor screw ups, not fireable offenses. For instance, a couple weeks ago I was out of the office and had to sign a document and send it back to a vendor (not a critical document, something the vendor needed for their files). I forwarded the email to him and asked him to print it, sign it, and scan it back to the vendor since I wasn't there that day. The next day, back at work, the vendor asked me again if I could sign and scan the document. When I asked whiner boy why he didn't send it for me, he claimed the problem is he has to print his documents to a printer at the end of his hall, which, according to him, is a long way away (it's about five offices away). By the time he walked all that distance to the copier, his copy was gone (other people use the copier). So he couldn't get it done because the printer is so far away and he doesn't have a personal printer. When I asked why he didn't just print a second copy, he finally admitted he forgot. Why not just say 'gee I printed that out and intended to send it but forgot - sorry.' You don't have to figure out who you can blame for your mistake.
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Tennesseer
Member Emeritus
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 21:58:42 GMT -5
Posts: 63,323
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Post by Tennesseer on Jan 31, 2020 18:13:22 GMT -5
My employer had a three-step appeal process for when an employee believed they had been treated unfairly. Issues could be unacceptable conduct, performance evaluation, excessive absences or tardiness, etc. All would have been issued an official warning letter or termination letter. As an HR rep I was involved in either the step one or step three level. Step one being at the local director level, step two at the regional VP level, and step three and final level at the executive (CEO, COO, CPO, etc.) headquarters level. At step three, I was required to review everything which took place at step one and two. Any questions I had I asked the director or VP. I also spoke with the employee and see if they wanted the executives to know something new. I would prepare the final report along with any and all supporting documentation. I was also to add to the report what I believed should be the final outcome of the case: uphold management's decision, modify it (less severe), or completely overturn it. Had a step three assigned to me of employee terminated for watching porn at work and on company computer. The executives always wondered what type of pictures these terminated employees were viewing on company time and computer. So I included the pictures with the final report to the execs so they could decide for themselves. The execs board upheld the termination and said don't ever send the pictures. They now had a good idea what employees were viewing at work. We had one of our engineers get fired for sending a temp a dick pick. He was not some young, right out of school kid, he was mid thirties, married, wife just had a little baby, and he thinks it's fun to send dick picks to co-workers. Apparently he dumped the temp and to get back at him, she showed her phone to HR. Poor HR, you get stuck looking at all kinds of skeevy stuff... Yea, we sometimes did. We also sometimes heard too much information. I think I have told this story here before. Step one appeal for reinstatement regarding a termination: employee tested positive for cocaine use. Employee was in a DOT covered position. Therefore required to take random drug screens. Employee told the director, her senior manager, and me she did not do drugs. She did tell us her boyfriend did do cocaine and the cocaine must have entered her system after performing oral sex to completion on her boyfriend.
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
Posts: 20,851
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Post by happyhoix on Jan 31, 2020 18:18:15 GMT -5
We had one of our engineers get fired for sending a temp a dick pick. He was not some young, right out of school kid, he was mid thirties, married, wife just had a little baby, and he thinks it's fun to send dick picks to co-workers. Apparently he dumped the temp and to get back at him, she showed her phone to HR. Poor HR, you get stuck looking at all kinds of skeevy stuff... Yea, we sometimes did. We also sometimes heard too much information. I think I have told this story here before. Step one termination: employee tested positive for cocaine use. Employee was in a DOT covered position. Therefore required to take random drug screens. Employee told the director, her senior manager, and me she did not do drugs. She did tell us her boyfriend did do cocaine and the cocaine must have entered her system after performing oral sex to completion on her boyfriend. Haha - reminds me of when they drug tested all the warehouse employees when we got bought out by another company - they warned all the employees 3 months in advance that it was going to happen and on what day, and still a bunch of them tested positive. One guy tried to explain that he didn't do any cocaine himself, but went to a party that weekend where there was 'cocaine in the air' and he must have walked through a cloud of it.
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Rukh O'Rorke
Senior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 10,018
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jan 31, 2020 18:37:50 GMT -5
I'm really confused about other industries - if he is screwing up more than once a year - how is it not possible to fire him? How many screw ups is generally tolerated? These are just minor screw ups, not fireable offenses. For instance, a couple weeks ago I was out of the office and had to sign a document and send it back to a vendor (not a critical document, something the vendor needed for their files). I forwarded the email to him and asked him to print it, sign it, and scan it back to the vendor since I wasn't there that day. The next day, back at work, the vendor asked me again if I could sign and scan the document. When I asked whiner boy why he didn't send it for me, he claimed the problem is he has to print his documents to a printer at the end of his hall, which, according to him, is a long way away (it's about five offices away). By the time he walked all that distance to the copier, his copy was gone (other people use the copier). So he couldn't get it done because the printer is so far away and he doesn't have a personal printer. When I asked why he didn't just print a second copy, he finally admitted he forgot. Why not just say 'gee I printed that out and intended to send it but forgot - sorry.' You don't have to figure out who you can blame for your mistake. yeah - I can see that as minor - how often? If it were once a week or more, I'd be strong talk "pattern" and then PIPing that.
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countrygirl2
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 7, 2016 15:45:05 GMT -5
Posts: 16,826
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Post by countrygirl2 on Jan 31, 2020 18:48:57 GMT -5
I had a guy training me for a job at an oil and gas company, I figured out real quick he was lazy and also didn't care what he did. When I said we should research something he would just say, oh we don't need to mess with that. I reported to my supervisor as he asked how it was going. I explained what was happening and told him I would rather just work on my own. He said well just wait a few days. One morning he called me and said don't be shocked today, the guy is going to be arrested. The police hadn't been able to find him so they were coming in there to arrest him. He had been passing bad checks all over. They came in were very discreet and took him away.
His stuff was sooooo screwed up it took me a couple of months to fix it, slowly I did, but I had to go back on months of work to fix it and bring it forward. What a mess.
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Ryan
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 16, 2014 13:40:36 GMT -5
Posts: 2,202
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Post by Ryan on Jan 31, 2020 20:21:28 GMT -5
I have a short management career, but my worst employee bounces between being very competent at her job and good natured to either too aggressive or passive aggressive. I've tried getting her to where she needs to be, but after this long it's a lost cause. She just can't control her emotions. It's too bad, she has the skills to do the job but she can't work well with others. The worst part about it is she can't even see the error in her ways. This was a tough one because it wasn't blatant, it was more like you know it when you see it. Our employer is very culture focused and she's just not a good fit.. She'd be on her best behavior for a couple weeks and then you'd overhear a call where she's just over the line. She'd send an email to a co-worker and just take little digs whose only purpose seems to pick a fight.
Good news is that it'll be over soon.
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