What is reasonable?

Further in the hiring business……….the high school student has a somewhat limited schedule, so Boss would prefer someone who can work a more varied schedule. One of our employees has an acquaintance who has been looking for a job for a long time. The problem is, he has a disability. I very much realize that it's illegal to discriminate based on a disability. However, we only have to make a reasonable accommodation. What is reasonable?

If he was a quadriplegic, there'd be no question. He could not do the job functions, which include stocking shelves, climbing a ladder, running a cash register, etc. Not possible. So no. But this guy has a borderline disability. He might be able to do the job, but there's a good chance that he won't be able to. If it came to firing him, what reason would we give? Maybe he was making a good effort, but he was simply unable to do the job because of his disability. Could we fire him? How?

There were other things that bothered me, too. Transportation that was less than ideal (he was an hour late to the interview), a totally unrelated job history, and just a gut feeling that he'd be problems. When a current employee recommends someone, it's turned out to be a 50/50 chance of getting a good employee. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works really well. Sometimes it's the worst thing ever.

Had the current employee not recommended the applicant so strongly, I would have said no right away. But that employee is good and if he thinks the applicant will be a good match for our workplace, then it's worth a shot, right?

But then there's that gut feeling.

I was up in the air. Boss checked with another store and they basically told her that because he has a disability we have to hire him. Uh, no…..that's not how it works. We can't refuse to hire him because of his disability, but we can not hire him because of other reasons.

I interviewed someone last year who had a similar but not nearly as pronounced disability and I decided two minutes in that he was a definite no. Why? Besides being an asshole, he trashed his former employer, had a negative attitude, and was a know-it-all. Bad combination. Anyway, Boss got scared of a lawsuit and hired the guy. I don't feel good about this.

More Interviews

"Probably yes" didn't return from the drug test. After I read over my notes from the "maybe" people, I didn't find anything great, while I did find some red flags that I didn't see in the initial interviews. So, back to the drawing board.

One of the interviews that the other manager did was good. Since it was one of her first times interviewing someone, I interviewed the high school student too. When I called to schedule the second interview, he was still in school so I talked with his mother. She had good phone manners and showed some intelligence—a good sign.

The kid showed up right on time for his interview. He was a little on the quiet side, but it was a nervous kind of quiet. He was well-spoken and gave good answers, demonstrated the problem-solving skills I like so much, and was extremely polite and respectful. All right! Got to get final approval from Boss, but as far as I'm concerned, he's hired!

Interviews

Interview time! But since we've been working the last two weeks without Mr. Problem, it's not particularly pressing for me to hire a replacement. We can run the store short that position for as long as it takes to find a GOOD person, not just any person. We also have a couple of other positions that have been unfilled for a few weeks. So might as well do a lot of interviews at once.

I went through the applications and arranged for quite a few interviews, all in one day. Two were no-shows, one a definite no, two probably no, two maybes (I want another manager to interview them for a second opinion), and one probably yes.

Another manager (who is new at interviewing so I was training her) asked me what makes for a definite no, since I scheduled two interviews for her to do the following day (my day off). Well, the biggest thing to make me NOT hire someone is a blah personality with no enthusiasm AT ALL. Other things are someone who doesn't smile a single time during the interview, is a know-it-all, wants an impossible amount of money or impossible schedule (you MUST work at least one weekend day!), or demonstrates no problem-solving skills or common sense or brain power.

Sure it's only retail, but finding a good salesperson isn't easy. Our store is very fast-paced and if you can't multi-task and do things without a manager overseeing your every move, then you won't do well here. I also look at how I think the person will fit in with the current employees—will they get along, will they work together well, will they enjoy working together (if possible)?

Being nervous is ok……..most people are during an interview. Most of these interviews were high school students on their first job interview, so they were especially nervous. That actually worked well for me because I got more honest answers to my questions since they haven't heard them before or practiced how to interview.

"Why do you want to work here?"………"Because I think it seems like a fun place to work." In and of itself, not a completely disqualifying answer, but when it was obvious by further questioning that "fun" was the most important part of a job to the applicant………we don't always have fun here, so perhaps you should work at a carnival or something.

Being a little on the quiet/shy side is ok. But if I have to drag words out of you……..you don't belong here. There's a LOT of talking that you have to do with customers, co-workers, vendors, on the phone……

The "probably yes" person is very enthusiastic, positive, friendly, had all the right answers (yet I think they were honest answers), and will fit in perfectly.

Finally Gone

The problem employee I mentioned at the end of this post is FINALLY gone. I won't go into many details, but here's a summary of what this employee has been over the last months:

huge insubordination, my story vs. his story, him lying to the boss in front of me about what happened, the boss not supporting me as strongly as I would have liked, him then claiming both harassment and discrimination; finding out that he's Mr. Tax Evasion Expert with 6 invisible kids and 15 years of not filing taxes equaling upwards of $50,000; boss finally starting to see how big a liar he is; continued coming in late or not at all which boss ignores; disappears from the galaxy for two weeks and boss finally decides to fire him, which surprises him. "I was sick!" says he as he plans his trip to the unemployment office to further defraud the government while he works his under-the-table job.

I was close to quitting several times in those months……..so many headaches and a boss who did nothing. I know you have to be careful when firing someone, but when an employee messes up, DOCUMENT IT. If they mess up again, DOCUMENT IT AGAIN. Establish a pattern, and then FIRE THEM. Throughout it all, I was determined that he WOULD NOT force me to leave. He's finally gone but it's not as satisfying as I thought it would be. Oh well, at least the headaches are gone. Chances are another headache will come along before too long, but as long as I'm doing the hiring, hopefully they'll be minor ones.

Defective or Misuse?

All the crazy people come out on the weekend.

There was a girl trying to return an item that was MONTHS old (well past our return policy). She didn't want a replacement; she wanted a refund. According to her, the item was defective. I agreed that there was obviously something wrong with it. But the problem was more than likely due to her misuse of the item. If it had been like that to start with, then she should have returned it earlier.

I told her that because it had been so long, we couldn't take it back. First she protested, then she threatened to sue.....the item was defective, it's our fault, the employee who sold it to her sold her the wrong accessories, etc. The whole "I'm going to sue you!" line was particularly funny because she didn't have a receipt or any proof that she bought it in our store. She probably did get it at our store; she might even have bought it, but with no receipt, there was no way to know.

She, surprisingly enough, knew the name of the employee who "sold" it to her. (I use that term very loosely because I'm not sure that any money changed hands.) When there's a problem with an employee telling a customer the wrong thing, most customers barely remember if it was a male or female employee. They don't remember the name, or even if the employee was short or tall, what color hair…………NOTHING. So the fact that she remembered the name of the former employee who was fired more than three months ago is not only surprising, it's also a little suspicious. (She wanted a REFUND, not a replacement. Yet no receipt..........)

Just to cover myself, I called the regional manager to advise her of the situation. She agreed that at this point, MONTHS later, we have no responsibility for this particular item. So the girl can call the office or try to sue us or whatever……..it's not our fault nor our responsibility. Doesn't sound too customer-oriented, huh? Trust me, my company loves to please the customer, even if the customer is completely unreasonable. But let me give you some examples.

If you buy a car and never change the oil, it will eventually explode (or something like that). If you buy a bird and don't feed it, it will die. If you buy a wood table and throw it in your swimming pool and get it out two months later, then it will probably be rotten. If it's several months after the purchase, how do we know if you maintained the item properly or if it's a defect? We don't. That's what warranties are for, covering appropriate items for appropriate lengths of time. No warranty would cover this type of item for this length of time. Sorry, you're out of luck. Go away.