Stupid employee tells me....

DocL · 21 December 2004

"not to tell her how to do her job or she's leaving." So what do I do as a nice boss? I ask her to repeat herself to give her a second chance and she tells me the same thing. She then threatens to report me to the unemployement office if I fire her so she can collect unemployement. Well guess what lady! You lose. Give me your key and leave my office right now. I love being the business owner and boss.

[/rant]

fkong777 · 21 December 2004

I hope she was a blonde and had a smokin bod.. for you to put up with that.

I like this one.
"She then threatens to report me to the unemployement office if I fire her so she can collect unemployement." :biggrin:

I should try to get fired and get unemployement.

DocL · 21 December 2004

fkong777 said:
...I should try to get fired and get unemployement.

Unfortunately she probably will get unemployment because I asked for the key back.

NetViper · 21 December 2004

DocL said:
Unfortunately she probably will get unemployment because I asked for the key back.

Probably so. Sorry you had to deal with such crap during the holidays!

KGP · 21 December 2004

How about giving her a memo, where in the memo it states the exact verbiage she used (in quotes), and that such work behavior is not acceptable. After that, explain that you are telling her what to do, but that she has two options:
1) Leave of her own free will.
2) Be demoted, either in pay grade, title, salary to hourly, or a reduction in work hours (or a combonation of any). Let her make her own bed, then force her to sleep in it. :smile:

DutchBlackNsx · 21 December 2004

Well done DocL.

You guys are so fortunate to be able to fire a employee just like that (from a businees owner point off view).
I had an employee who would call in sick every so now and then simply say he wasn't ill at all next day if he came back, just wanted a day off.
Can't do anything about it.................

Meeyatch1 · 22 December 2004

What you should have done was just changed the lock....then when she did not report in for work (because she was locked out....but that will be our secret) you could fire her.

PoohBEAR · 22 December 2004

Good move!!! I would have done the same...with a smile on my face

DocL said:
"not to tell her how to do her job or she's leaving." So what do I do as a nice boss? I ask her to repeat herself to give her a second chance and she tells me the same thing. She then threatens to report me to the unemployement office if I fire her so she can collect unemployement. Well guess what lady! You lose. Give me your key and leave my office right now. I love being the business owner and boss.

[/rant]

Ponyboy · 22 December 2004

Sounds like something from Blue Bear from American Hot Rod. I say the both of you, especially you Doc, are better off for the split. I cannot believe she would actually something like that to an employer.

$10 bucks says I met her at a Taco Bell someday.

kgb_agent · 22 December 2004

DocL said:
Unfortunately she probably will get unemployment because I asked for the key back.

Why does that matter? If it was your business property you have every right to ask for company assets back. My company fires 5-10 people a week and standard procedure is to get his/her ID badge.

4AU4LIFE · 22 December 2004

The nerve of some people just blows my mind.

apapada · 22 December 2004

I don't know about small businesses, it is probably different. But aren't you supposed to give your employees an oral, then written warning, then only go to such measures if no compromises are met ?

MarkB · 22 December 2004

apapada said:
...compromises are met...

Why should Doc compromise?

It is, after all, his business.

DocL · 22 December 2004

apapada said:
I don't know about small businesses, it is probably different. But aren't you supposed to give your employees an oral, then written warning, then only go to such measures if no compromises are met ?

Florida has some great laws. You can fire an employee "at will" and "without cause". In this case, she did have previous reprimands which were all documented. I also have a personnel manual that every employee is expected to read, understand, abide by, and sign a confirmation of the office policies to keep their position. I do everything by the book, and if need be, I can be a real prick when fighting unemployement claims. It just sucks to have to deal with these management issues when I have more important things to worry about.

MarkB · 22 December 2004

DocL said:
...It just sucks to have to deal with these management issues when I have more important things to worry about.

Doc,

That's why many professionals band together in their office environment and hire an office manager. It helps limit the involvement of the professional in the day-to-day operation of their office.

apapada · 23 December 2004

MarkB said:
Why should Doc compromise? It is, after all, his business.

No question it's Doc's business! I do not know how Doc manages his business, so what follows do not (necessary) apply to him or his business...

I'm a strong believer that when in position of any authority at a work place, best way to manage people is by being a good leader. Too many people make the mistake to confuse the two, however one can be an efficient manager without being a good leader (as the opposite is true too). Being a good manager requires you to say the things right whereas being a good leader requires you to say the right things. In order to say the right things, one needs to seek constructive dialog, never be emotional or reactionary and know when to listen and when to speak. All this requires compromises. On the other hand, one can always manage with an iron fist and fire people at will, but that does nothing good to the business in the long run.

Again, I know nothing about what happened, the context or the background of Doc's business, so I'm not judging anyone...

DocL · 23 December 2004

apapada said:
No question it's Doc's business! I do not know how Doc manages his business, so what follows do not (necessary) apply to him or his business...

I'm a strong believer that when in position of any authority at a work place, best way to manage people is by being a good leader. Too many people make the mistake to confuse the two, however one can be an efficient manager without being a good leader (as the opposite is true too). Being a good manager requires you to say the things right whereas being a good leader requires you to say the right things. In order to say the right things, one needs to seek constructive dialog, never be emotional or reactionary and know when to listen and when to speak. All this requires compromises. On the other hand, one can always manage with an iron fist and fire people at will, but that does nothing good to the business in the long run.

Again, I know nothing about what happened, the context or the background of Doc's business, so I'm not judging anyone...

I respect what you and some others have said, and that is what I wanted to see in some of the replies. I hired a practice management consultant for a year ending this past October. Her first assesment of this particular employee was that she is too independent and is not a team player. She could not take constructive criticism and felt that she was better than me from day one. I gave her everything she wanted, including money towards health insurance and $150 towards uniforms before her probationary period was over. Furhtermore, the other staff at times even told her to have more respect for their boss and not to be stubborn towards me. She felt that it was not necessary to be present for our daily morning huddle/meeting to discuss the day at large, and she refused to follow the procedures described in the office manual. They were surprised that I didn't fire her the first week. I don't have to micro manage my other employees because they have read and understand the office policies, it's just that there are dental assistants that truly think that they are better than the doctor because they have been in the business longer. It's difficult being younger than my staff, but I spent 25 years in school and an assistant is not going to tell me what to do and laugh at me when I give her instructions.

Oh well. Thanks for listening guys.

xxx · 24 December 2004

DocL said:
but I spent 25 years in school and an assistant is not going to tell me what to do and laugh at me when I give her instructions.

25yrs in school?

Here I am in 3rd year university thinking it's already enough!

tampajerry · 24 December 2004

Doc. I have a small business in Tampa and was faced with a similar problem. One of my techs took unauthorized time off (vacation). I told her not to come back. She did and I reminded her that she no longer had a job. Long story short, she tried to collect unemployment. A hearing officer called and took my statement over the phone with a followup written statement. End result, unemployment claim denied. I am happy because my unemployment rate(s) for my corporation did not go up.

fannsx · 24 December 2004

EMPLOYER = pays employee to do employer's work

EMPLOYEE = paied by employer to do employer's work.
Employee does not do the work employer asks can quit or get fired.

I followed these definitions when I was an employee, and I follow them now that I am an employer.

KGP · 24 December 2004

ADP Total Source

Doc, or anyone else interested: We use ADP Total Source for all our employees. In a nut-shell, our employee relationships are actually between the employee and ADP. We lease the employee so to speak. ADP handles all the compliance, insurance, potential litigation, etc. I reccomend any small business take a look at it.

Stupid employee tells me....

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