Work has been slightly less than a treat lately. Sales have been down, and employee morale is hovering on the brink of extinction. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit, but my newest employee - we'll call her Aimless - has not turned out to be the saving grace I thought she'd be.
During her interview process, Gary told her that the salary range for her position was between, let's say, six to eight dollars an hour. She signed a contract that basically stated she was in training for the first 30 days, and at the end of that time, she'd be re-evaluated and her salary could possibly go up.
Just for clarification, "Possibly" is NOT the same as "Definitely." "Definitely" is apparently what she heard, as on day 31 she came in to work and said in a sing-song voice, "I'm about to quit my second job, since I'm at eight now!" Having no idea what she was talking about, I remember thinking, "Wow, did she lose weight?" I guess I looked confused, because she stared me in the eye and said "Eight.Dollars.An.Hour."
I reached desperately through my brain for that conversation, as I never recall having it with anyone. I said, "Huh, I thought it was seven, but let me check." I went through her paperwork, and sure enough there was nothing there guaranteeing ANY raise at ANY time. Not that I don't want to give raises, because I really, truly do, but as I said, sales are down and there's just no way I can meet what she wants. I'd never make a promise like that - one that I couldn't keep.
The following week, Aimless went ahead and quit her other job. She had been working at a ballet studio every Tuesday, leaving me to cover the store by myself on those days. With my blessing, I might add. She has repeatedly and frequently told me how grateful she is with my flexibility in scheduling (and if I do say so myself, I am VERY flexible whenever someone needs time off - never have had to say no yet).
All that changed the first day she got to work after quitting that second job. She came in and saw that she was scheduled for every day, and immediately started yelling at me. Yelling. At Me. The Owner. (Why didn't I fire her ass right then...? That question continues to haunt me.) She said, "I can make EIGHTY DOLLARS AN HOUR teaching private ballet lessons, but I can't work with this schedule!" Shocked, I stared at her for a minute, then calmly said that if she needed time off, she had to tell me, as I otherwise have no way of knowing what she needs.
She continued to rant about the schedule, jabbing me with verbal "if it weren't for the scheduling issues" commentaries on a daily basis. Her attitude toward her job has gotten worse with each passing day:
- I now have customers angrily calling me and saying how rude she is.
- I ask her to accomplish a task, but she does something else.
- I tell her to do something, and she stalls until Gary calls in - then she takes instruction from him.
- When I ask her why something was not done, she says, "Gary told me to do THIS instead."
I'm at the point where I dread going to work every day because I know I'm going to get attitude from Aimless. My stomach is in knots by the time I get to the store. (I know, that's stupid.) I soooooooo want to fire her, but Gary is balking because (1) he likes the fact that I have "backup" in case I can't open the store some morning, and (2) he's afraid she'll file for Unemployment. Which she can't, anyway, because she hasn't worked with us long enough, so he's actually making it worse by keeping her.
(Update: He felt this way because he's rarely there, but he did come in last Friday and got to see her attitude in action, so he's starting to come around.)
All I know is, I can't work this way. I've already talked to a part-time replacement, who can start working next week. Tomorrow I plan to get Aimless' key back and tell her to hit the road. It's not going to be easy, but it has to be done.
Thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated.
