Work Ethics

At least while he's staring at and fumbling around his crotch a phone is involved.

'If you don't want to work, just go home.'

Told my helper that after his 5day weekend for Mother's Day and have not seen nor heard from again...probably best for both of us.

Williwaw, post: 326208, member: 7066 wrote: ....If you don't want to work. Don't show up..

I feel your pain, buddy. Employees can definitely take you to the edge of madness. However, I constantly have to keep reminding myself my employees do not CARE as much about our organization as I do. I own this place. To them, it's just a job. You can argue that point of view until the cows come home, but it's real.

I do draw the line when it comes to pissin' time away. The last time I went off big-time was because I found out three crews were spinning their wheels getting out the door because one employee had the field computer tied up....updating his I-phone. When I told him to take it loose from the computer he flat told me "I can't, it will screw up the upload." I calmly unplugged the tower from its surge protector and told him it would probably be better if he did that stuff after hours. I later on overheard him telling another employee that I was going to be responsible for screwing up his phone....I bounced around the corner and asked him if he had anything he needed to "take up with me". He looked down and said no. I told him, "I didn't think so..."

He's lucky he still had a job after that.

Remember: It doesn't matter how good an employee they are, they will never see things in the same light you do.

Ethics schmethics I say.

It's hard to watch that sometimes, especially if you have given them a warning. Did you give the guy a chance to turn it around? Going Godzilla out of the blue usually isn't very good for morale of the employee and a lot of the times there are things you could have done before blowing up entirely. Just looking at the other side of coin.

Warning. A bit of language. But, this computer game addiction thing can get serious: [MEDIA=youtube]MI9S2Uo2b6c[/MEDIA]

I was self employed for 14 years and had as many as a dozen employees when times were good. I never lost it except once. Two young crew members were having a very vulgar conversation within earshot of a young lady working in the office. I am sure they wasted some time, but I stayed on top of their productivity. It always irritated me for them to drag getting out tbe door. Now as Survey Manager at an Engineering firm, it STILL drives me nuts when they take 30 minutes to leave. Not my company, but it supports me, so I don't put up with it. I do care about the company. I guess old habits die hard.

You know guys, I'm an employee, a hired gun with a license to survey. I don't own the company. I work hourly. There are plenty of days I have to march myself in one foot in front of the other and take the good with bad and suck it up. When I use to swing a hammer or dragged nets and haul hooks for living, you didn't wait for someone to tell you what to do every move you made. You see something that needs to get done for the common good and you do it, all while communicating with the leader, 'I got this'. I didn't blow up on the guy, but I was pissed and he knows it. What really chaps my hide is this prevailing attitude that all someone has to do is show up. Being mentally involved is optional. I put him on notice. If you show up, you give it your all, or don't bother. I'm not a baby sitter of grown men. The crummy thing is I need the guy. He's got the chops to really help me out, if he chooses to put away his stupid phone and actually apply his talents to what he's being paid for. On the advice of our wise sage Yswami, I made clear from day one what my expectations were. If he wants to piss away a good job? He can as Angel likes to say, 'Don't let the door hit you on the way out'. I resent being made angry. It takes a lot. Maybe that's my problem. I'm too nice and people see it as a weakness to be exploited. Big mistake.

Kind of a funny story along these lines.

I have a former employee who works for me on occasion when he has a day off from his regular job (Gubmint employee). We are both big time volunteers for worthy causes and have at least two in common.

Last week he is working for me with the aid of a newbie. They are two counties away. On my list of things to accomplish that day was a stop at an office involving one of the volunteering things we do. While discussing one item with the director her cell phone receives a text. She checks it, looks up at me, and says, "That's your employee." I told her to send one back saying, "Your boss says to get your butt back to work." Soon she gets a text saying, "I'm multi-tasking."

This was funny because she didn't know he was actually working for me at that moment. She knew he was a former employee. So she didn't realize the fact that the "boss" was admitting to being caught doing volunteer work during working hours by having her send the text to the "worker" who was caught doing volunteer work during working hours. She got quite a chuckle out of it when I explained to her that he really was working for me and where he was at the time.

That's the kind of multi-tasking I have no problem with.

I cooled off and took some ownership of yesterdays blow out. I need to do a better job of communicating my expectations and not expecting people to be able to read my mind. Nice having somewhere to vent sometimes.

Carry on and communicate effectively.

Funny story Cow. Thanks for the chuckle.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 326240, member: 291 wrote: Warning. A bit of language. But, this computer game addiction thing can get serious: [MEDIA=youtube]MI9S2Uo2b6c[/MEDIA]

Wow