Disaster and betrayal

[rareboy]

We haven't been busier for the last year.

We have been getting a new contract every week, sometimes two or three.

And yet this week is one of the worst weeks I've had in months.

I'm trying not to blog or whine, but today the graduate we hired to replace the guy that ran off to be with his gf a few weeks ago, tells me yesterday he's had a call-back from another competing firm he originally didn't get hired by and then proceeds to take half of today off to go in for a second interview and tells them he's still free. He hadn't even put in two weeks.

I put in more than two weeks just reading and helping him polish his grad thesis this spring and helped him get a stronger defense and final grade. This was someone I had great hopes would work out to be a future partner. We took him out for a tremendous graduation dinner only a
month ago.

He gave me 8 days of work after accepting the job in our firm.

So when he came back from his interview and I asked him if he was staying or going and he thought they'd made him a better offer, I fired him on the spot. In front of the others. In front of total strangers installing new computer equipment and made him hand me key and escorted him off the premises myself. With the directive not to cross my path.

What the fuck is the problem with the young? Has no one explained to them how to behave in the world. I called my competitor, thanked him for pissing on my foot and told him to be wary of someone as undependable and self-interested as this lad.

And my kitty Bud is now haemoraging from his anus and is in his last days although he isn't in pain and doesn't seem to want to give in to his cancer.

Could this week get any worse?

Cheer me up guys.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Could it be that in hindsight you were a bit overbearing?
Did he make it clear from the outset that he wanted nothing else than to work for you after he graduated? Or is that what you wanted and did you ignore the signs?

 

[G-Lexington]

You were grooming him to be a partner before he even started working there? I believe that's called "putting the cart before the horse". Firing him on the spot and calling up his competitor I have another term for, but I'm sure you can figure it out. That said, better to find out eight days in than eight weeks or eight months in.

Sorry to hear about your kitten, though.

Lex

 

[Lube]

Well, if your company were Wal-Mart or some other giant corporation, I'd just say, "That's the way the cookie crumbles." Large corporations don't give a shit about workers, who they treat as simply cogs in a wheel. Totally interchangeable.

However (and that's a very big however), it sounds like you have a small firm and you believe in truly helping your employees. That's a totally different scenario. I'd love to work for a firm that treated it's employees (and prospective employees) as you did (help with thesis, dinner, etc.).

Hopefully the dope will learn his lesson about the difference between bosses who care about you and those who don't. I half can't blame him for doing what he did, when all around us the examples set by large corporations are atrocious.

But you sound like a gem of a boss/company. It's a loss for both of you.

And sorry to hear about your kitty.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

the guy leaving makes him a jerk. you putting in time to help him on his thesis makes him even more of a jerk. your kitty being sick i'm sorry for. hope he's not in pain. sorry that's not really cheery.

 

[kevbo]

Would you like to groom me for employment?

 

[rareboy]

Did he make it clear from the outset that he wanted nothing else than to work for you after he graduated? Or is that what you wanted and did you ignore the signs?

No. I offered him a job after he graduated. After he'd interviewed with several other firms. With time to think about it. I offered him more than the other places he'd interviewed with. He took the job and was all "I'm so grateful for the opportunity and for you to consider hiring me".

You were grooming him to be a partner before he even started working there?

And surprising that someone usually as perceptive as Lex are would mis-read the sentence. That isn't what I said.

I've known this guy ever since we gave him his first job while he was attending university. And provided him with the skills that have made him marketable.

And helped him turn his rather mediocre thesis into a thoughtful and erudite academic dissertation. And helped him edit his portfolio and promotional material.

He lied to the guy that hired him and told him that he wasn't really working for us. This after we'd just worked out a sweet benefits and salary package and completed his employment paperwork. I called my competitor to ask him if he knew he was headhunting in my company. We're entitled to do that. We know each other very well and it isn't a bitter competitive struggle between our firms by any means . And now he knows a little something more about his new employee. And I'm entitled to do that.

So Lex may not agree with the way I handled his exit interview after he fucked me around, but frankly he's lucky I didn't follow him out the door.

But. That was yesterday and this is today.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

I remember at one job I had, they interviewed somebody who was currently living in a different state. When they asked him why he wanted to move he said "because I think this would be a great place to look for a job."

And they hired him anyway! Needless to say he had a new job within a month.

 

[braex27]

We haven't been busier for the last year.

We have been getting a new contract every week, sometimes two or three.

And yet this week is one of the worst weeks I've had in months.

I'm trying not to blog or whine, but today the graduate we hired to replace the guy that ran off to be with his gf a few weeks ago, tells me yesterday he's had a call-back from another competing firm he originally didn't get hired by and then proceeds to take half of today off to go in for a second interview and tells them he's still free. He hadn't even put in two weeks.

I put in more than two weeks just reading and helping him polish his grad thesis this spring and helped him get a stronger defense and final grade. This was someone I had great hopes would work out to be a future partner. We took him out for a tremendous graduation dinner only a
month ago.

He gave me 8 days of work after accepting the job in our firm.

So when he came back from his interview and I asked him if he was staying or going and he thought they'd made him a better offer, I fired him on the spot. In front of the others. In front of total strangers installing new computer equipment and made him hand me key and escorted him off the premises myself. With the directive not to cross my path.

What the fuck is the problem with the young? Has no one explained to them how to behave in the world. I called my competitor, thanked him for pissing on my foot and told him to be wary of someone as undependable and self-interested as this lad.

And my kitty Bud is now haemoraging from his anus and is in his last days although he isn't in pain and doesn't seem to want to give in to his cancer.

Could this week get any worse?

Cheer me up guys.

Well done! You don't need someone so undependable and ungrateful. Your firm is better off for it.

 

[BlueD]

^ I agreed with him.

And I'm sorry to hear about your pet.

 

[G-Lexington]

>>>And surprising that someone usually as perceptive as Lex are would mis-read the sentence.

Maybe I was unperceptive because there wasn't anything there to perceive.

...today the graduate we hired to replace the guy that ran off to be with his gf a few weeks ago...He hadn't even put in two weeks...He gave me 8 days of work after accepting the job in our firm.

No indication of any prior employment with you. You didn't say you "rehired" him, or that he only gave you eight days at his current position. This led me to believe he worked for you a total of eight days. Yes, I easily inferred that you knew him from some other place, unless you make it a habit of rewriting theses and taking graduates out to "tremendous graduation dinners" (what? no mention of which car you drove him to the dinner in?). But still, it seemed as if he worked for you a total of eight days, and you were already thinking he was "partner material". Which I think would qualify for cart-before-horse status.

Lex

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

And I'm sorry to hear about your pet.

Maybe the 'pet' didn't want to be a pet?

 

[Homothug]

I know you're mad but he's free to work wherever he wants though.

If he feels like he can have a better career/life more opputunities with the other job then so be it, You probably would view him as a jerk but he probably made a choice that he feels is more beneficial to him and I don't see anything wrong with that

 

[sabot3ur]

I'm hugging my kitty thinking of yours, I don't think I could handle bad kitty health alone!!

take care

 

[Homothug]

^Oh great.

You don't see anything wrong with building trust and loyalty, and then shrugging your shoulders at it?

My head hurts.

Well nobody owes anyone anything in this world

If he thought he had a better opputunity why shouldn't he take it???

He was going on multiple interviews hoping to get one job but he lucked out and was able to have a choice on where he wanted to work.

I really see nothing wrong here what if he really didn't like the job he had for 8 days??
What if the job he left for was his number 1 option??

This is why friendship and buisness don't mix because loyalty is bound to be in conflict with self interest

 

[SonOfSlobone]

^^^So let's say he sends you his resume, and he's honest. Would you hire somebody who quit a job after 8 days, just because he got a better offer?

 

[dpnice]

^^^So let's say he sends you his resume, and he's honest. Would you hire somebody who quit a job after 8 days, just because he got a better offer?

Yes, if I thought he had the qualifications my company were looking for.

But I will add that he didn't seem to show much honesty and respect for rareboy. There are polite ways of explaining the position your find yourself in and apologising for the difficulties you may cause by taking the decision to leave.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he feels guilty even so he has done what he believes is best for his present and future security so I don't really think we should be as harsh as we have been with him.

But that doesn't stop me sympathising with rareboy and understanding that it pissed him off.

 

[Lube]

Companies are like families. Most are dysfunctional and you want to avoid them.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you get a company which treats its employees well (or at least a powerful manager who does). Treasure these jobs/bosses, because they are hard to find.

There is a huge difference between working at a place where you are treated as a totally replaceable cog in a wheel (most major US corporations), and a place that treasures you for your particular skills.

Don't ever confuse the two.

 

[rareboy]

This was someone I had great hopes would work out to be a future partner.

You were grooming him to be a partner before he even started working there?

There's a huger difference between hopes and grooming. My hopes have to be borne out by others behaviour and achievements.

I groom my cats for no reason except that I love it and they do too.

And what's the pissy comment about which car we drove? I've never even referred to an automobile before.

 

[Homothug]

^^^So let's say he sends you his resume, and he's honest. Would you hire somebody who quit a job after 8 days, just because he got a better offer?

Why would anyone put a job that they worked for 8 days on their resume???

Theres a reason why he told the second employer he wasn't currenty working so he can increase his chances of getting the job

Most people lie in interviews to make themselves look better to the employer