Firing Someone

BLACK35

So I get the pleasure of having to fire an employee tomorrow. Not something I'm looking forward to, although I feel very justified in wanting to do it. Me & a partner owe a small but successful business in a nice rural area and said employee has been with us for 4 yrs (out of the five we've been open) he is only 24 and just got dumped by his girlfriend of over a yr and now have a 9 month old child together, I guess he has also had a very tough childhood, blah blah blah, and now he is also depressed (fucking guy is falling apart) Anyways, partner discovered on the credit card that there was what we knew were personal purchases totaling just over $600, I guess he thought we were dumb and didn't check the statements which we have been doing since day one, 1 purchase was from a jewelary store and the other a flower store...hmmmmmm. Didn't fire him then (should have). Thought we would hold onto him for a couple of weeks and get our money back. We have always talked to the guys about cheating us wheather its lying on time cards about lunch and how late you work, buying stuff on account for personal use that sort of thing as we consider stealing out of our pockets. So at lunch today, I went up to the local Walmart to pick up some items and I see one of my vans in the parking lot (many other stores around as well) So I steak it out as it shouldn't be there, 1 hour later I see this employee get into the van and leave, I check his time card after work and he has marked down 1/2 lunch. Talk about a slap in the face and especially after they have been told many times. So I figure its time for him to go. I feel bad cause he is getting on his feet again, has a small kid, Xmas is coming....AHHHHH

Only have had to fire one other person before. don't like doing it. But shit has to stop

Ok done my rant, had to get it out :crazy:

F Me In The Brain

I have never felt badly about firing someone who asked for it. (This employee clearly did.) You gave him chances and I feel that you summed up the facts and the way you are feeling simply enough --- he is stealing from you.
Thieves should be fired.

That stated, I have felt horrible every time I let someone go and they were not terrible employees. In some cases they were good workers - maybe the account they were working on went away, etc....it is the worst when it comes as a shock to them. It sucks. More for them but certainly for everyone.

In this case I think you sound like a really good person -- but this is straight jacked-up. He is stealing from you - taking food off from your plate and he deserves what is coming. Not up to you to support this tool due to his poor life choices. (Hey, that is what the Government seems to be for! :()

Good luck.

peacefrompaul

BLACK35 wrote:

So I get the pleasure of having to fire an employee tomorrow. Not something I'm looking forward to, although I feel very justified in wanting to do it. Me & a partner owe a small but successful business in a nice rural area and said employee has been with us for 4 yrs (out of the five we've been open) he is only 24 and just got dumped by his girlfriend of over a yr and now have a 9 month old child together, I guess he has also had a very tough childhood, blah blah blah, and now he is also depressed (fucking guy is falling apart) Anyways, partner discovered on the credit card that there was what we knew were personal purchases totaling just over $600, I guess he thought we were dumb and didn't check the statements which we have been doing since day one, 1 purchase was from a jewelary store and the other a flower store...hmmmmmm. Didn't fire him then (should have). Thought we would hold onto him for a couple of weeks and get our money back. We have always talked to the guys about cheating us wheather its lying on time cards about lunch and how late you work, buying stuff on account for personal use that sort of thing as we consider stealing out of our pockets. So at lunch today, I went up to the local Walmart to pick up some items and I see one of my vans in the parking lot (many other stores around as well) So I steak it out as it shouldn't be there, 1 hour later I see this employee get into the van and leave, I check his time card after work and he has marked down 1/2 lunch. Talk about a slap in the face and especially after they have been told many times. So I figure its time for him to go. I feel bad cause he is getting on his feet again, has a small kid, Xmas is coming....AHHHHH

Only have had to fire one other person before. don't like doing it. But shit has to stop

Ok done my rant, had to get it out :crazy:

A well deserved firing. He's lucky you didn't fire him the first time. If an employee was stealing from me he would be gone immediately.

Byrnzie

Number 1 rule of stealing: Don't get caught!

BLACK35

Yeah agree with you all, generally he is not a bad kid, but he should have been gone the first time. I didn't mind giving him a second chance, but come on, have to be smarter than that. He has to learn the hard way I guess.

BinauralJam

some times employees hang themselves, there's nothing you can do, let him know it's not personal

know1

He deserves firing, but you all should have covered your bases by going through an escalated reprimand process and documenting your interactions with him regarding these issues.

pandora

BLACK35 wrote:

So I get the pleasure of having to fire an employee tomorrow. Not something I'm looking forward to, although I feel very justified in wanting to do it. Me & a partner owe a small but successful business in a nice rural area and said employee has been with us for 4 yrs (out of the five we've been open) he is only 24 and just got dumped by his girlfriend of over a yr and now have a 9 month old child together, I guess he has also had a very tough childhood, blah blah blah, and now he is also depressed (fucking guy is falling apart) Anyways, partner discovered on the credit card that there was what we knew were personal purchases totaling just over $600, I guess he thought we were dumb and didn't check the statements which we have been doing since day one, 1 purchase was from a jewelary store and the other a flower store...hmmmmmm. Didn't fire him then (should have). Thought we would hold onto him for a couple of weeks and get our money back. We have always talked to the guys about cheating us wheather its lying on time cards about lunch and how late you work, buying stuff on account for personal use that sort of thing as we consider stealing out of our pockets. So at lunch today, I went up to the local Walmart to pick up some items and I see one of my vans in the parking lot (many other stores around as well) So I steak it out as it shouldn't be there, 1 hour later I see this employee get into the van and leave, I check his time card after work and he has marked down 1/2 lunch. Talk about a slap in the face and especially after they have been told many times. So I figure its time for him to go. I feel bad cause he is getting on his feet again, has a small kid, Xmas is coming....AHHHHH

Only have had to fire one other person before. don't like doing it. But shit has to stop

Ok done my rant, had to get it out :crazy:

We own a small business also and this is tough
but letting go good employees because of tough times
is the absolute worse.

Of course this fella deserves to lose his job. I agree it is best to document
because he should not get unemployment benefits if he has been stealing.

We had only one employee that we needed to the fight compensation benefits
he would have received, for the same situation as you. Dishonesty and theft.
We won but it would have been easier if certain steps had been taken.

With a small child and his age perhaps you do not want to fight benefits.

I have seen my unemployment rating go sky high due to lay offs,
it have gone up 5 fold from what I paid before the recession.

This will be the hardest thing to wrestle with, the unemployment benefits
but I must say this young man must learn what is required in the workplace.

We had an employee, about the same age, who we wish we had been stricter with.
He was struggling with a drinking problem then took a toy gun
and attempted to rob a bank.

He spent 5 years in prison when maybe we could have helped,
maybe 'Mama ImageLink' could have helped, that's me.
I have always felt perhaps I could have stopped this somehow before it happened.

Good luck to you.

pjhawks

dude not to pile on you for having a conscience but i can't believe you have any dilemma here. this dude is a flat out thief. not only fire him but tell him he is damn lucky you aren't going to the authorities (and you probably should be going to the authorities in my opinion).

Monster Rain

For $600 in theft, I'd be calling the credit card company and the police. This guy isn't a good guy. It sounds like he's the type of person who knows you're a good person and is taking advantage of it because he thinks he either won't get caught or that you won't do anything about it. If you call the police and the credit card company, you'll have a paer trail of evidence to show that he stole from you so he won't have a leg to stand on when you fight his unemployment claim. It's bad enough to employ a thief. It's even worse to have to pay that thief to stay home. I've worked with several people who never worried about getting fired because they thought the worst-case scenario was they'd collect unemployment and essentially get paid to stay home.

blackredyellow

No matter what the reason, I feel shitty after firing someone. Granted, they've all deserved it, but it's tough, especially when they take it hard.

MayDay Malone

Give him a break.

Confront him, council, suspend, document, and offer a chance to repay the loss.

You said yourself, he's not a bad kid, and might be losing his family before it even gets off the ground.

Maybe he just fucked up, and felt a shitty necklace and some flowers could get his baby-momma to
Come Back.

In the spirit of Festivus, I suggest you air all Grievance, and allow for restitution/redemption.



(Lonliness+Depression+Joblessness+Holidays= Hopelessness= Suicide.)

pandora

MayDay Malone wrote:

Give him a break.

Confront him, council, suspend, document, and offer a chance to repay the loss.

You said yourself, he's not a bad kid, and might be losing his family before it even gets off the ground.

Maybe he just fucked up, and felt a shitty necklace and some flowers could get his baby-momma to
Come Back.

In the spirit of Festivus, I suggest you air all Grievance, and allow for restitution/redemption.



(Lonliness+Depression+Joblessness+Holidays= Hopelessness= Suicide.)

I have to say this is wonderful advice.

With the employee I spoke of tough love may have worked.

We were not tough enough on him to teach him right from wrong,
we let him go and then he really messed up.

To this day 10+ years I would like to have done something different.

BinauralJam

MayDay Malone wrote:

Give him a break.

Confront him, council, suspend, document, and offer a chance to repay the loss.

You said yourself, he's not a bad kid, and might be losing his family before it even gets off the ground.

Maybe he just fucked up, and felt a shitty necklace and some flowers could get his baby-momma to
Come Back.

In the spirit of Festivus, I suggest you air all Grievance, and allow for restitution/redemption.



(Lonliness+Depression+Joblessness+Holidays= Hopelessness= Suicide.)

I've done this in the past, and been burned repeatedly, everybody is an individual, but unless you really believe in this guy i wouldn't do it. Hard to compete with Crack.

F Me In The Brain

BinauralJam wrote:

MayDay Malone wrote:

Give him a break.

Confront him, council, suspend, document, and offer a chance to repay the loss.

You said yourself, he's not a bad kid, and might be losing his family before it even gets off the ground.

Maybe he just fucked up, and felt a shitty necklace and some flowers could get his baby-momma to
Come Back.

In the spirit of Festivus, I suggest you air all Grievance, and allow for restitution/redemption.



(Lonliness+Depression+Joblessness+Holidays= Hopelessness= Suicide.)

I've done this in the past, and been burned repeatedly, everybody is an individual, but unless you really believe in this guy i wouldn't do it. Hard to compete with Crack.

I am sorry to say that I would not suggest this course of action. If you want to look at it strictly from a human level and ignore the fact that he has been stealing from you, look at it from the perspective of all of the people out there who are not total f-ups and need jobs and also have families to feed. Time to spin it and give someone else a chance at gainful employment.
You are trying to make a living and feed your own family -- while we all should live by our own internal compasses and try to be the best people we can be you cannot do everything you are do because you are afraid of the reaction. Live life, dont watch it.

brianlux

A fellow bookseller I know fired a young woman who worked for her because of cash register theft. Later, the bookseller helped the young woman in continuing her education and that young woman became a responsible and successful person. Maybe somehow you can encourage your ex-employee to have at least learned a valuable lesson and will move on to better things.

BLACK35

Well, i told him this morning that he is done, feel much better now. My partner said I was still too nice about it and I should have gave it to him more She is really pissed at him and rightfully so.
I can't feel bad about it, he created the situation

Thanks all to posted, I'm not a mean person and I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt alot of the times and sometimes I'm sure I get taken advantage of. So I found this to be a tough thing to do and appreciate the advice

lukin2006

MayDay Malone wrote:

Give him a break.

Confront him, council, suspend, document, and offer a chance to repay the loss.

You said yourself, he's not a bad kid, and might be losing his family before it even gets off the ground.

Maybe he just fucked up, and felt a shitty necklace and some flowers could get his baby-momma to
Come Back.

In the spirit of Festivus, I suggest you air all Grievance, and allow for restitution/redemption.



(Lonliness+Depression+Joblessness+Holidays= Hopelessness= Suicide.)

I agree...