Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Doing my part to get the economy going.....

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Doing my part to get the economy going.....

Yesterday I fired one and demoted one, but I also started a new one, and starting another new one today. Employee's, that is. I'm also finishing training another new one for a different site in our company. Friday, I intend to talk with one more, and maybe make another hire.

Contrary to popular view, it's NOT easy being the boss.... but it must be done. Along the way I have the fun of putting people to work and training them into new skills. It's a lot like school... except people are allowed to fail, and I am allowed to fire them when they do, and no one is telling me to pinch pennies while they buy themselves four grand custom made desks.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...: Ah yes... Management... At least you're getting latitude from the owners to do what is necessary!; August 2, 2012 at 12:30 PM
Carteach said...: From Roger:

Firing;

I spent 30 years in manufacturing management. Primarily in metal fabrication but also in QC and manufacturing engineering.

A wlse old mentor told me about firing folks, that the boss doesn't fire anyone.He just brings them the news. It's true. Poor employees fire themselves throughpoor performance, attitude, dishonesty, etc.

One of the worst problems I had was to wait long enough for a poor employee to

recognize that they were a poor fit or to do or say something that they KNEW wouldget them terminated.

I've fired 'em for all kinds of reasons, drunk on the job, stoned on the job, theft, insubordination,
malfeasance, failure to bathe ( !! ), falsifying time cards, etc etc.

It always was surprising to me that an employee working in a good company would throw away
a good paying job for a few dollars worth of copper, or a cold beer - - -. But in the end, they
all in fact fired themselves. I just brought them the news.; August 2, 2012 at 4:40 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.