Do you work with idiots?-I do

[JDDK]

reading through this going sideways. too much pendulum swing and overreaction. some truth in each, but taken to extremes and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. gotta stay balanced RCVRY!
I am a manager and gave it a 5 year go to try to work with a stubborn and proud employee that I couldnt bring myself to let go. Finally did it several weeks ago. It was super hard for me, but the team totally benefitted and my stress plumetted and Im a new boss. Cant fix em all, but I really tried.
I agree there are a lot of horrible managers out there, and I am trying to improve myself daily.
There are also some horrible employees who will never change either. Doing the right thing sometimes is doing the hard thing and being misunderstood or blamed. We do it because its right, regardless of the outcome.
Lets cool it and give each other a bit of grace and not derail over hypotheticals man.
Seems like everyone is on edge and ready to fight. Maybe we should log off and take a drive in our Jeeps and smile for a bit.

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[Ddays]

reading through this going sideways. too much pendulum swing and overreaction. some truth in each, but taken to extremes and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. gotta stay balanced RCVRY!
I am a manager and gave it a 5 year go to try to work with a stubborn and proud employee that I couldnt bring myself to let go. Finally did it several weeks ago. It was super hard for me, but the team totally benefitted and my stress plumetted and Im a new boss. Cant fix em all, but I really tried.
I agree there are a lot of horrible managers out there, and I am trying to improve myself daily.
There are also some horrible employees who will never change either. Doing the right thing sometimes is doing the hard thing and being misunderstood or blamed. We do it because its right, regardless of the outcome.
Lets cool it and give each other a bit of grace and not derail over hypotheticals man.
Seems like everyone is on edge and ready to fight. Maybe we should log off and take a drive in our Jeeps and smile for a bit.

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LOL, I think the only person on edge here was Recovery. :yup:

PS: And it's all your fault that you had to fire that employee. It's always the managers fault. Always. :bleh:

 

[JDDK]

unfortunately, he thought it was...my bosses supported me and the team really improved. I spent so much effort and energy on trying to fix him and our team really suffered. seeing marked improvement and energy in everyone now makes me wish I would have done it earlier.

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[Ddays]

unfortunately, he thought it was...my bosses supported me and the team really improved. I spent so much effort and energy on trying to fix him and our team really suffered. seeing marked improvement and energy in everyone now makes me wish I would have done it earlier.

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Unfortunatley, I had to fire one of my favorite employees a few years ago because he was continually screwing up. He couldn't retain knowledge from one day to the next. He even knew it was coming. As soon as I said Tervor, we need to talk, he said, "I know, I'm getting fired for screwing up all the time, right?" Great kid but I kept him on for 3 months too many. First time I ever handed someone I fired a couple hundred bucks before he left. Was it my fault I had to let him go? Hell no. Some people just aren't qualified for certain things. Too bad but that's just the way it is.

 

[jesse3638]

You can’t coach everyone up. Some people are too damned lazy.


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Since were on the topic of lazy workers here’s my story.

When i got this management position the owner wanted me to clean house on his current sales crew and revamp it. Current sales crew had been there for probably 8-9 years or so. There were 5 people. I’ll give them just generic names. There was:

-David
-Bob
-Jessica
-Kenny
-Victoria

Kenny has been there the longest. Good sales guy. Motivated sales guy. Always makes an effort to follow up and follow the road to the sale to a T. Knows the product like the back of his hand and can be persuasive without being pushy. He’s the sales guy every sales director wants to have. He got to stay.

David is just behind Kenny as far as seniority. However David is basically a sloth wrapped in a human body. Slow as fuck with everything and hardly has any idea how to overcome objections or present a product. I tried coaching him but he just could not get it. I moved him to a different position in the office that better suited him. He failed at that too. Just turns out he’s a lazy fucker. He got to go.

Jessica is a lot like Kenny but much more aggressive with her sales approach. She can get pretty pushy but she puts out good numbers so she got to stay.

Bob is a lazy sack of shit. He claimed that he fought in Vietnam and shouldn’t have to work hard for money and should get paid the same for his lack of effort that those who put out huge effort make. He was the first to go.

Victoria is the newest person there. She’s new to sales. I’ve been coaching her a lot and she is drastically improving. I think that if she sticks with it she will be a fantastic saleswoman.

Now that’s just the people that were already there when i started. I brought in about 10 people. It’s shocking how many absolute idiots think they can walk into a sales position and make 10k a month right off the bat. And then when they don’t put any effort into prospecting or following up or having me talk to them prospect to close them, they complain when they get their check and all it shows is their hourly. If ya want a big check you have to make big effort is what I always tell them.



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Unfortunatley, I had to fire one of my favorite employees a few years ago because he was continually screwing up. He couldn't retain knowledge from one day to the next. He even knew it was coming. As soon as I said Tervor, we need to talk, he said, "I know, I'm getting fired for screwing up all the time, right?" Great kid but I kept him on for 3 months too many. First time I ever handed someone I fired a couple hundred bucks before he left. Was it my fault I had to let him go? Hell no. Some people just aren't qualified for certain things. Too bad but that's just the way it is.

There are a lot of good points here. It's all about personal accountability. Know what you are good at and where you can improve. I would totally suck at longarms line of work because I have no experience or education in it. If I wanted to do that I'd really need to educate myself and rely on seasoned co-workers to show me how. Now carrying drywall I can do. I'd have to figure out how the delivery schedule works and I'd be off to the races. In both of these scenarios it would be up to me to further my success or fail. Managers and supervisors should recognize both. Help the struggling and praise success. In both cases the manager should be learning too. Now if I am unmotivated and want to slack off and get something for nothing, no manger can fix that. That is a person's character trait and it's up to them to change if they even want to. The argument was made, he has a family to feed. True but unfortunately that's not the manager's or companies responsibility. If he fails and is fired that's on him. Yes, there are some managers and supervisors which are power trippers and just plain terrible as well but that does not seem to be the case in this incident. Also it was mentioned the slouch is from CA. That was enough for me and explained it all...haha. Unfortunately, there is a huge shift in work force especially in blue collar work. We are still looking for 10 seasonal firefighters and it's May. Normally the door is being banged down by eager applicants and it's not just our district experiencing this. In speaking to my counter guy, plumber, father in law (plumber), and another guy who works for Airgas. They are all struggling to find people willing to get dirty and do the hard work. YouTubers have really fucked up our youth. Putting the thought into their head that its easy to make a million for doing little to nothing. My opinion is that everyone should be in retail, food service, and manual labor before being allowed to go to college. People would have a whole different perspective on how the real world works.

 

[JDDK]

agree on working in service industries and starting at bottom. Im in Ca and my entire industry literally cannot find laborers or skilled with...a decent work ethic.
btw, When I let him go, i told him I was retiring him from working for me, gave him 2 weeks pay so he could find new work right away or take a vacation. I think that helped.

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[RCVRY]

LOL, I think the only person on edge here was Recovery. :yup:

PS: And it's all your fault that you had to fire that employee. It's always the managers fault. Always. :bleh:

Yeah I got worked up. No excuses.

Sounder I do apologize to you and the rest of the guys. I try not to be that person and I am ashamed for it.

Congrats on your promotion. You’ve obviously earned it! Which is all I should’ve said from the start.


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[Ddays]

Yeah I got worked up. No excuses.

Sounder I do apologize to you and the rest of the guys. I try not to be that person and I am ashamed for it.

Congrats on your promotion. You’ve obviously earned it! Which is all I should’ve said from the start.


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LOL, relax, no need to be ashamed. That's pretty drastic. At least you didn't blow your toner cartridge!

 

[RCVRY]

LOL, relax, no need to be ashamed. That's pretty drastic. At least you didn't blow your toner cartridge!

Thanks, but yeah I was a dick.
Note to self: don’t be a dick. [emoji16]


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[HighwayTrout]

YouTubers have really fucked up our youth. Putting the thought into their head that its easy to make a million for doing little to nothing. My opinion is that everyone should be in retail, food service, and manual labor before being allowed to go to college. People would have a whole different perspective on how the real world works.

110% agree.

It’s so hard to find qualified people that actually want to work.

 

[Andy5160]

Thanks, but yeah I was a dick.
Note to self: don’t be a dick. [emoji16]


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[WJCO]

It’s so hard to find qualified people that actually want to work.

No shit. I can't even count the number of flakes I've contracted over the years. No motivation, lazy, or have zero communication or thinking skills.
When I find someone that actually shows me otherwise, I'm literally mind-blown. Like where the fuck did this guy come from? This guy must have been raised on a farm.

 

[Ddays]

No shit. I can't even count the number of flakes I've contracted over the years. No motivation, lazy, or have zero communication or thinking skills.
When I find someone that actually shows me otherwise, I'm literally mind-blown. Like where the fuck did this guy come from? This guy must have been raised on a farm.

These kids all want to walk around drinking lattes, dressed like lumberjacks, with big beards and a sleeve of tattoos. I'm always amazed at the number of these hipsters walking around town during normal business hours and are obviously not working. :thinking:

Thankfully in my line of work, these clowns are non-existent. You either perform your job or you're gone. No time for runs to Starbucks and First Watch for brunch.

 

[JKbrick]

These kids all want to walk around drinking lattes, dressed like lumberjacks, with big beards and a sleeve of tattoos. I'm always amazed at the number of these hipsters walking around town during normal business hours and are obviously not working. :thinking:

Thankfully in my line of work, these clowns are non-existent. You either perform your job or you're gone. No time for runs to Starbucks and First Watch for brunch.

Damn no brunch? I’m sorry but I can’t come work for you now


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[Jsouder53]

Yeah I got worked up. No excuses.

Sounder I do apologize to you and the rest of the guys. I try not to be that person and I am ashamed for it.

Congrats on your promotion. You’ve obviously earned it! Which is all I should’ve said from the start.


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No worries man. Nothing to be ashamed about and thank you.

These kids all want to walk around drinking lattes, dressed like lumberjacks, with big beards and a sleeve of tattoos. I'm always amazed at the number of these hipsters walking around town during normal business hours and are obviously not working. :thinking:

Thankfully in my line of work, these clowns are non-existent. You either perform your job or you're gone. No time for runs to Starbucks and First Watch for brunch.

I’m always wondering the same thing about those people just wondering around. There is a hipster district right near the lumber yard and it is always packed during work hours. I always drive by it going from job to job. Funny thing is, that coffee shop there is the worst coffee I’ve ever had!

 

[longarmwj]

I would totally suck at longarms line of work because I have no experience or education in it.

Truthfully anybody can do sales as long as they can learn the road to the sale. It’s easy as hell.

-Greet them/introduce yourself (second one is for business to business or telemarketing)

-Figure out what they want/need

-Select product that fits their wants/needs

-Demonstrate/explain/present the product

-Trial close (something to the effect of “so if we could work out X X X and X would you buy today?)

-Negotiations

-Final close

Now sure you’ll have objections thrown in, but overcoming them is honestly pretty simple if you know your product. The easiest way is the Feel, Felt, and Found strategy. Basically it’s saying that you understand how they feel, you’re letting them know that their concern is common, and that you’ve found that their concerns aren’t an issue for XY reason. For example when I was selling CDJR and somebody went:

Customer: “yea you know it’s a great vehicle but I’m just worried about the 8 speed being new to the wrangler and how it will last long term”

Longarm: “I understand your concern, and a lot of people inquire about first model years of redesigned vehicles and any new technologies that may be in them, but that transmission has been in not only the Grand Cherokee for about 5 years now, but it has also been in the Ram trucks for a number of years, and what we’ve found is that the reliability isn’t a concern. If they can hold up to a truck towing, they can hold up to whatever you can throw at it.”

Or an example for what I’m doing now, if I’m on the phone trying to close for one of my sales guys/gals I’ll use the same method:

Customer: “it sounds great but I’ve been trying to collect these outstanding debts for years myself and none of my customers want to pay, so I highly doubt that you would be able to get anything out of them.”

Longarm: “I understand your concern, and a lot of business owners like yourself kind of feel like they’ve reached a dead end with something like that, but what we’ve found is that people are far more willing to pay an outstanding debt if they get a call from an actual collection company instead of just from you. The reason for that is it’s because they realize that the situation has vastly escalated to the point where it has the very real ability to hurt their credit”

If you could nail those two things, you could do a sales gig.




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[JDDK]

that same pitch on the jl8 speed sold me on this forum! haha. Im on my 3rd week pushing 3k miles ans i love it. pulled my popup trailer last weekend great too.
Talk us into something else too

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[longarmwj]

that same pitch on the jl8 speed sold me on this forum! haha. Im on my 3rd week pushing 3k miles ans i love it. pulled my popup trailer last weekend great too.
Talk us into something else too[emoji23]

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JDDK: “you seem like a great guy and all, but I’m just not sure if I’m comfortable sending you 100,000 USD”

Longarm: “I understand your concern, and a lot of people share that concern, but what we’ve found is that when they see how much my quality of life increases with their monetary donation, they get a great sense of satisfaction knowing that they helped fund my new JLUR. Now sign at the bottom and I’ll send you a link to my PayPal”


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[JDDK]

hehehe. worth a shot right?

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[jdofmemi]

Yeah I got worked up. No excuses.

Sounder I do apologize to you and the rest of the guys. I try not to be that person and I am ashamed for it.

Congrats on your promotion. You’ve obviously earned it! Which is all I should’ve said from the start.


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Cudos on the apologies. It takes a lot to admit a mistake , own it, apologize and move on

Glad to see this de escalated.

Thanks, but yeah I was a dick.
Note to self: don’t be a dick. [emoji16]


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I know a guy who has "Don't be a Dick" on his back window.

He gets away with it, since his name is Dick




Oh, and Ddays, sorry for not catching the autoerror screwing up your name.