Implying that they are done with their task for the day more often and sooner than the other one.
It’s the “more often” that threw me, since they each say it once per day once the day’s tasks are done. And “is there anything else” gets said more, because that employee is willing to help and I want their help, so they help out with more, whereas “can I go” will throw a shitfit if I say “yes, X came up, can you take care of it?”
Define shit fit.
Yeah, I’m not surprised. I’m trying to keep it vague, but if I didn’t want to talk about work I shouldn’t have spoken up at all.
Last time I tried to hand her work that came up after morning assignments, she, in very polite, straightforward terms, explained to me how much she hated having to do anything beyond morning assignments and she did not want to do them. When I sat down with her in a private meeting to try to come to an understanding, she admitted outright that she hates the company, hates the managers, hates the ‘cliques’ – which is basically the entirety of the office BUT her simply being social – and resents any time she actually has to work a full 8 hours. Yes, she’s full time. I guarantee I’m not hyperbolizing, that is nearly verbatim.
She does her work well, so I’m working to accommodate her within reason, but does that really sound acceptable?
Just to be clear, since we’re in this particular thread, I would never hold declining to participate in social activities against someone. You want to do your work, that’s fine. You dislike the personalities of your coworkers, I can understand that. But this isn’t a big company. It’s not a big office. I’m not particularly fond of having one person just sit there and resent everyone around them when we’re in such close quarters. Hell, I’ve very nearly gotten fired for the same thing, and justifiably.
That’s not looking for a reason to dump her for her attitude, Bossone. That’s looking for a reason to dump her for being a slacker who wants to get paid without doing the work.
She’s hourly and has no problem with getting paid less. Puzzles me, but everyone’s got their life/work balance. What’s tricky is balancing that against the other employees who tend to get frustrated that she does leave early, even though they would like their full hours. Work’s light enough that I can’t get 40 hours a week for everyone unless I really do throw in [del]busy work[/del] very low-priority but still useful work.
We’re actually at a point where I’m relatively comfortable with the department’s workflow each day, so it’s not a huge issue. I just do think that it’s possible for someone’s attitude to overwhelm any competency they might have at their job.
“very polite straightforward terms” is not a shitfit. If she feels that strongly about everyone there, she should look elsewhere. But it doesn’t sound like a shitfit. If she simply does not want to do the work, and then she fails to do it, your path is clear. If she does the work assignments, and is at least polite, there is no reason to can her. Still, I wonder why stay there if she hates everything.
“She does her work well” is reason to keep her, if she is not disruptive.
Question: Is she being expected to do added work because the social happy SLOW worker (or workers) were falling down on the job? That could be the source of her “discontent”.
“it’d be an awful hard decision between the fast but surly employee and the slow but social employee”. Is she being saddled with extra work that the slow one didn’t finish or didn’t do at all? Another source of “discontent” could be this: Is she being handed this added work and then getting “beat up” when the original “morning task” has to wait?
Maybe it would be a smart idea to find out. You could have asked her what was bugging her during that “very polite straightforward terms” shitfit??
If she is so bugged, there MIGHT be a valid reason. If you don’t at least ask, you should.
Smily people persons are a dime a dozen. A person who does the work and gets it done can be a rare thing.
If I were a customer and you had to explain why you failed to deliver, I would not want to hear that the reason was you fired the working grouch and kept the happy slow one. You 'd lose the account right there, and maybe get a visit from the lawyers.
At any rate, shit fit is not the same as “very polite straightforward”. I see a problem right there.
I did. I’ve got just as good a sense of the department as she does, only it’s colored differently. I’m going to opt not to get into further details, though. I’ve already given more details about my work on a permanent message board than I’m comfortable with.
Now you’re just going into Internet Tough Guy mode here. Don’t be ridiculous.
As you say.
I didn’t mean “for the day” per se, just “what was on her plate”. But sure, “for the day” could work, particularly if the pokey one sometimes still has stuff on her desk when it’s time to go home.
There are two possible scenarios here.
1.) Everyone should be scheduled for a certain number of hours. They are expected to be in the office and available to work during those hours, even if there is no work to be done at that time. At your discretion as manager, if things are slow, you may choose to offer to someone with nothing to do the option of going home. But Efficient McBitchy doesn’t get to keep setting her own hours.
2.) All employees are assigned a certain amount of work during the day, after which point they are free to go. If some employees would rather sit around the office and wait to see if more work comes up, they may do so, but it is not required. Anybody complaining about Efficient McBitchy leaving early can then be pointed to the appropriate policy explaining that they, too, could be leaving early (and missing their pay for those hours), if they get their work done in a satisfactory manner fast enough.
Really, I can’t help but think you’ve created your own problem here: either by letting someone ditch out on their scheduled hours, or by not politely instructing the rest of the team to shut the fuck up about shit that isn’t their business.
ETA: SteveG1, yes, please do back off the blowhard bullshit. I mean, seriously, threatening someone with lawyers for some imaginary offense against you as a hypothetical client?
Nobody’s actually said anything outright to me. I kind of wish they would, because I fully plan to do the second. I could take each person aside and explain the situation one on one, but that seems more disruptive than not. If it becomes a bigger problem, I will.
Like I said, right now things are actually pretty stable. The work’s getting done, and the attitude hasn’t become an actual hindrance to that yet. I’m just running over things in my head pretty constantly so I can be ready the moment things do destabilize.
I’m not trying to be Tough Internet Guy. I was not even begining (added on edit: or trying) to browbeat or bully. However, I could imagine an irate customer, when you try to “explain” a big delay to him. Can’t you? That’s the point I was making. The person who gets things done meets schedules spares you from having to make explanations to your boss or customer. IF she I doing the work that is. If she isn’t doing the work, can her. If she fights EVERYthing, can her. If she disrupts the workplace, can her.
“very polite straightforward” is NOT a shitfit. Don’t be ridiculous. We’re all adults, I hope we all know what a true shitfit is.
If you asked her what her problem is, it’s cool. You did what you could. But, don’t bring her up, if you don’t want to discuss it.
" I’m going to opt not to get into further details"
Then don’t bring it up to begin with.
I have incontrovertible evidence that everything everyone ever said is wrong but I don’t want to get into it. Hmmmm :rolleyes:
You’re totally right, I shouldn’t have.
Shit, dude, I can be wrong. I realize that. I’ve only been running the department for three months after being in the department for the last six years. I’m reading all the management discussions going on with interest and taking advice from all corners so I can do my job better. What you’re saying is actually helpful, don’t think I’m just writing it off. I just have a certain comfort level about how detailed I get on a searchable message board.
It’s all good. If I’m truly going overboard, just tell me plain straight up to STFU. And the customer thing was not an attempt to be tough, really. I’ve been in a spot where I took the hits for someone who had failed to do something. It’s horrible.
If you speak from experience, that’s something else. I just can’t envision telling the customer, “Yeah, one of my people was just too slow.” The manager represents the department. That means taking the bullets.
Regarding the resentment from other workers, even though she doesn’t get paid for hours she doesn’t work - that seems to be almost universal. I usually work part-time hours, and if I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, “Must be nice to go home early!” I’d have a lot of nickels. Yeah, it is nice; it must also be nice to have twice as much money on your paycheque as I do. People just don’t think things through; if it does come up, I’d second your idea of straightening them out on how things actually work. Maybe ask them, and see if anyone else wants to give up some money to work fewer hours - you never know what the outcome might be.
I imagine the “side comments” can get on your nerves after a while, can’t they.
Bosstone, often a bad attitude had a cause. It may be a valid cause, it may be stupid. But it’s there. If there is no cause at all, then you may have a nut case on your hands. The “she said she HATES everyone” sort of thing is pretty extreme. It’s not the same thing as “I just don’t wanna”. There must have been something behind it somewhere along the line.
Oh, I’m absolutely sure she got burned by a crappy manager at some point in the past, and the two previous department managers were none too good. Hell, I’ve spent hours complaining about the bosses I now report directly to and work with myself (I still remain bemused that I never got fired after the shouting match I had with the VP). I just think in her desire to avoid the ‘company lapdog’ side of the spectrum, she went too far over to the ‘enemy of management’ side. I can respect that she has issues, and probably legitimate ones. I just remain confused as to why she’s chosen to stay with a company she hates for at least two years now, other than the general economy reason.
[quote=“Bosstone, post:258, topic:555148”]
I have issues with one of the companies I worked for, literally I could be your subordinate. I was polite, and refused to get sucked into the daily occurring drama which got me the rep of being a bitch. I was not there to make friends, or get sucked into the damned drama - all I wanted was a fucking paycheck. This is also the place that would send us on the damned team building shit every couple of months. It got to where I was eating my migraine and stomach acid meds like popcorn. I hated going in every day. I left as soon as I could possibly leave at the end of my shift. I was so freaking glad when I could find another job that paid LESS because I could get the fuck out. Yes, I took a drop in pay to get out of a poisonous environment.
How about seeing what your surly worker has issues with and seeing if it is something that can be remedied? It might be something as simple as instead of parceling out the assignments a couple at a time, make a whole list of 20 items that need to get done, and let her/him go to town on them. Sort of like in that thread on the terrorist twos - let the kid have the sense of choice without forcing choices on them. Let surly worker seem to have more freedom of choice. Might make it seem less managed and more self responsible.
They used to - now I just smile and say, “Yup, it really is.” They usually don’t bug me about it twice. 
I can kind of understand the thing about her wanting to know what her day is going to be in the morning, and not wanting things added to it through the day - it sounds like she sort of braces herself for what she has to put up with, and any more is too much. When I start my day, I need to get myself sorted out in the morning before people start attacking me with problems - I’ll deal with everything, but let me get my jacket off and get my hot drink first. Maybe she’s the same way - it’s not that she doesn’t want to do the work, it’s just the way that she’s given the work throughout the day.
Or maybe she just needs to realize that your time is not your own when you’re on the employer’s clock.