Managing the younger generation is a real challeng

rgcraig · #1 05-21-2009, 11:42 AM

Last week, I had an employee scheduled to be at work at 7:30 a.m. - didn’t hear a word from her. Finally, at 1:00 p.m. “her friend” called and said she was taken to the emergency room at 3:00 a.m. that morning with an allergic reaction.

I was a little taken back because her mom use to work here and I thought her mom would have for sure known to call us to let us know what was going on. (red flag)

The next day, she was at work. She told the ladies they didn’t know if it was a bug bite or something she had eaten, but at one point she couldn’t breath and had a big knot appear on her neck. Then later she told me that her whole neck was swollen and had fluid built up and they were going to have to slit her throat. (red flag)

Okay, by now my mom instincts were really kicking in and I’m thinking….WHAT? However, I’m trying to be open-minded and fair and give her the benefit of the doubt.

I met with her that afternoon and told her that what she did was considered a No Call/No Show and usually you are given a written warning. This time I was going to just go over the attendance rules with her to make sure she knew what was expected of her and then asked that she provide me with a copy of her discharge papers from the hospital for her file.

Next day, I received an email that she had looked high and low in her car and house and couldn’t find anything. She called the facility and asked them to fax her doctor the proper papers and she would get me a copy because when she called the hospital they said they could only fax to another doctor (red flag).

She wasn’t scheduled to work the next two days. (plenty of time to gather her documentation).

So, now it’s been a week and no word. I forwarded her the email where she said she would get the info to me and told her that I need the information by the close of business that day.

After lunch, I had a fax on my desk. The fax number from where it was faxed was crossed out (red flag), but it had the hospital logo and some information was there.

I decided to do a little investigating so I ran a report on the fax machine it came in on to see where the fax came from. At the time it was received there was only one transmission received and it was from MSD International which is a dept at our company two floors up. (red flag)

I ran the report on International’s fax to see if perhaps it was received on that one from the hospital. That fax had not received any transmissions that day. It did confirm that a two-page fax was transmitted from there to our fax machine. (BIG RED FLAG)

It was the end of that day, so I thought on it that night and came in the next day and decided to call the hospital to see if they would let me know if they had anyone come in (a week prior) by my employee’s name. Nope. I asked if I could fax the form to them to verify it was indeed their form.

They called back and said, it wasn’t their form, but there are several clinics in the area with that logo.

I called one of the clinics and she was very helpful. She said their computers were all linked so if she was at any of the clinics she would show up. They checked – NOPE. I asked if I could fax the form for her to verify.

They called back and the first thing the lady said was, “that’s a cut and paste job”!!!!! The logo is from our clinics and the rest of the form is from the hospital.

OH MY WORD!!!!!

I met with our HR Rep and she guided me how to proceed.

I met with the employee and told her that, “after taking into consideration the red flags and looking further into the form you submitted – it doesn’t appear to be authentic.” She had to the end of the day to make a choice:

1. Have the facility fax me directly the discharge form with her name, date and time.

OR

2. Accept a Written Warning – No Call/No Show

The color drained from her face and she said, “I’ll have to sign the warning”!

No joke?????

However, here’s the point of my HUGE post……..she showed absolutely NO REGRET!

I told her I was disappointed in her actions and all she STARTED to argue about was - - “it was personal”. I stopped her and said, I’m not asking you where you were or what happened – this is about you not calling and not showing up for work.

She offered - - No apology. No – I’m sorry I’ve let you down. No – I won’t do it again.

The rest of the afternoon she acted like nothing was wrong. Had that happened to me I would still had my tail tucked.

A real different generation entering the work force!!

Baron1710 · #2 05-21-2009, 11:51 AM

Which is why I have always stressed the fact that I have almost never missed work (certainly never without communicating before) and am never late when applying for a job.

So are you a detective now too?

rgcraig · #3 05-21-2009, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baron1710

Which is why I have always stressed the fact that I have almost never missed work (certainly never without communicating before) and am never late when applying for a job.

So are you a detective now too?

LOL....I'm thinking of taking that up as a side job!

KWSS1976 · #4 05-21-2009, 11:55 AM

Good investigation on your part way to go...I have worked with a few that have done this same thing...LOL I guess it was how they were raised...I recommended someone for a job one time and then got promoted to Shop Manager and the guy I recommended for this job I had to fire him cause of how he performed in the field..LOL talk about funny situation

Sister Alvear · #5 05-21-2009, 12:39 PM

If anything gets under my skin it is a liar...I do not trust people that lie...for I have learned they keep on lying until to them is is no longer ever a lie...

Sister Alvear · #6 05-21-2009, 12:40 PM

My sister has a vey high job and she has often spoken to me about people who do certain things like Renda mentioned....what a shame and a greater shame when they are church people...

Sister Alvear · #7 05-21-2009, 12:41 PM

The last few months I have had to deal with people that lie...it really bothers me...

Elizabeth · #8 05-21-2009, 12:45 PM

Amazingly stupid!

She will probably have more up her sleeve, sounds like dishonesty is a way of life for her.

She probably wonders why things do not work out for her-duh!

Timmy · #9 05-21-2009, 12:56 PM

It's not just the younger generation, but it does seem to be getting worse. Some of my son's friends (ex-friends now!) were really bad. Lied all the time, to him, to me, to everyone. Crazy.

LadyRev · #10 05-21-2009, 12:59 PM

I know EXACTLY what you mean.

A little over a year ago I started a new job. There were 8 people total in my training class all of which were younger than me by 10 years or more.

At this time, only 3 of of the 8 remain, including myself. There were attendance issues mostly but also some productivity issues.

The most notable thing with each of them was their indifferent attitude towards warnings of impending termination if they didn't straighten up and fly right. They simply didn't care.

I have a great supervisor that will bend over backwards for anyone that is really trying. But she isn't going to put up with an "I don't care" attitude and I don't blame her. Instead of taking her instructions and trying to improve, or showing any regret or smidget of caring about their jobs, they just griped and complained about her and ultimately ended up fired.

Go figure!