JEN'S OUT

I think I'm becoming a little too familiar with the process of firing employees. I let Jen go today. I did it over the phone and told her that contractual issues, overstaffing, etc., was the main reason, but that's actually not true.

What is true is that she didn't really care about her job or doing it well. She has misbalanced the till twice - since the meeting where I asked her specifically if she knew how to do it correctly - and she deliberately began closing procedures 45 minutes early last night. Forty-five minutes! All employees were told rather bluntly not to even begin balancing the till until the store closed, and not a minute sooner. Yet Jen decided to do things her own way and bail out early.

Gary came in last night and caught her, which is why she got snippy with him.

He and I debated for hours today over whether we should write her up or let her go. In the end, we decided it was best to cut her loose, as she obviously does not care what management thinks, nor does she want to do her job well. Jen is still under her initial 30-day contract, which she signed, and which states that we can terminate her within that time frame with no prior warning nor reason. She gave us lots of "reason," but I left it at "contractual issues" when I spoke with her.

Okay, so now we're down to six employees:

Gary, who is never, ever there anymore
Me, who is always, always there
Pho, the assistant manager, who I think will step it up a bit now that her friend Jen was let go
Watson, who works so hard it's a shame we can't pay him more
Zac, who is okay, although I had to tell him today to stay off the Internet when the store is busy
Will, the newbie, who is getting rave reviews from everyone he works with

I think we're good, but I may start interviewing again soon. I hate that almost as much as I hate firing people. Sigh.