Why do some bosses keep bad employees

[Heavenly55]

around. I'm still trying to figure this one out. For example, an old co worker of mine used all of her sick days (8days) in her first 4 months. She didn't even have sick days to use since she was still on probation. She would leave early on average at least 1x every 2 weeks bc she had to pick up her kids from school or her kid was sick or she felt sick and my boss never refused anyone from leaving early. Then there were the personal calls. Granted we all have to make calls at work but her cell phone would be out on her desk ringing off the hook and she would be sitting at the front desk talking on her cell for half an hr to 45 min at a time...this was all while my boss was in the office and nothing was ever said. My employees complained about her every day so I know by boss had to see and hear things yet he did nothing. Then there was the employee before her who I never met. I heard how she sucked, she was so horrible, never did anything and if you asked her to help you with a project she would flat out say no..she was there for 2 years..the reason being..they supposedly felt bad firing her..who ever heard of such a thing. At my new place of work there's miss phoney aka kiss hiney who comes in at least 2 to 3 times a week an hr to 2 hrs late. The best is we live in the same area so if I get there tops 10 min late what is her reason for being 2 hrs late come on now. So I noticed a trend...all these workers are young women. Is the fact that most managers or at least all the managers they worked for are men have anything to do with this..ex maybe the boss lets things slide bc they have a vagina basically lol. I know my boss at my first job described her to someone before she started as "a really cute girl...so let's see how stupid she is"..well for someone proving to be stupid he still kept her there. Do bosses just hate having to go through the whole interview process? And all of these jobs are corporate level so it's not like they are strapped for people. Why are there jobs where if u make a few little mistakes you'll get the boot then employees like these who get away with murder and yet are there for years?

[redfathom]

I had a boss who kept an employee on because she was cute (I am also very cute, but I don't flirt). She was 20 had two kids and was a major flirt and partier. I was 19 and married.

 

I actually got talked to about standing to close to my husband when he came to visit, they said it was too intimate.

 

This girl would flirt with my boss and any other male and sit in his office for hours. One time at the front with guests in the lobby this guy came in she knew and they wer talking about bars: she yells across the room, "Hey I was at X bar on Sat. maybe you saw me I was the one dancing on the tables." I looked at her and said, "you know what shut up"! I told her she was being very inappropriate. She did the same thing, was late, talked on the phone all day, never did any work.

 

She left shortly after and I had to do the job of three people (another girl left also) and they would not give me a raise, until I asked my boss for time off to go on an interview. I busted my butt at this place and eventually promoted elsewhere in the company.

[redfathom]

Oh also, he would interview the "pretty girls", one he actually interviewed while her screaming baby sat on her lap. Turned out she was only 17 and could not work for us anyways. This was no small company either, we had 3500 employee.

[Heavenly55]

I had a boss who kept an employee on because she was cute (I am also very cute, but I don't flirt). She was 20 had two kids and was a major flirt and partier. I was 19 and married.

 

I actually got talked to about standing to close to my husband when he came to visit, they said it was too intimate.

 

This girl would flirt with my boss and any other male and sit in his office for hours. One time at the front with guests in the lobby this guy came in she knew and they wer talking about bars: she yells across the room, "Hey I was at X bar on Sat. maybe you saw me I was the one dancing on the tables." I looked at her and said, "you know what shut up"! I told her she was being very inappropriate. She did the same thing, was late, talked on the phone all day, never did any work.

 

She left shortly after and I had to do the job of three people (another girl left also) and they would not give me a raise, until I asked my boss for time off to go on an interview. I busted my butt at this place and eventually promoted elsewhere in the company.

I'm attractive too..and yeah maybe I can see someone getting initially hired to be some eye candy for the office but not pulling crap like this. The one you described though sounded like a load of fun to work with it.

[redfathom]

I wish there were more like her! Good times!

[Heavenly55]

I wish there were more like her! Good times!

haha:laugh:

[Optimus_Prime]

Very good question ladies and I wish I knew. There seems to be a pattern in your respective situations where men are thinking with their little heads. I wonder what the problem is in mine. I work in a small office with only about 12 people in it. It drives me nuts to see what's going on there and I know I'm not the only one that sees it. I'll be the first to state that I'm not the employee of the year, I do my job and I go home. However, my GM treats two other guys in my 'department' pretty much like gold while I and a few others get the short shrift!!

The GM, my supervisor and a co-worker will go out to lunch (I heard our office administrator joke that it takes them an hour to GET lunch and then they come back and eat it, I have seen this happen myself a few times) I and others rarely get asked to come with. Then I will get an email that I was out at a clients' site too long and this is unacceptable but hey, I guess I forgot to mention that it was my Supervisor and GM that cut this particular job from two men down to one!! The company is trying to save money right now but it seems like our supervisor is making some choices that really won't save money in the long run, this boggles my mind. I'm not imagining things, I talk to other co workers who work in the office more than I do and they say the same things. My supervisor (who is a guy, just like my GM so being pretty doesn't apply here) acts like he is still in highschool, bullying people because he is much bigger and stronger than others, making fun of others (even thought you CAN'T make fun of him) and even making sexist and racial jokes. Hey, I understand that there are places where jokes like that can be told and there will be no real repercussions, but I'd say the office isn't one of those!! He can be really hard to work with, his way or the highway, no matter how braindead it is and NO MATTER WHAT, the GM ALWAYS takes his side.

I've done my best to eliminate my attitude from the equation (because it wasn't the best), but it is to no avail, I (and others) are on our way out. I'm too old to deal with Highschool shenanigans again, I'm just mystified how a business like person like my GM, who isn't a stupid man would fall for such a self absorbed @SS like my supervisor!! I even asked another co-worker what he thought and the only thing he can come up with is latent feelings of acceptance on the part of the GM!! My Supervisor was popular in highschool and this may be a way for him to fit in now. I'm not a shrink so I don't know about that but it at least makes some sense!! For now I go in, keep my head low, do my job and leave, it's a paycheque now, that's it until I find another job!!

[OceanBlue]

Why are there jobs where if u make a few little mistakes you'll get the boot then employees like these who get away with murder and yet are there for years?

 

Incriminating photos??

[amerikajin]

Why are there jobs where if u make a few little mistakes you'll get the boot then employees like these who get away with murder and yet are there for years?

 

Generally speaking, people are rarely ever hired and fired based on their performance alone; it usually has more to do with one's personal relationships.

 

"It's not what you know but who you know" -- you've heard that before, right? Well, it's true. I think it weighs a little less significantly than it used to because we're living in an era of 'performance-based bay', but a lot of jobs leave 'performance' open to subjective interpretation.

 

It's amazing how many utterly incompetent people end up not only not getting fired from their current job, but actually get promoted to a level of greater responsibility. Usually, the only time people get fired is when they their talents are so badly mismatched for the job description; or when they break the rules or otherwise get on the wrong side of social/political fences.

[justagirliegirl]

It has to do with personal relationships. If you are a butt kisser or are attractive and stroke the boss's ego or other things then you get special treatment. I've seen it over and over the many years I've been in the workplace.

 

My advice for a new job is to quickly find out who has the power and and become their best bud.

[Quinch]

At the last company I worked for, there was a woman who was rude, obnoxious, violent and lazy but they didn't fire her because she was the owner's sister-in-law. If you had a problem with her, you were the one that got fired.

[justpassingthrough]

I'm so happy someone asked this question because I woke up this morning still P.O.'d at my boss from the last time I spoke to him.

 

Here's what's going on.

 

I work for three fellas. One's my brother (half-ownership), another is also our General Manager (1/4 ownership). While the bosses have their own separate pay configuration, there are essentially two job descriptions:

 

1. The General Manager decides who will be the boss (manager on duty). This position is paid based a percentage of sales they complete (as we all are), but with a higher percentage than when they aren't managing. This person also distributes work orders during the time they are managing - to everyone, including themselves.

 

2. Everyone else.

 

We are all encouraged to bring in private sales, and those sales are paid out on the same basis as any other sale.

 

Okay, so there's this fellow ... ugh, I can't think of how to describe her without getting in trouble. Alright, she's a female. A pregnant female. She got that way because she decided she wanted another child so go along with the one she had, so she fertility treatment. Her boyfriend, the father of her other child who refuses to marry her, believed she was on the pill. Okay, so her diabolical plan works, and she gets herself pregnant. The woman in me is floored by this person's conniving behavior.

 

Meanwhile, there's the job. Same person cries about living in poverty; she's a single mom even though her babies' daddy lives with her, paying her child support, but not living with her so she can have the medical coverage necessary to have the baby she tricked her boyfriend into giving her. She cries about how she needs to make money so much and so often, the General Manager lets her have all of the work she can do, even if that means letting other people sit, idle, unpaid, watching and listening (because she can't shut up while she works) to her make money.

 

And, of course, I can understand her financial woes. Of course there's the expenses of a new baby, but she also says she's paying the tickets (oh, yes ... more than one) she got speeding in a company vehicle, which went unpaid long enough that she's been arrested and jailed TWICE for driving on a suspended license after she was pulled over for speeding in a company vehicle. but I'm pretty sure she hasn't paid because she's been arrested and taken to jail TWICE because she was speeding - in a company vehicle.

 

Oh, and this person has no idea what getting to work on time means. Even when she knows she's the manager on duty, and she knows she will only assign work orders to other people if she can't possibly do it herself and will, as manager on duty, take other people's sales for herself - and make it clear that's what she's doing - then leave them sit, idle and unpaid, she shows up late. We're not talking 10 minutes folks, we're talking HOURS.

 

EVERYBODY in our obviously small company knows all of this; we have few secrets.

 

Any idea why that one's still around?

[oavada]

honestly i think companies and hr people in general are just lazy and they dont want to fire and hire new people because it's too much of a hassle to train new people...ive seen the biggest most incompetent losers in the world get decent jobs and like, really intelligent, articulate and bright people not able to find a job...and on that note...pretty girls get all the breaks!!

[Heavenly55]

I'm so happy someone asked this question because I woke up this morning still P.O.'d at my boss from the last time I spoke to him.

 

Here's what's going on.

 

I work for three fellas. One's my brother (half-ownership), another is also our General Manager (1/4 ownership). While the bosses have their own separate pay configuration, there are essentially two job descriptions:

 

1. The General Manager decides who will be the boss (manager on duty). This position is paid based a percentage of sales they complete (as we all are), but with a higher percentage than when they aren't managing. This person also distributes work orders during the time they are managing - to everyone, including themselves.

 

2. Everyone else.

 

We are all encouraged to bring in private sales, and those sales are paid out on the same basis as any other sale.

 

Okay, so there's this fellow ... ugh, I can't think of how to describe her without getting in trouble. Alright, she's a female. A pregnant female. She got that way because she decided she wanted another child so go along with the one she had, so she fertility treatment. Her boyfriend, the father of her other child who refuses to marry her, believed she was on the pill. Okay, so her diabolical plan works, and she gets herself pregnant. The woman in me is floored by this person's conniving behavior.

 

Meanwhile, there's the job. Same person cries about living in poverty; she's a single mom even though her babies' daddy lives with her, paying her child support, but not living with her so she can have the medical coverage necessary to have the baby she tricked her boyfriend into giving her. She cries about how she needs to make money so much and so often, the General Manager lets her have all of the work she can do, even if that means letting other people sit, idle, unpaid, watching and listening (because she can't shut up while she works) to her make money.

 

And, of course, I can understand her financial woes. Of course there's the expenses of a new baby, but she also says she's paying the tickets (oh, yes ... more than one) she got speeding in a company vehicle, which went unpaid long enough that she's been arrested and jailed TWICE for driving on a suspended license after she was pulled over for speeding in a company vehicle. but I'm pretty sure she hasn't paid because she's been arrested and taken to jail TWICE because she was speeding - in a company vehicle.

 

Oh, and this person has no idea what getting to work on time means. Even when she knows she's the manager on duty, and she knows she will only assign work orders to other people if she can't possibly do it herself and will, as manager on duty, take other people's sales for herself - and make it clear that's what she's doing - then leave them sit, idle and unpaid, she shows up late. We're not talking 10 minutes folks, we're talking HOURS.

 

EVERYBODY in our obviously small company knows all of this; we have few secrets.

 

Any idea why that one's still around?

wow..I actually laughed reading this bc it's pretty much unbelievable that this moron is still at your job. Quite honestly I would never stay in a job like that where behavior like this is rewared. I mean I know your brother is part owner and all but that is just bizarre.

[Heavenly55]

honestly i think companies and hr people in general are just lazy and they dont want to fire and hire new people because it's too much of a hassle to train new people...

Defentially agree with that. My current job my manager likes to get positons filled quickly and hire people right away bc god forbid he holds alot of interviews to find the most qualifed person. Oh and I have to add the current one at my job who comes in 2 hrs late a few times a week is a buttaface but has big boobs that she makes sure are pushed up and in your face every day. She's also special friends and goes out for after work for drinks alone with a married man whose been at my company forever. Sure that helps her with her coming in late every day;)

[oavada]

Oh and I have to add the current one at my job who comes in 2 hrs late a few times a week is a buttaface but has big boobs that she makes sure are pushed up and in your face every day. She's also special friends and goes out for after work for drinks alone with a married man whose been at my company forever. Sure that helps her with her coming in late every day;)

precisely...no matter how incompetent she is, the guys in charge will keep her around because they like looking at her and possibly because they want to have sex with her..thats how guys think most of the time...guys like protecting the cute, big boobed girls..it makes them feel manly and protective.

 

a real, dedicated professional office manager would base things on performance alone and wouldnt give these types of breaks to people...but apparently few of those types of managers exist.

[Love is Tragic]

Arggg!! tell me about it! I had that problem when i worked at a convenience store with a male general manager-he ONLY hired women, would admit to it, and it was usually decent-looking women in their late 20's, early 30's. He wasnt really that picky though, any that would suck up to him was fine with him. And if you flirted you got special treatment. I flat out refused to suck up to his nasty ass and because of it he was especially hard on me. Even though i was never late, my register was never short, i completed my work, and the customers seemed to like me. It sucked.

 

I now work at a hotel, and i have a female general manager, who really only hires women as well, but shes not gay or anything, just more women turn in applications than men, and women tend to be more detail-oriented. But she ALWAYS keeps the bad employees! There are a couple who are late every single time, they do sloppy work, and are rude to customers. But shes way too 'nice' so she wont let em go, even though she bitches about them all the time. I just dont get it, its this way everywhere ive worked.

[oavada]

cute girls, especially cashiers, waitresses, etc. can generate more business and reflect positively on an organization..so from that standpoint, it's a good business decision...if youre dealing with the public, it's good to have a cute, smiley face to deal with customers...in an office environment it doesnt really matter, however, like i said, i guess they still choose the cuties...i probably would too i guess, unless they showed imcompetence...given the choice between two equally competent applicants, id probably give the job to the more attractive applicant..

[justpassingthrough]

wow..I actually laughed reading this bc it's pretty much unbelievable that this moron is still at your job. Quite honestly I would never stay in a job like that where behavior like this is rewared. I mean I know your brother is part owner and all but that is just bizarre.

 

We, the non-owners, are left awestruck over it, too. They look to me (they refer to me as "The Union Rep") for answers and I don't have any. If I did, Manager/Owner and I would not have had the disagreement we had this past week. I told him he wasnt being fair distributing work orders; female with self-inflicted pregnancy issues definately got the lion share of work, thus the lion share of money to be made. He came unglued and told me to prove it. I showed him my work orders and told him we could compare mine to hers. He wouldn't do it. D'oh! Wonder why?

 

I haven't talked to brother about it because I feel it's my duty to try and work it out through the appropriate channels. General Manager is, after all, the manager. Meanwhile, we all are just sort of waiting until she gets caught speeding, in a company vehicle, again, and gets hauled off to jail because we're pretty sure the 3rd time might make the bail so high she can't borrow the money (uh, from General Manager) to get out so quickly this time.

[monkey00]

I think seniority plays a major role in this. The longer someone has been working for them, the harder it is to fire for them...Unless they are performing horribly at the job in which point they have no choice.

 

I've temped at places where the work I've produced were much better in terms of quality under time constraints. And the quality of work I've seen from the perm employees there were ok or below average. Often times I've wondered to myself that if they had me there as an employee I'd be a much better asset to the company compared to the current employees. But I knew the reality that they werent going to fire someone and hire me, just cause I did a better job at it.

 

IMO temping is the same, it doesnt matter who performs the best on the job. If their budget is tight, often they let go of the one who was there the shortest period of time.

 

Sometimes it has to do with relationship, and sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with it. And nowadays with boss's/supervisors being so busy, it is often hard to take notice who does a better job than who - so i believe it's always good to build a good relationship wherever it is you work.

 

I tend to believe it's more a question of morality, than it is brutality. [Doing what's morally right VS doing what needs to be done to improve business] And honestly most people would prefer not to be the bad guy.

 

It may be a cruel world out there, but it's hard to have any say...unless you're your own boss of course!

[Trialbyfire]

From a dollar and cents perspective, it takes approximately six months for the average line staff to come up to a reasonable level of performance. If you factor in the cost of time put in by the trainer and management staff towards the education of this employee, you'll see why this has heavy input into hiring/firing. Also, depending on where you live, the courts will tend to side with the employee, thus many Corporations simply roll over and buck up to the employee with the civil suit.

[monkey00]

From a dollar and cents perspective, it takes approximately six months for the average line staff to come up to a reasonable level of performance. If you factor in the cost of time put in by the trainer and management staff towards the education of this employee, you'll see why this has heavy input into hiring/firing. Also, depending on where you live, the courts will tend to side with the employee, thus many Corporations simply roll over and buck up to the employee with the civil suit.

 

TBF, you just reminded me of my ex boss. he owned a small company where there would be around 4-5 people max working in the office (including him). But in any case he would fire people as often as he would hire them - literally he would give them a week average tryout period (on the spot do as you learn kind of thing), didnt matter if they had experience or not. It was telemarketing so it was a very shady position to be in from the start and he did this with some sales executives as well.

Basically it was his own style of running a business, was very interesting to see though

Still it was hard not to respect the guy afterall, early 20's, runs his own business, married with a baby boy.

 

But karma has a funny way or working things, an ex-employee (before I started working there) of his tried to start his own company to compete with his.

[Trialbyfire]

TBF, you just reminded me of my ex boss. he owned a small company where there would be around 4-5 people max working in the office (including him). But in any case he would fire people as often as he would hire them - literally he would give them a week average tryout period (on the spot do as you learn kind of thing), didnt matter if they had experience or not. It was telemarketing so it was a very shady position to be in from the start and he did this with some sales executives as well.

Basically it was his own style of running a business, was very interesting to see though

 

But karma has a funny way or working things, an ex-employee (before I started working there) of his tried to start his own company to compete with his.

Not a smart man. Hiring and firing is expensive business. If an ex-employee is able to start his own competitive company, it appears that there was a lack of a proper employee/non-comp/non-disclosure agreement, etc.

[monkey00]

Not a smart man. Hiring and firing is expensive business. If an ex-employee is able to start his own competitive company, it appears that there was a lack of a proper employee/non-comp/non-disclosure agreement, etc.

 

To him it would cost more to hire/keep an experienced employee. Considering the hourly rate he pays his employees, I would understand why this is his business practice.

 

hm..his business was..semi-professional so idont think he'd care all that much if people stole from him (ideas/outside vendors/distributors/etc.)

[Heavenly55]

Actually I tend to think it is alot smarter to fire people right away then keep someone for 3 4 years and let their behavior snow ball. I mean the girl I work with now I can't comment on her quality of work bc I don't know what her daily tasks her. I think it's a gradual process though.. not doing work given to them, taking off... They see what they can get away with and they keep pushing amd doing it more and more and more. Until they're there for years and pretty much do how they please. But also the only 2 employess I've seen get fired at any of my jobs have been one for cursing a client out on the phone and another for shady business he was doing on the side and not billing for his work. So if you're causing a company to loose money they care othewise the crap that goes on is overlooked. And I will say women get away with alot more then men..and I'm a girl. Like someone else said I'm defentially not employee of the year either but taking days off and coming in hours late..I don't care how great you are at what you do that's bascially giving your boss the big middle finger.