i worked for public agencies for 20+ years and there is a segment of people there that will do as little quality work as possible and not give two fuchs. worst part is managers pretty much look the other way because the process involved in getting them corrected or removed in and of itself will become a full time job. a fellow inspector in my group used to fall asleep everyday at his desk doing a chicken peck head bob snore thing as managers just walked right by his work station. dude even fell asleep while driving a city vehicle (allegedly) totaling the city truck and the lady he ran into car when he went through a red light. then he was pissed when they assigned him a really old vehicle after wrecking his 2 y/o F150 in the incident.

this was a component of me taking early retirement. id call other employees on stuff AND id be the one written up for creating a hostile work place! the mamagers repremanding me knew the score and would suggest "i don't lose the passion" cause they knew i was trying to do right by the city and was simply frustrated.

80% of my operators are over 55 and our best blade operator is 60. I joke that I'm going to retire early when they do because I'll be out of good employees. We have a few 30 somethings and one 20 something that know how to work.

We have tried to hire some young people. What Anthony said. Always hiding somewhere on their phones. This business is too dangerous to be distracted with phones.

I bet that guy suffered from sleep apnea.

I hired a 20 something and he worked for the day seemed like he had decent skills. He came to me at the end of the day and asked if he could have the day off tomorrow to go try out another shop that was hiring. I said sure but you are not welcome back. Needless to say he’s emailed me a dozen times asking to come back. Every time I run a help wanted ad he replies. What the hell is wrong with people? This is not how the world works

Another point. Blend employees so you have a mix of experience that allows multi-level development. Helps in teaching an ethic as well integrate into culture.

Lol all of this sh** applies to older employees as well, you're in lala land if you disagree. I go through so many operators and truck drivers for sleeping/personal runs on company time its not funny, and plenty of them are older. I just disagree that its somehow an age thing. You would think the older guys would have their sh** together more but can't say I've seen a trend either way, and our payroll runs 6 digits a week so I hire/fire a lot of people.

Matt your setup sounds like the dream, I'm hoping for something similar eventually, if I'm lucky maybe I'm only 10 years away.

Fifth generation family food manufacturing business.... 700+ employees.... union/non-union, Oldest employee 70 - youngest 18.... every race, religion, orientation..... my set up is also a dream.....

As a chief decision maker I realize employee development is critical and we view it as an educational experience that we are required to provide. We do churn at the factory level, a 30% turnover would be considered an accomplishment.

To the point of this thread, we do not view age groups differently.

ding ding ding! yep, as do I so we had on occasion discussed our CPAP usage. did not help that he weighted dam near #350. An at desk nap was always in order after he mowed his 2 or 3 fast food burgers, large fries n drink along with the salad and other healthy stuff his wife would pack him in an effort to get him right.

a job is like a girlfriend in that it's hard to get a new one when the old one is still on board.

Id take him back one more time.
I've had a few leave over the years. If they are good. I always let them know the door is open if it doesn't work out.
When they come back they never leave again.
I recently had a foreman turn down $5.00 an hr more from another company.
He was one of the guys that left for a Union position about three years ago. Came back within a month. No amount of money will make you happy at a bad company.

I'm glad that I'm self employed so I don't have to deal wiff all youse fuukity fuuk bosses and lame ass coworkers! Sucks to be you guys!!! :D

I would wholeheartedly agree but he did it on his second day.

That infamous espo job was a pretty bad hack, wasn't it ?

This ^^^
There are lazy slobs, do nothings and "what can you give me" in every generation. Just look at your friends and do an honest count, whatever generation you are in. Half will be ok. The other half will be struggling or non productive their entire lives.

And half of those struggling have a degree and think they are worth $150k a year to do nothing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If he was fairly young, I'd possibly give him a second chance. He may have had the other interview in the works when he got offered the job from you. Now he's in the position of saying yes but not sure what he's gonna miss out on at the other place. He may have been too niave to it all to be able to say,"Can I have a day to sleep on it?" and just took the job. He should have done what he said he was going to do, which is work for you, but sometimes people screw up and later regret it. If he's still trying to work for you maybe he really does want to work for you. You can always fire him a week later after a trial period. This assumes you even need someone right now.

Yeah makes sense but my intuition is telling me that if he didn’t respect me enough then what makes him respect me now? If anything he likely would respect me less now as I took him back. I’m always hiring but not desperate at the moment so he can keep looking for the greener grass another day

He could have called in sick.
Telling you is at least honest.
After 2 days it’s not like he owes you anything - and vice versa. Why wouldn’t he look to see if the grass is greener?

I’d expect him to actually apply himself if he got a second bite with a strict no more do overs rule.
Ymmv.

The kid Nathan is talking about was silly and inconsiderate to take the job and quit the next day, but the fact that he is even asking again for work from Nathan shows he has a pretty sizable set of ballz on him; nothing worse than having a pissant yes-man around, so maybe the fairly rare, display of ballz is promising?

It wasn’t personal in any way, shape or form. It has nothing to do with if he respects you or not. That’s just not how most people’s minds work.

Yeah you are likely right but I’m looking for staff that think more than that. Critical thinking is paramount in our businesses. If he was smart he could have figured out a way to check out the other job without ruining his chances with me.