I'm the reason someone was FIRED..

[SheHateMe]

Thinking about Wirednut's thread, I have a little story to share about being fired too...but it wasn't me who has been fired.


We lost two of our team members here at work to College graduation. Since this is a University job designated for students, you are not allowed to work here more than 2 weeks after leaving the University. They were GREAT guys, one of them was our Manager.

Anyway, our boss ended up bringing 3 new students onto the team. Two of them are really sharp, they know a lot about the job and you can talk to them and learn about things. I've been working with one on the CCNA cert exam.

The 3rd kid, he was quiet. Didn't talk much, didn't ask any questions..and it was obvious he didn't know much about tech support.

About 1 month into his tenure, I was given a project that involved data security for our clients. He was put on this project with me because everyone felt like there was nothing he could do for them.

I tried to help this kid...I TRIED. He worked very well with me...when I was around. But school got busy, I called off sometimes and he was given simple tasks to do that he still couldn't complete. Last Tuesday, I was asked to be candid about his performance and how I felt about him. I was as honest as I could be, but I also vouched for him..because he does have potential..its just hard carrying him.

So, on Monday he was fired. I don't know, if I actually had the time, I could have helped him a little more. He was obviously intimidated by our work and would have fit in if one of us had the time for him..but we simply didn't.



That's the way the World works, I guess.

 

[lxskllr]

I've never been that fortunate. Bodies were always hard to find, so if someone couldn't hack it, it meant that I had to place them where they'd cause the least amount of damage. I'd then have to take up the slack, sometimes doing two jobs at once, and operating the warm body like an android.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Yep. You can only carry people so much before they must swim on their own. Some people I have found are simply not cut out for certain fields, no matter how much mentoring they are given. It's as if their brains are incapable of absorbing all the individual experiences and piecing together a systematic understanding of the profession.

 

[PenguinPower]

You weren't the reason...the guy couldn't pull his weight. He's the reason he got fired.

 

[SheHateMe]

I've never been that fortunate. Bodies were always hard to find, so if someone couldn't hack it, it meant that I had to place them where they'd cause the least amount of damage. I'd then have to take up the slack, sometimes doing two jobs at once, and operating the warm body like an android.

Yea, but I guess with College students you have tons to choose from. I am sure there was a Computer Science student he "stole" this job from that will be filling his spot soon.

 

[smitbret]

Or it could be a situation where he misrepresented himself at hire. When they discovered that he didn't have the skills he said that he did, then he was let go.

If you ask me, there are too many people working too many jobs that they are not qualified for. Causes lots of extra work for others and frustration for clients/customers/etc.

Probably best that he get fired so he can go back and get training or let the liberals hold his hand for the rest of his life.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

He was crappy at his job and chose not to do tasks when you weren't around.


Fire the kid, no remorse. We shouldn't be propping up losers like this.

 

[MaxPayne63]

Why would you vouch for someone who you also admit is dead weight? All that does is make your supervisor start attaching an asterisk to all your recommendations.

 

[wirednuts]

hey, im surprised the kid was fired by keeping his mouth shut!

 

[bigrash]

Nice of you to stick up for him, but in the end, it was his fault.

 

[SunnyD]

I've gotten people fired before as well. Unfortunately in one major occurrence, it took me quitting and about another year of him digging his own hole for the process to finally catch up with the individual in question.

 

[dr150]

Yep. You can only carry people so much before they must swim on their own. Some people I have found are simply not cut out for certain fields, no matter how much mentoring they are given. It's as if their brains are incapable of absorbing all the individual experiences and piecing together a systematic understanding of the profession.

^^ This.

The more experience one gains as a manager is that some people that are hired are ultimately not cut out for certain things. They may interview well and/or have a fancy education and/or experience, but you realize the person can't absorb.

In such instances, your doing each other a favor by moving on where a manager gets another better fit employee and they find a job they mesh better with.

 

[tcsenter]

You may not have been the only more-senior person who echoed the same opinion/observations about the kid. Yours may only have been confirmation of what others had reported.

 

[SheHateMe]

Why would you vouch for someone who you also admit is dead weight? All that does is make your supervisor start attaching an asterisk to all your recommendations.

I didn't say he was dead weight. I basically said the he didn't seem to know what was going on but that I felt I didn't have time to teach him everything. I only vouched for him because I'm a student too and when I first got here, I was a little deer in headlights, but I had guidance and I was independent within the week. He never got that. I only told them that he had potential to figure stuff out.


I vouched simply out of sympathy.

 

[JEDI]

I've never been that fortunate. Bodies were always hard to find, so if someone couldn't hack it, it meant that I had to place them where they'd cause the least amount of damage. I'd then have to take up the slack, sometimes doing two jobs at once, and operating the warm body like an android.

can i work for you?

 

[Red Squirrel]

He was probably just shy, though it sounds like he was trying very hard though. I was shy when I first started to work for the first time but if I was asked something I'd get it done.

 

[terry107]

CSB time:

In a past life, I was a public auditor and one of my clients was a large computer repair shop. Their main business was repairing name-brand laptops that were returned for whatever reason. I was in charge of performing testing on their inventory. As one can imagine, their inventory consisted of thousands of small, but valuable, pieces, so the risk of misstatement was high.

For testing, I needed to get support that the company was cycle counting their inventory daily and making the proper adjustments. Long story short, I caught the inventory manager faking documents and trying to pass them off as legit. It ended up being a huge mess that culminated with a meeting with the CFO.

I don't know what happened to the guy but lying to an auditor is not a very good course of action.

 

[Udgnim]

He didn't want it enough either by figuring out what he was lacking and putting in time during off-hours to read and better understand it or asking people he worked with for advice on what he should be focusing on.

If he couldn't complete simple tasks, I'm guessing he didn't care enough to take notes on those simple tasks to able to reference back to if he wasn't sure how to proceed.

 

[dud]

Thinking about Wirednut's thread, I have a little story to share about being fired too...but it wasn't me who has been fired.


We lost two of our team members here at work to College graduation. Since this is a University job designated for students, you are not allowed to work here more than 2 weeks after leaving the University. They were GREAT guys, one of them was our Manager.

Anyway, our boss ended up bringing 3 new students onto the team. Two of them are really sharp, they know a lot about the job and you can talk to them and learn about things. I've been working with one on the CCNA cert exam.

The 3rd kid, he was quiet. Didn't talk much, didn't ask any questions..and it was obvious he didn't know much about tech support.

About 1 month into his tenure, I was given a project that involved data security for our clients. He was put on this project with me because everyone felt like there was nothing he could do for them.

I tried to help this kid...I TRIED. He worked very well with me...when I was around. But school got busy, I called off sometimes and he was given simple tasks to do that he still couldn't complete. Last Tuesday, I was asked to be candid about his performance and how I felt about him. I was as honest as I could be, but I also vouched for him..because he does have potential..its just hard carrying him.

So, on Monday he was fired. I don't know, if I actually had the time, I could have helped him a little more. He was obviously intimidated by our work and would have fit in if one of us had the time for him..but we simply didn't.



That's the way the World works, I guess.

OP, that is the way the process is supposed to work. Please stop kicking yourself. You reached out and tried to help ... it just wasn't meant to be. To be honest, we have a number of people like this at work. They do little-to-nothing, make insane amounts of money and there is very little that management is able (or willing) to do about it.

 

[slayer202]

you guys know that this entire story is made up, right?

 

[SheHateMe]

you guys know that this entire story is made up, right?

And do you have proof of this?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

^^ This.

The more experience one gains as a manager is that some people that are hired are ultimately not cut out for certain things. They may interview well and/or have a fancy education and/or experience, but you realize the person can't absorb.

In such instances, your doing each other a favor by moving on where a manager gets another better fit employee and they find a job they mesh better with.

This is true to a certain extent however, there has to be an understanding of the basic relationships or overview to begin with. I've run into no end of Computer Science profs who think you should be able to intuit and entire paradigm from one specific example and are totally unwilling to speak about it further. If I could teach myself, why would I pay tuition?

 

[pontifex]

don't think i ever got anyone fired but did get someone demoted. she was supposed to be an expert at this one system we supported but she was terrible.

 

[SheHateMe]

This is true to a certain extent however, there has to be an understanding of the basic relationships or overview to begin with. I've run into no end of Computer Science profs who think you should be able to intuit and entire paradigm from one specific example and are totally unwilling to speak about it further. If I could teach myself, why would I pay tuition?

Here was my issue with the situation.

1) When I came in, I had 2 people I could go to if I had issues or if I did not understand something. My first few jobs, I did not go by myself and I shadowed practically everyone at work. We had more time then to show people things.

When this kid came in with the new hires, he was already handicapped because nobody had time to show anybody anything. Based on how great the other two people were...perhaps they all were hired because the boss thought they were good enough to learn it on their own.


And sure, nobody needs to have their hands held at work...but it helped me in that first week. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as it isn't long term.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I'd pay to have you get the Whore of Babylon I have to work with fired.