We have had some interesting times with employees recently. One employee who had been with us for over a year decided to go out for his birthday (He was 30 turning 31) I suspect that he had some previous drug or alcohol problems because as soon as he went out and started drinking he totally wigged out and stopped coming to work other than to come in and request a raise. If he would have asked for a raise a couple weeks prior, we would have given him one. However, you don’t show up to work, don’t respond to calls and we believe that he was either dead or in jail, because up to that point he had been ultra reliable. We had to send another employee to his house (he was living with his Mom at the time and going to school) and find out that he was passed out in his room. He left his previous girlfriend because she was apparently a drug addict. I believe that he was clean and sober for quite a while and was going to school, but all it took was one night of drinking to put his life off the rails.
The guy we hired to replace him lasted about a week. He interviewed well and as soon as we hired him he was a total flake. First thing… He couldn’t work Wednesdays because that is his “personal” day. Ok, not a big deal. Next, he can’t work an 8 hour shift (with a lunch in the middle, so it is really only 7 hours). Ok, we can work around that. Oh and he can’t work past 6:45 because he can’t get home because I guess his Girlfriend (I can’t believe this dude has a girl friend at this point) gets off work at 7:00 and won’t wait for him if he works later than that. Ok, this is getting ridiculous… Especially when we ask during the interview if he had reliable transportation. So, Monday rolls around and he calls in with “Food Poisoning” and can’t come to work. Tuesday he calls and states that he lied he didn’t really have food poisoning, but that he was busy crying and couldn’t come in because of the stress. Um…. No…. Sorry, this isn’t the job for you. Buh Bye! I wish I could say this was the first time something like this has happened. We had another guy we hired about a year or so ago that couldn’t come to work on the first day because of stress and had to be escorted by his wife on the second day. This guy as 6’5″ and weighed about 300lbs. With the right attitude, this guy could have probably intimidated 90% of the population! Wow! Good luck in life guys, I really wish them the best, I really do! It would be a HARD way to go through life!