Dissociated Thoughts

F-Bombs and Sunburned Feet

         I seriously don't know how certain people get or keep jobs, yet somehow, they continue to be hired time and again. What sent me on this rant, you might ask. I had to deal with yet another person today who is seriously lacking in the "Common Sense in the Workplace" department.

We have a young lady now working for my store who is apparently new to working, or at least new to working in a public, customer-service based setting. We have been having various problems with her: calling in at the last minute, having friends and her boyfriend calling her on the store phone while she is on the clock, not doing her assigned work, etc. - but today, the shit hit the fan. Today, with a store full of customers, she gets a call from her boyfriend and immediately begins cussing him out on the phone so loudly that the customers at the registers all turn to see what the commotion is about. The girl was spewing F-bombs like they were the only thing she knew how to say. I was forced to apologize to my customers for this employee's behavior. Discussing the situation with another manager, I learned that the girl had already been warned for this exact behavior. Perhaps we need to institute training for new employees in how to behave while on the clock or within the store. To me, it is commonsense to forgo the foul language in the workplace. Then again, it is also commonsense to me to do my best the first time around, so I don't have to do something twice. The girl will no longer be working for our store, however. Hopefully, this will be a lesson for her in the etiquette of customer service.

But this girl is not alone in her lack of knowledge in how to behave in the workplace. My husband had a client of his tell my husband that he would do well to hire better workers instead of "those dope smoking idiots that can't even keep their feet from getting sunburnt." Apparently, one of the employees in question had decided to start up a conversation with the client (going against the rules my husband has for his workers) and told the client that he wasn't able to do much that day because his feet were so badly sunburnt (which supposedly happened because the guy got so drunk the day before that he passed out in the lawn chair). The same worker and his brother, who was also employed by my husband at the time, were seen by the client later that day smoking weed on the side of the house. Regardless of the job you do, is it not common sense to withhold from illegal activities while on the job? That was the last day the brothers were employed by my husband. They weren't quite the image he wants for his company.

Then there's another guy who worked for my husband for a short period of time then decided he knew everything there is to know about landscape irrigation, so he wanted to go into business for himself. He still calls my husband to get help in what to do for this repair or that installation. The guy did the same thing with plumbing - the local plumbers have to come back and fix the guy's handiwork all the time. But somehow, he still gets people to hire him.

Yet another guy my husband helped out and took to work with him a couple of times has been hired at more places than I can count on both hands just within the last couple of months. He works each job for a couple of days then quits, always giving an excuse as to why he quit. Then he wants to bum money from his friends and acquaintances to buy cigarettes and such.

But still these people get work, they are still hired time and again. I don't understand it. When did work ethic go out the window? What are they teaching these younger generations of people about how to get and hold a job? It doesn't seem like customer service or work etiquette is part of the lesson, if there is any kind of lesson at all. Maybe they should teach this in school. It would help the kids in the long run.

But then again, common sense can't be taught.
Good night, everyone. Maybe the Common Sense Fairy will visit all these poor souls in their sleep.