Mixed bag of a day

[AestheticsInMotion]

The bad.

Yesterday a young driver hit a car and ran. Two months on the job, our newest employee. He didn't call management or leave a note. I found out today when a complaint rolled in, and confirmed authenticity via witness reports and in-car video feed matching up with GPS data. Spoke with him over the phone and he played dumb at first before admitting to it. He... didn't have an excuse.

If he'd called immediately he'd likely still have a job—albeit on probation of sorts, and with extra driving training assigned. But by trying to hide it... Man. Can't have that shit. Real nice guy—kid really—just a shame how it played out. I hope he learns something from this, and finds a new job quickly.

I hate firing people. Makes me feel sick thinking about how badly it can upend someone's life for the worse, and how quickly it can put that person into survival mode. As a few europpo and Canadian friends have mentioned, there's not much in the way of safety nets in this country.

It's so, so much easier when they're assholes, but we haven't been desperate enough to hire those types of people in years, so that's one easy out that doesn't really come up these days.

So yeah. Not ideal. But as promised, there was also some good. At least, I think it's good. I hope it's good.

I managed to talk my way into an 8.5% raise at the start of a recession that's totally not going to blow up in my face. How? I'm glad you asked.

1. Offer to do critical task for less $$$ than the offshore company currently contracted out for said critical task.

2. Get boss man approval because of the "less $$$" part.

3. PANIC because you have no idea how to do the task you just got a raise for henceforth performing.

4. Profit...?

You guys are all going to buy my oppo trading card game so I can retire to Thailand and post nothing but high-effort shitposts until I croak, right?

[Alfalfa]

@AestheticsInMotion

[CB]

@AestheticsInMotion Owning up to mistakes is critical for job retention. Better to get ahead of things and work it out than to ignore and hope things get better.

[tophercrowder]

@AestheticsInMotion Had to do it. Only bad things would have happened if you had not. The kid will be a better person for it.

[Chariotoflove]

@AestheticsInMotion
No way this blows up in your face. No way.

That kid will find something pretty quickly.

[AestheticsInMotion]

@tophercrowder I agree with the first part, 50/50 on the second. Some people learn, some... Just don't.

@CB better here than in 5 years when he's an engineer I suppose.

[AestheticsInMotion]

@Chariotoflove said in Mixed bag of a day:

No way this blows up in your face. No way.

I expect some growing pains, but I do genuinely think it will be to our benefit bringing this in-house, to say nothing of the paycheck bump. I'm excited!

[Chariotoflove]

@AestheticsInMotion said in Mixed bag of a day:

@Chariotoflove said in Mixed bag of a day:

No way this blows up in your face. No way.

I expect some growing pains, but I do genuinely think it will be to our benefit bringing this in-house, to say nothing of the paycheck bump. I'm excited!

Hey, if you think you can pull it off, then I’m excited for you. Your track record at new ventures has been pretty good!

[ike808]

@AestheticsInMotion I like Oppo, trading cards and never been to Thailand - but okay. Just send me your SSN, bank routing and account numbers, home address, phone number, a scan of your driver/state ID and 3 references. Check will be in the mail upon receipt of said info.

[jminer]

@AestheticsInMotion big oof there. Management isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes.

@AestheticsInMotion said in Mixed bag of a day:

You guys are all going to buy my oppo trading card game so I can retire to Thailand and post nothing but high-effort shitposts until I croak, right?

Sold!

[AestheticsInMotion]

@jminer did you see this? I think it's something you'd appreciate https://opposite-lock.com/topic/65956/choose-wisely/2?_=1674625172951

[AestheticsInMotion]

@ike808 done. I sent my credit cards as well just in case.

[ike808]

@AestheticsInMotion said in Mixed bag of a day:

@ike808 done. I sent my credit cards as well just in case.

Danke!

No hablo inglés.

[AestheticsInMotion]

@ike808 Uh.... Uh... Guté nacht!

[ike808]

@AestheticsInMotion

boa noite meu irmão

[jminer]

@AestheticsInMotion I missed that, it's fantastic!

Thank you for sharing it

[bison78]

@ike808 said in Mixed bag of a day:

@AestheticsInMotion I like Oppo, trading cards and never been to Thailand - but okay. Just send me your SSN, bank routing and account numbers, home address, phone number, a scan of your driver/state ID and 3 references. Check will be in the mail upon receipt of said info.

That's easy. I pulled all that data together to receive several millions from a Nigerian prince just the other day.!

[ike808]

@bison78 That’s mine! Give it back!

[bison78]

@ike808 said in Mixed bag of a day:

@bison78 That’s mine! Give it back!

Just as soon as I receive it. Any day now....

[JeepOfTheseus]

@AestheticsInMotion I once had a manager that operated a very specific piece of heavy equipment. This equipment had a tough job and went down fairly often and, while it wasn’t always his fault when it did, every time it went down my manager would go to his boss and simply say “well sir the cost of doing business went up today”. I’ve used that line to own my screw ups ever since.

[trivet]

@CB said in Mixed bag of a day:

@AestheticsInMotion Owning up to mistakes is critical for job retention. Better to get ahead of things and work it out than to ignore and hope things get better.

I have an employee here with the same problem. I can handle mistakes - but trying to hide them then "fix" it (actually making it worse) is not something I can tolerate.

The upcoming JPR will be the worst one I have probably given in 20 years......

[DipodomysDeserti]

@AestheticsInMotion “ You guys are all going to buy my oppo trading card game so I can retire to Thailand and post nothing but high-effort shitposts until I croak, right?”

I hear the Cardinals are hiring!

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

@AestheticsInMotion said in Mixed bag of a day:

Real nice guy

Anybody can be nice when nothing is at stake. He did a rather weaselly thing, and then added insult to injury by denying it when the trail of evidence was visible from the Space Station.

Your sympathy for someone left jobless is commendable, but his hoped-for moral growth is not the company's problem.

Now onward to think about two more not necessarily pleasant management things:
*What to say if he puts you down as a reference.
*How to clarify to other employees, and new ones, that this company owns its mistakes, and what to do in the event of an accident.

[davesaddiction]

@AestheticsInMotion

if he'd called immediately he'd likely still have a job

Tough lesson to learn.

As much as it sucks, you made the right call.

[MidEngine]

Laying off people really fucking sucks, firing someone is a no brainer. Congrats on the pay bump!