Well folks, things are gonna be going back to the basics here at I DO WINDOWS.
We’ve had a bit of a set-back this past Friday. I am sorry to fuss and moan about this crap here, but I figure that some of you have had and are willing to share your own experiences like this.
Two weeks ago, my full-time guy put in his notice. At least he gave me two weeks to look for someone new. Unfortunately, new hires don’t come that fast around here. So, I am out of a full time helper (more or less a full time window cleaner as he was doing much of the work either alone or with the part timers).
I had noticed that his attitude and normal carissma weren’t up to par since he put in his notice. He was doing bad work, not finishing jobs, blowing off scheduled arrivals, etc. I almost fired him the week before he was done. Anyways, I think that his “short-timer” attitude was rubbing off on to my part timers because they all seem to have lots concentration this week. Even after a pleasant “reminding” of what they were expected to do, they continued to ****-off the jobs.
I am getting very busy, as many of us are right now, and things couldn’t be worse regarding the timing of his departure, but I know he wants to move on, so fine,…move on…quickly…to whatever it is he is gonna do next. But what ****es me off royally is, on Friday, he was cleaning a rather large job, when he calls me and says that he had to take his truck to his dads house for something. He couldn’t finish the job. I asked if I could take it or if he could return when he was done…NOPE…gotta go. What a ****ty way to bail out on your last day. If being a retard for the last two weeks wasn’t enough, now I have jobs unfinished and no one to do them.
The whole reason that he was alone this day is another HUGE topic to **** me off. The part-timer that was supposed to help that day…didn’t bother to show up to work. No call, no text, no “F-You I quit”, nothing. He told me that he’d be there. He did have the audascity to send a text that afternoon about 2:30 to say that his phone had lost service and he didn’t know that he was supposed to come in that day. He’s the idiot that gave me his days that he wanted to work. He told me he’d be there. What an a$$hole.
The shame of it all is that he has done this to me before. I fired him only to hire him back six months later at his request and my needing the help. Needless to say, his no-show–constitutes a voluntary resignation on his behalf. Not to mention I’d fire him anyways for poor performance and nothing to correct it lately.
Lessons learned here;
1.) Hire dependable employees and make them work. Don’t bend over to help them. Don’t give in to their crap. No excuses when they need to be fired. Get rid of them.
2.) You don’t re-hire former employees that were fired.
3.) Utilize the existing employee manual that stipulates what is expected of the employees, and how they will be disciplined if they fail to meet the expectations.( This is something I really have to work on. I have a really nice document. I just forget to use. NOT ANYMORE!)
Now I know that this gives some of you one man show types bait for your cause and position, but that’s just not how we work at my business.
Good news is, I put a help wanted ad in the local paper when I found out about the departure of my full time guy. I have 65 applicants to interview this week. I think that is really good turn out for my area.
I made a huge commitment to my family this year by saying “I am not cleaning anymore windows, I will only be the boss”. Unfortunately, tomorrow morning after I drop off my daughter at school, I’ll be scrubbin’ glass & haulin’ ass once more.
Who knows, it might do me good to practice my form before the new hires come on board.
