Human Resources 101

[2MinsToPost]

Here is the deal.

I asked an employee in our department to do something. He refused and said he was not going to do everything (of course this was not the case). I politely asked him to calm down (we were on the sales floor) and he came back with the same response with another snide remark. I obviously had to take action, so I immediately sent him home with the understanding that when he came back to work the following day he needed to have a better attitude. I also asked him if something personal was bothering him since I had never seen this side of him. He blew up and said he was not going to lose these hours. I then offered to escort him out the door, and then he decided he better leave.

I obviously had to write him up for this. He easily could have lost his job but I know he is soon going to be a father and since this was the first time he acted in this manner I thought it would be best to give him a written warning so there is a paper trail if this occurs again. When it came time to give this lecture to him I was informed by our Human Resources Manager that she wanted to sit in on this. No problem.

We all sit down and I explain the obvious, you need a good attitude, we value you as a member of our team and you need to realize you could have been fired for this. He apologized over and over and said that the stress of being a first time father was getting to him (what I thought). Next thing that happens blows me away. Keep in mind this employee has attendance issues, he has not gone a sold week in almost two years and been on time the whole week. He is an avid drug user (our company does not drug test unless suspicion or an accident). He does not have a High School education. We keep him on board cause he works when there but is not reliable on being on time.

Our stores Human Resources Manager turns to this employee and asks him if he knows that I am leaving in a couple weeks to go to a new store. He says yes. She THEN ASKS HIM to apply for my position, which is a Department Manager, with me in the room.

WTF?