calling all bosses and small business owners....

[UncleRico]

Decision One is always hiring, Ida! If you're really as good as you say you are....

http://jobview.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=62840499&JobTitle=Senior+Customer+Service+Engineer&fn=543&lid=385&brd=1&cy=us&vw=b&AVSDM=2007-09-24+12%3a28%3a00&pg=1&seq=2

[Mudneck]

AS A past business owner I know how hard good employees are hard to find. If YOU explained what you did as far as work and there was nothing left to do and since it was your day off....................I as an employer would be happy I didnt have to sit there & do the work myself. I would have paid you for the day & been appreciative of you coming in & saving the day. Otherwise I would have had to cut my trip to the strip club short.

If I were you I would ask for a raise

If that dont work tell him to deduct the $3.75 or whatever minimum wage is now from your check!

[kawasakimojaverider]

email regarding above,,,obviously names have been changed.

Hello IdaMann,

 

It has come to my attention from several sources that you were on the clock doing homework today.  I would like to listen to what you have to say in explanation before I make a decision on what the recourse will be if any.  At this time, until we have the meeting, I have asked MGT to reduce your hours until this matter has been resolved to our mutual satisfaction.

 

Please contact me by cell to arrange a time for us to meet,

 

Sincerely,

 

Bossman, As President

i dont own a company but im the foreman for a lawn crew and if i seen that you were done with all of your work early and i seen you working on your homework on company time i would be proud that your still working and keeping your self busy instead of playing on the equipment and waisting gas or sitting around. when i see somebody on my crew messing around or (my favorite) texting or talking on the phone for more than about 5 minutes when there supose to be working ill get on to them about it and if they get smart with me i just call the boss and let him know that we need another guy for the crew and tell the guy that got smart with me to start walking when you go to the meeting just keep a cool head and if they fire you just let it go and be the better man and walk away cause when you go to another job and you fill out a resume you can put them down as a reference and if there good people than they will give you a good report

[bignickwaite]

tell him to pound sand.

[bignickwaite]

actually ya know what. give me his # ill call him and tell him to pound sand.

[kawasakimojaverider]

actually ya know what. give me his # ill call him and tell him to pound sand.

lol 

[GrizzlyGator]

sounds to me like managment has this hypothetiocal problem  with this hypothetical employee  quite often??? Maybe there is more Dirt; I mean history here that we don't know about...in this hypothetical story  ?  otherwise seems to me pretty extreme to me to have a closed door meeting with an employee over the "explanation of what YOU said happened" always two sides to the story my bro. man...I am a Gen Mgr. with over 30+ employees....if what your story says is true take Uncle Rico advise...if there is some missing parts to the story that we didn't get to hear then..then this hypothetical employee should take his/her medicine and strive to become a better employee    

[big-daddy]

It seen to me Ida that he is pissed off about something and letting things cool down before talking to you. but thats a good thing and also show that he a good boss.

[VForcedave]

Let him slide. I manage people all day every day. With the lack of qualified people to pick from he sounds like a good one. He came in when you asked on his day off. He still had to accomplish his goal as well. Sounds like a person that is goal orientated. They are hard to replace. Whats his number, I will call him and see if he wants to work on Marine Electronics.      

[Young Gun]

Theres nothing wrong with that.  I'm not a boss or small business owner but I know I am not stupid.  You called the guy in on work on his day off, he came in promptly, did what he needed to.  Then he worked on his paper that was MORE important.  I doubt he wants to flunk out of his school versus work for a jackass.

[yunt2ride]

Like Can-AmGator said, If something in this story is missing, then look at the whole case different. If its axactly as written, then explain that you came in on your day off and completed all work that had to be done except closing the store. So you figured that you would use the rest of your time wisely by trying to get the homework that you normally would do on your day off, done. If you then see it going south and see that you will be fired anyways, then be the better man and stand up, shake his hand and say that its been a pleasure working for you. You will feel the pride later and be a stand up guy in the end, which will lead to a good reference down the road. Keep in mind that you only work 15 hours a week and there are a lot of people looking for good part time employees. Its not like your leaving a full time job.

[Ida_Mann]

there are two things I left out now that I think about it;

1. bossman brought up another "incident" where this same employee was doing the same thing about three months ago and publicly berated them in front of two other employees,,,,it was later brought to the bossman's attention that the employee was off the clock and was watching the phones as a courtesy during his lunch break.

2. bossman will frequently wear a t-shirt on his days off that says "I hug trees", owns two hybrids, thinks Al Gore should be elected president for the next 30 years, buys nothing but "green friendly" products and, holds annual "Earth Day" celebrations at his house,,,,,get the picture?

[yunt2ride]

With that being said. If he is the manager and not the actual owner. I would let the owner know that since you ride quads that the manager has something against you because he is a tree hugger. And something needs to be done with him or you will sue the company for keeping this idiot on. (Keep in mind that I'm no lawyer and this may not work)    If that doesn't work then have someone to buy the land across the street and open an ATV park. 

[TRX450R_Racer]

Well if the meeting turns ugly then the person should bring up that it was there day off,and after they finished all there work they started doing homework.If the boss is worth a crap they will understand that the employee not only finished their work after coming into help out the situation but they also used spare time wisely by furthering there education and if the boss doesn't understand that.Then next time the boss is in a bind and he calls on your day off wanting you to fill in for someone else just dont answer your house phone and if they call your cell phone tell them you would but your out of town visiting family .

If you like the job and want to keep it I agree 100% with above except for the part about avoiding him next time he has a day off. I would make it clear that next time don't call me in on my day off if you're not going to work with me.

If you don't care about the job then tell him how you really feel. LOL

[IXIswamperIXI]

I try to keep my shop small and personable (if that is a word) if you did me a favor by coming in on your day off, then I would let you do your homework as long as customers have been taken care of and work is caught up.  Sounds to me like boss didn't want to come in, I can tell you from a owners perspective, many many problem with companies is owners try to fade out of the picture and let management run their company.  Then the company starts to go down hill, I have seen it multiple times (I have even worked for a few) NO one will run the company like the owners will, so I try to be involved a little with everthing BUT you have to APPRECIATE your employees efforts to work for you. 

[GrizzlyGator]

there are two things I left out now that I think about it;

1. bossman brought up another "incident" where this same employee was doing the same thing about three months ago and publicly berated them in front of two other employees,,,,it was later brought to the bossman's attention that the employee was off the clock and was watching the phones as a courtesy during his lunch break.

2. bossman will frequently wear a t-shirt on his days off that says "I hug trees", owns two hybrids, thinks Al Gore should be elected president for the next 30 years, buys nothing but "green friendly" products and, holds annual "Earth Day" celebrations at his house,,,,,get the picture?

Wish that was in your first story!!!! OK screw him ha ha ha.....sounds to me as if this guy might need some management 101 classes you know leadership training etc...there are a lot of people in management positions these days soley because when they were hired as an hourly employee they showed up on time, showed some initiative, learned the job etc. management saw some potential in them and moved them into a supervisory role. Many of these people I've just described are not able to handle the stresses, the varying personalites of the employees & they lack the organizational skills that a required to run a business or dept. that being said there are many that excel in this same situation.  

[IXIswamperIXI]

there are two things I left out now that I think about it;

1. bossman brought up another "incident" where this same employee was doing the same thing about three months ago and publicly berated them in front of two other employees,,,,it was later brought to the bossman's attention that the employee was off the clock and was watching the phones as a courtesy during his lunch break.

2. bossman will frequently wear a t-shirt on his days off that says "I hug trees", owns two hybrids, thinks Al Gore should be elected president for the next 30 years, buys nothing but "green friendly" products and, holds annual "Earth Day" celebrations at his house,,,,,get the picture?

Is the "bossman" the owner? If so... oh man... I would read the writting on the wall and start looking for a new job, I don't think it looks good. (not for you) Just the company in general, you might want to look for a new place, just a thought

[561rincon]

well it seems that this company doesn't have any real management skills anyway(hiring people who don't show and then scold the ones who take their time to do the slackers work) i for one as management of a shipping company don't tolerate no shows and full timers who show part time. but right now as i type people in the office are looking at myspace but their work is done nothing to do. not their fault we're slow and sending them home or firing them will just hurt our economy more. so as for the college student get a job with a more understanding/professional company.

[Ida_Mann]

With that being said. If he is the manager and not the actual owner. I would let the owner know that since you ride quads that the manager has something against you because he is a tree hugger. And something needs to be done with him or you will sue the company for keeping this idiot on. (Keep in mind that I'm no lawyer and this may not work)    If that doesn't work then have someone to buy the land across the street and open an ATV park. 

he is the owner, it sickens me sometimes what he spends money on, but hey,,,it's his.

I almost quit one day when I got about a half-hour speech on how the company needs to bring in more revenue and how I wasn't pulling in the business to even cover my paycheck(which was about $300 at the time) and while I was getting the speech, I saw a check on his desk for $150 made out to the "Sierra Club",,,,,,,burns me up inside.

Id@

[Ida_Mann]

this is all making me think I need to take a crash-course in autocad and find an intern position somewhere,,,,,I think there they would understand about school more ;-)

maybe one small point I didn't mention that may be of interest, everyone else who is in college there is in college going for something in the computer field except for me, I want out of it, but for now I know I'm good at fixing computers and creating/troubleshooting networks, so this is what I do.

Id@

[blupits04]

Put a few posts up on some free classifieds offering your services for money on the side. You might make more and you'd be hurting their business at the same time. I know alot of people who need help with their computers but won't call a business b/c of the outrageous prices. Then you could work the hours you want and not have to listen to BS tree huggers. Oh and if/when you do leave the job show him how much you appreciate his support and leave him a bag of poo..in a recyclable bag of course. lol

[IXIswamperIXI]

if you decide to leave you should leave a note saying something like YOUR network has now lost its map LOL well thats the only thing I can think of because it happens to us a lot LOL

[yunt2ride]

We could all picket in front of the store with signs letting everyone know that he is a tree hugger and not to do business here. 

[blupits04]

or we could surround the office with quads, trucks and dirt bikes

[Ida_Mann]

you guys shoulda seen his face when I told him I had to go fuel up for the weekend once after leaving work,,,,he asked "why is that a big deal, there are gas stations everywhere"

I said, well I have to go to Lee Road and 441(about 10 miles away) because I don't put regular gas in it.

he asked,,,,"what kind of gas?"

110 octane Leaded fuel, I replied

I swear I thought he was gonna start hyperventilating, it was funny, but then when I explained that it is completely synthetic and they don't use any fossil-fuels,,,,he asked if it might work in his hybrid 

true story I tell ya, true story.

I really wanted to give him a 5-gallon tankful and dump it into his Prius, but I stopped, that would have been mean ;-)

Id@