It would be the perfect name for me right now. What I had to do today out scrooged even Scrooge himself. I fired somebody. Yep, five days before Christmas ol’ scroogebear walks into somebody’s office and, Bah! Humbug! You’re fired! Not only did I do said dastardly deed, I did it right before a big office wide Christmas lunch. That’s right, the staff is having a party, but you can’t come because you no longer work here. Scroogebear, that’s me.
She had it coming. Three verbal warnings, two written warnings, and a corrective action disciplinary form all within a three week period and still she continued to violate almost every one of the “terms and conditions of employment” this place has. It was like she really didn’t believe she could be fired. Even after being told that one more violation would result in termination. Guess what? She did and I did. She even said, “are you really going to fire me this close to Christmas?” “Are you so mean that you would ruin somebody’s holiday like this?” Evidently, I am that mean. :eek:
The rest of the staff has really been cool through this. I’ve had a lot of ‘em come up to me and ask if I’m ok and to say they understand I had to do what I did. They’re either a really good group of folks or scared shitless of ol’ scroogebear right now. They all went home right after the lunch thing. I told them they could go early and I’d keep the place open the rest of the day myself. Dang, hope that doesn’t take away any scrooge points I may have earned.
A history of being anywhere from 30-45 minutes late for work at least 3 days a week. Signing out during the day without noting where she was going, why, or when she expected to be back. Notorious for not answering her pager. Her favorite line, “The battery must have gone dead in my pager.” Long and loud arguments with her direct supervisor. The clincher, taking money from someone we serve. This is an organization that serves persons with disabilities, primarily developmental disabilities. The last took place on Tuesday of this week. I was gone and did not find out until late on Thursday afternoon, too late to do it then. I spent most of this morning in a meeting with other staff about other stuff, then did my Scrooge imitation. GfH you’re right. It takes a special talent to do so much in such a short time, but there had been a history of the lateness, disappearing act during the day and supervisory issues for going on three years.
Bah! Humbug! from Grinchville
scroogebear
And thanks for the props GfH and Jake I needed that. Well, that, several cold beers and having the bf pamper me and call me “poor baby” tonight will help a lot. GfH, you know I am the town bear and gossip for [Dopeville](Welcome to Dopeville, pop. 27,757). Come to me for the latest news on all the dirt round town.
FCM I thought all you old geezers were at Denney’s for the early bird special this time of day. You better hurry before all the pureed entres are gone.
I’ve been in the position of firing problem employees and it is never fun. You have to remind youself though of all the good employees she was negatively impacting. You did the right thing.
And I recommend one shot of good bourbon to go with those beers…sort of a “here’s to you, you lazy no good thieving b**** for making me feel bad before Christmas because you didn’t play by the rules.”
Maybe you should have started this as a pit thread and really blew off some steam.
My boss from a few jobs back fired one of my coworkers near Christmas. He felt terrible about it. We were relieved. This guy sucked the energy out of the office. We dreaded dealing with him. He was pissy, argumentative and petty.
While it is unfortunate it had to happen around Christmas, it obviously had to happen. The people who worked with this woman are probably glad she’s gone.
I know I did the right thing. Thanks for all the encouragement. The bf pampered me last night and made me feel all better. Amazing what a couple of martinis, some Manhattan Transfer playing on the CD player, a hot tub and a handsome man paying me a whole lot of attention will do. I know her immediate supervisor is glad not to have to deal with her anymore. Also, she will be able to file for unemployment. I could fight that but I won’t. Dangit, there go some more scrooge points.
I won’t even dignify that smartass Denny’s comment with a response. However, I will dispatch my secret commandos : the Doper of Christmas Past, the Doper of Christmas Present, and the Doper of Christmas Yet to Come. They will fill your hot tub with cranberry jelly and replace your martini olives with watermelon-flavored jelly beans. And as for your toothpaste… hehehehehe
Actually, I think that it would be much crueler to merely tell someone that he’s going to be fired before Christmas, so he can spend the day thinking about how he’s about to lose his job…
MMMMM…the bf in a hot tub full of cranberry jelly. FCM are you Santa? Are you just cranky because Denny’s was all out of pureed liver and onions? Heeheehee. Oh, and as if any ghosts would be scarier than me.
d12 in person and in writing. When I have to fire someone I always talk to the person face to face and give the person a letter detailing the reason(s) for the firing. Of course, I have plenty of backup documentation (notations of verbal warnings, copies of written warnings, corrective disciplines, etc) for backup in case things get ugly. I’m not only good at firing people, I’m pretty damn thorough also.
My work has one that HAS GOT TO GO. And my manager is too fond of his own self image of “The Nice Guy” to get rid of Problem Person. Given that my manager is a self centered poop head, his Nice Guy image could only be improved by ridding the store of the Problem.
You done good. You gave a great gift to all your employees.
Well, at least you felt bad about the whole thing, even if she did have a lot of violations on her record. But I’m not sure that all those “good deeds” you did after the firing takes away all your “scrooge points.” I mean, did you HAVE to do it right before Christmas? (just kidding, I know you had to…)
Being thorough probably ensures that there aren’t any loopholes in case the person decides to sue you (or the company) in a wrongful dismissal suit. Though in this case, it doesn’t sound like there’s any cause for that. You did the right thing, and everyone’s probably most relieved that she’s not there anymore.
Besides, no matter how crappy you might feel over this, I’m sure your boyfriend definitely made you feel better… and we still love ya over here! (you DO know that, right?)
