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Thread: new employee annoys me

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    Default new employee annoys me

    I hired a new guy this week....after 6 weeks of looking he was the best i could find
    boy is he annoying....i cant stand the guy in many ways......i work with him all day long and have to listen to his BS all day

    his work is decent if he would just shut up...

    not sure what im going to do with him.....he is talking too much with homeowners too......which i cant have....he goes on and on with his BS to homeowners...he isnt just answering questions from homeowners...he starts the conversations so he can say the same BS stuff over and over.....he want everyone to know his business....arrrrgggggg

    also he isnt putting stuff away very well...he throws my tools all over the place and ive been cleaning it up...that will stop tomorrow though...im going to make him clean his mess up before the job is done...i will inspect it all......

    today he even left his garbage between the front van seats

    he also left a full can of soda in his lunch box between the seats ontop of my water and folders (its a pile between the seats, not a nice storage place)..when i went to get my water i tipped his box over and yellow liquid went all over everything...he got to eat a soaked sandwich..

    its only his 2nd day.....i hate to fire someone because i dont like them, but its looking like i may have no choice..


    how do you tell an employee to stop talking to homeowners??? how do you tell him to stop his BS talk???.......it will hurt his feelings for sure.....its offensive for someone to tell you that you talk to much and keep telling strangers your stories
    Last edited by huggytree; 08-19-2014 at 07:04 PM.

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    I can't give advice on what exactly to do, but I do know you need to nip this in the bud ASAP. Bad habits (food and tool storage) are bad habits and need to be corrected or move on to the next body on your list.
    Brad Miedema
    Fulcrum Saw & Tool

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    I had a bartender like this in the past. Would bring her personal life to work and everyday her life was the main conversation with customers. She also sucked as a bartender. People would literally wait to be served while she was telling someone else one of her drama stories. She had no concept of being at work and actually tending the bar. I let it go too long and by the time I said something the clientele was invested in her BS like a daily soap opera. I had to let her go.

    Every now and then it's natural to talk about yourself if the conversation turns that way, but I agree with you that it is completely unprofessional, customers don't like it either and it can cost you repeat business. After I let her go I had more than a few people come back in and tell me that they stopped coming in because they didn't want to hear her sob stories every day. In Vegas where bars are basically for poker machines and players are more coveted than drinkers, having players avoid your establishment because of the bartender is unacceptable.

    The only thing you can do is talk to him about it, although I suspect that this is just his personality and he can't help it. It may even get more uncomfortable. Tough situation.

    You should give him a chance to correct himself. He may be able to turn it around. The tools thing is easier because it's directly related to performance and not personality.
    Last edited by Harold Mansfield; 08-19-2014 at 10:37 PM.

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    You can be thick skinned. But you customers need professionalism. I'd say fire him and add professionalism to your employee manual. He is the face of your company and is selling your company. You can't have this.

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    Explain your expectations today. Then cut him loose if he doesn't meet them by end of day on Friday. And just like with kids: don't repeat yourself, just follow-through.

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    In terms of cleaning up/tools expectations, you need to manage that right away and tell him how you like it. Tell him you're really anal about it and jobs go really smoothly when things get put in the right place etc.

    In terms of him talking too much, you really need to find out a way of telling him he needs to keep it professional, because above all this is a business. You only have so many hours in a day for work.
    An example of this is someone I knew was a house cleaner, shed come into the house to do the job but spent 1-2 hours yapping away with the wife, the husband fired this lady even though it was really the wifes fault. Keep him in line.
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    Odds are he thinks he is actually helping you.
    I've experienced the same thing, and when we spoke about it, the response was typically "oh, I was just trying to be nice to your customer."

    Let him know to ease up with the talking.
    Sometimes we/he/they don't realize how talkative they actually are.

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    i decided to wait and give a 2 week review and go over how he's doing

    as far as putting the tools back i decided id just keep an eye on him and tell him to put things away......after telling him over and over he will most likely catch on

    today he took 2 bathroom breaks (over 1 hour!).....i dont want to use the customers bathroom, so i typically pee in a bucket......i go several times a day and cant run to a gas station 3-4x a day.....many times there is no port a john.........he spend 30 minutes each time....i told him i dont mind if he has to go #2, but he cant take 1 hour a day for bathroom........so i nipped that one in the bud right away....its kinda silly for a guy who puts his hands in poop water to not want to pee in a bucket......for all you computer guys here i know this one probably makes you cringe......we were filthy today and there is no way we could use the customers toilet.....i also have a rule of never going #2 in a customers house.

    today was a very hard day of work...very hard.....and he did just fine...he's a good worker when you give him a specific project....when he stands around is when he becomes a bad employee and the BS starts.....keep him busy and he's good...problem is as a helper he IS standing around many times.....

    he owns his own company and i can see he doesnt like taking orders.......1/2 of me says dump him NOW, 1/2 says give him a few weeks.....at 30 days i will decide i figure

    i dont want to have to drive with him for sure....from now on no car pooling
    Last edited by huggytree; 08-20-2014 at 06:50 PM.

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    Thats very strange to me.. the peeing in the bucket. My bf works in commercial plumbing (high rises etc.) and he's a very clean, well mannered and polite guy. He would probably scoff at the peeing in a bucket thing.. I mean I understand why you guys do it but really.. my bf calls the guys who operate the cranes "animals" or "dirty" because they spend ALL day up in the crane and they MUST be peeing in a bucket because it takes too much time to go down and up from it for breaks.

    I am not sure maybe there is something I am not aware of. I personally would be fine with people using my bathroom as long as they keep it clean. Lay out some cardboard if you need to walk back and forth etc. Customers should also be offering you refreshments etc and treating you like a friend. I get the not going #2 at a customers.

    I don't know much about the plumbing industry, mostly just the construction/commercial aspect of it and I do know their two totally different things.
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    we were full of mud from digging a sewer....no way we were going to walk through someones house

    also most times the water is OFF...so there is no toilet

    i just cant see someone spending 1 hour a day going to the bathroom....its not acceptable and peeing in a bucket is the only option i know of....i have a cube van, so you can close the door and have privacy.....on some jobs were told to pee in the yard by the General Contractor if there is no Porta john

    most plumbers are outdoorsmen and hunters.....we can pee anywhere

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