I had to fire someone yesterday.

[Trekker4747]

Haven't had to to that. I've had people quit/leave to another job had one guy basically walk out, but never "fire." Never document their infractions, get enough of them, fill out a termination report, have him sign it and then say goodbye.

I feel bad. His wife just lost her job, they have a small kid and another one on the way; but I was under pressure from my bosses to do this because this guy wasn't working out. Great worker just problems with attendance and making it to work on time. Only thing that kept him so long was that I needed him as a set of hands more than I didn't. He did a goid job here.

But I shouldn't have to call/text you to remind you you work or ask if you're coming in. The ice he was on lasted longer than it should have. So, my bosses were tired of the slack and, basically I can work 12 hour days until we get the replacement in and trainend.

Sigh. Such is life.

 

[Finn]

That sucks.

Are you still working at a supermarket? Or am I thinking of someone else?

 

[Trekker4747]

Manager of the Meat Department.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I was a manager for a little while for one of the places that I worked. I had to fire someone once for similar reasons. I felt so bad about having to fire her I didn't get any sleep for 2 or 3 nights. On her way out of the store she had a hissy fit and damaged some equipment on the way out. I felt better about letting her go after that.

 

[fireproof78]

Being in management is a hard road. If someone hadn't given same day notice I would have been writing them and facing potential firing due to absenteeism.

It sucks and I'm sorry to hear you have to go through that.

 

[auntiehill]

I never had the power to fire someone directly--could only go to HR and say "Please fire this jackass," and hand them the documents.

Several times, it was just absenteeism. There was one person who kept coming in late and leaving early, then taking bathroom breaks that lasted 15-20 minutes, and also calling in "sick" two or three times a week, and then leaving hours early on the days she actually showed up---on a temporary job. So, technically, she abandoned her job and I just documented it. She sat right in front of me, so it's not like I wouldn't notice she was missing. The strange part was that she was actually surprised when, at the end of the project, she didn't get her invitation letter to the next project. I remember hearing another manager yell, "Are you kidding me?!"

The other time was a guy who was harassing another worker. We worked in a big warehouse-like room and sat at long tables--working on scoring state exams, right before everything ended up on computers. The woman came to me in tears and asked to be moved to another table. Turns out he kept asking her out, brushing up against her, leaving little creepy little drawings on the sticky notes we used to mark papers--dumbass even left some of them on the table so I saw them for myself. I asked HR to fire him ASAP and they did. He was a jackass from Day 1 and was always being a jerk, so I had no qualms about it whatsoever.

 

[JoeZhang]

I've had to fire people - if they have worked for you for more than two years (in the UK) it can be a long long process - especially in professional jobs where it can all get legal very fast.

On the other hand - the company I worked for many years ago was taken over by an American company and I had an argument with my new American manager who then fired me and some colleagues - for some reason he was not briefed that the UK is not "at will" and that we have employment rights.

HR absolutely **** shit the bed and we all went back to work in the afternoon after our union worked out our unlawful dismissal payments.

 

[Timby]

I've only had to fire someone once, and unfortunately it was in a role that I was grossly unqualified for--I got promoted to the co-chief role at my company when I was only 23, in 2006, and I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.

But we had a graphic designer, about 15 years my senior in age, who was grossly incompetent and malcontent, and let her personal life interfere with her professional life far too much. (For example: Her ex-husband would often storm in, cussing up a storm about this, that or the other, completely blowing up our office environment. Or she'd turn in ads that were off-spec / off-size because she insisted upon using CorelDRAW instead of Photoshop. Or her daughter would spend afternoons in the office, and that precocious little 6-year-old would just bother all of us. Or the daytime bartender from across the street that she was sleeping with would come over and yell at her. You get the idea.)

My business partners didn't want to fire her, because she had been at the ground floor of the company when we founded it. But eventually it all got to be too much, and my partners put it on me to sack her, saying that it would be a learning experience for me.

So, well, I did it. Explained simply that her performance was not up to expectations, that she had been given several written warnings, that her email and other server access had been turned off, and that she was free to pack up her workspace at her own pace and we wouldn't chase her out.

It's an experience that still doesn't sit well in my gut. Although she did spit at my best friend on her way out.

So, I feel you, Treker. It never feels good to deprive someone of their livelihood. But, at the same time, sometimes people need a kick in the pants. (I know I did.)

 

[XCV330]

I never had to directly fire anyone but I when I was, I guess 20 years old I was in charge of the other security guards at this trucking depot in the middle of nowhere. I had absolutely no business being in charge of anything. There was a new guard who, like a lot of them, planned to go into law enforcement, but he wasn't a cop or deputy yet. I think he might have done volunteer ride-alongs, which is always a bad sign. (I have more than one tale about wannabee cop securiy guards. they are a very disturbed class of individual)

One night i saw he had a tonfa style nightstick in the back of his hatchback, but I ignored it. It wasn't on his person. We weren't supposed to carry any clubs at that site. We were there for fire insurance, and to make sure that truckers could get in the depot and get a place to sleep at night. Another night, I saw his personal firearm was outlined in his ike jacket pocket. I just reminded him that we weren't licensed to carry firearms at that job site, even if we had personal permits. I didn't technically see it, so I didn't report it.

One morning after my shift I got a call from my supervisor that the new guy had been caught on security cameras poking through employees desk drawers. Personal money was missing, not a lot, but any amount meant he was the only suspect.

They asked me if I had anything to say for him. I didn't. I was about to go to bed when the new guy called me up at home, worried because the captain had asked him to come to the main office. He asked if he was in trouble. I lied and said I wasn't sure, and that it might be some paperwork thing. Last I ever heard of him. I'm not sad that he got fired (I quit one week later, myself, and started college soon after) , but I probably should have been more honest about what he was stepping into.

 

[Non Sync]

I've had to let people go over the years. Never easy, but some aren't as hard as others.

Had one mediocre employee call about five minutes after his shift was supposed to start saying he was about 90 miles away and wouldn't be in on time (duh!). I said I'd get his shift covered. He ended up coming in about two hours late and we let him go the next day. You call in five minutes after your shift if you live 10-15 minutes away and had car trouble, but if you're that far away, you know you aren't going to make it in time. This was the same guy that had started at a lower wage than everyone else and after we bumped him up to the level of everyone else then expected the same bump the following year.

 

[publiusr]

he wasn't a cop or deputy yet. I think he might have done volunteer ride-alongs, which is always a bad sign.

I do security work too…too many “cowboys.”

 

[SithHappens]

If you have been through the proper process and issued warnings etc and he knew he needed to be better then you have no reason to feel bad, the other employer (of his wife) laying her off while pregnant may have more of an issue, hopefully(for them) they have done that by the book and her pregnancy isn't the motivation behind her firing.

 

[Farscape One]

Haven't had to to that. I've had people quit/leave to another job had one guy basically walk out, but never "fire." Never document their infractions, get enough of them, fill out a termination report, have him sign it and then say goodbye.

I feel bad. His wife just lost her job, they have a small kid and another one on the way; but I was under pressure from my bosses to do this because this guy wasn't working out. Great worker just problems with attendance and making it to work on time. Only thing that kept him so long was that I needed him as a set of hands more than I didn't. He did a goid job here.

But I shouldn't have to call/text you to remind you you work or ask if you're coming in. The ice he was on lasted longer than it should have. So, my bosses were tired of the slack and, basically I can work 12 hour days until we get the replacement in and trainend.

Sigh. Such is life.

I feel you. There are times when it can eat at you.

At Whole Foods, I remember one guy I had to separate. Solid worker, but he had massive attendance issues. And the policies for time and attendance were pretty lax and forgiving, in my opinion. He had a wife and kid, and medical issues were involved. That was the hardest conversation I ever had to give during my time there. What made it worse (for me, anyway) was that he was not angry at all... he completely understood the attendance problems and why he was being let go. After the conversation and escorting him out of the store, I told him that if he needed a reference for another job to put me down as one, though I did tell him I couldn't lie if they asked about attendance. (Being dishonest is not at all my style, especially when it comes to the professional world.) He later did find something, and I was very glad because he was a good guy.


Then you get those who just have it coming. One guy was not only having attendance issues, but he was not producing as he should. And he was causing personal problems within the team. Unfortunately, he knew the rules inside and out, so he was able to get away with a lot... enough stuff that my Team Leader kept trying to convince our Store Team Leader that he needed to go. Eventually, I caught him clocking in, leaving the store, and clocking back in/out like it was a shift... basically, stealing time. As soon as the video was uploaded, with paperwork, to HR, we canned him. That was honestly probably the only time I was happy to fire someone, because he was just bad news.

 

[Jack Wolfe]

Haven't had to to that. I've had people quit/leave to another job had one guy basically walk out, but never "fire." Never document their infractions, get enough of them, fill out a termination report, have him sign it and then say goodbye.

I feel bad. His wife just lost her job, they have a small kid and another one on the way; but I was under pressure from my bosses to do this because this guy wasn't working out. Great worker just problems with attendance and making it to work on time. Only thing that kept him so long was that I needed him as a set of hands more than I didn't. He did a goid job here.

But I shouldn't have to call/text you to remind you you work or ask if you're coming in. The ice he was on lasted longer than it should have. So, my bosses were tired of the slack and, basically I can work 12 hour days until we get the replacement in and trainend.

Sigh. Such is life.

I've had to get used to it thanks to two "for cause" terminations. I abandoned retirement and started with an IT firm in January as part of a sea change in their management structure and company culture. Basically, the former supervisors were letting the techs get away with murder and the company was losing clients because of it. My team of 24 had two malcontents who decided they were going to remain loyal to their former supervisors (one who was fired outright, which to me makes loyalty a teensy bit problematic, and another who gleefully abdicated their supervisory role). They made the process easy and I never lost a moment's sleep.

What sucked was losing two more because of family demands. One was a delightful chap from India whose brother has dire health problems, and he had to resign to support his family. All our jobs are remote, and I tried like mad to keep him on because he can work from anywhere on the planet, but the pay isn't steady and he would be stuck working the "dead hours" when support calls aren't coming in. I was humbled when he promised to send me an invitation to his wedding this December, even knowing full well I won't be able to make it.

The most recent one, who departed this past Friday, resigned to help with his parents' real estate business. Apparently, they had some employees who skint them for quite a lot of money, and they need someone they can trust to help pick up the pieces. I'm leaving the door open for him to return once things settle down, which surprised him.

It helps that we're aggressively hiring new talent, so the losses don't sting as much. Onboarding is as big a pain in the arse as terminating, at least from a paperwork perspective, but the mood is far, far lighter.

 

[cosmic mouse]

The other time was a guy who was harassing another worker. We worked in a big warehouse-like room and sat at long tables--working on scoring state exams, right before everything ended up on computers. The woman came to me in tears and asked to be moved to another table. Turns out he kept asking her out, brushing up against her, leaving little creepy little drawings on the sticky notes we used to mark papers--dumbass even left some of them on the table so I saw them for myself. I asked HR to fire him ASAP and they did. He was a jackass from Day 1 and was always being a jerk, so I had no qualms about it whatsoever.

The one time, so far, that I've had to let an employee go was similar to this. When people have attendance problems, but are also not very good workers when they are actually at work, then it makes letting them go far easier...

 

[Dar70]

Haven't had to to that. I've had people quit/leave to another job had one guy basically walk out, but never "fire." Never document their infractions, get enough of them, fill out a termination report, have him sign it and then say goodbye.

I feel bad. His wife just lost her job, they have a small kid and another one on the way; but I was under pressure from my bosses to do this because this guy wasn't working out. Great worker just problems with attendance and making it to work on time. Only thing that kept him so long was that I needed him as a set of hands more than I didn't. He did a goid job here.

But I shouldn't have to call/text you to remind you you work or ask if you're coming in. The ice he was on lasted longer than it should have. So, my bosses were tired of the slack and, basically I can work 12 hour days until we get the replacement in and trainend.

Sigh. Such is life.

That sucks. It's hard to find people right now. Especially good workers. Poor guy. The good news is he should be able to find a blue collar position easily.

 

[PsychoPere]

This sort of thing is why I don't think that leadership positions interest me at all. Ten or fifteen years ago, I would have certainly thought it was a natural goal to work towards. These days, in my mid-thirties, not sure I want the extra hassle and headaches of supervision, discipline, and politics that can be involved.

 

[Farscape One]

This sort of thing is why I don't think that leadership positions interest me at all. Ten or fifteen years ago, I would have certainly thought it was a natural goal to work towards. These days, in my mid-thirties, not sure I want the extra hassle and headaches of supervision, discipline, and politics that can be involved.

That's certainly understandable. Many people simply don't want that level of extra bs in their lives. Some people aren't suited for it, either. I've known a couple people who were phenomenal workers, but once they got into a leadership role, they just fell apart. It's all a matter of figuring out if you have a high threshold for those things you mentioned.

 

[Non Sync]

That's certainly understandable. Many people simply don't want that level of extra bs in their lives. Some people aren't suited for it, either. I've known a couple people who were phenomenal workers, but once they got into a leadership role, they just fell apart. It's all a matter of figuring out if you have a high threshold for those things you mentioned.

It's The Peter Principle. In any hierarchy, individuals are promoted to the level of their incompetence. It's best demonstrated with programmers. A good programmer is promoted to senior programmer, then to lead programmer and further up the food chain, using the higher position to justify the higher salaries to keep them. The problem with this is that they are doing less programming and more of the stuff they either weren't trained for or had a talent for. You end up firing them because they can't do the job that you ended up pushing them into.

 

[Mrs. Silvercrest]

One of my good friends had to fire a few people and it was super hard for her. My heart goes out to you and I send you a hug and say I am sorry you had to do that. It just sucks!