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Car breaking down, being in an accident, house on fire/flooded etc. If your past employers don't have that kind of mercy, a certain word that starts with D comes to mind.
Draconian? Yeah, those are the kinds of employers I have a habit of working for.
Again, I totally understand getting the boot over a pattern of tardiness, but I wish one late day a year could be waived at a normal work setting, without looking too much into it.
Funny how some employers don't seem to understand this direct correlation between human nature and job performance. "You're just lucky to have a job" does not get you hopping out of bed in the morning - liking what you do and feeling rewarded for your time and work does.
Most do understand and are willing to cut some slack to those who are not chronic excuse makers. I agree there are bad managers out there who are ridiculously rigid, but I don't think they are the norm.
The real problem is that irresponsible people don't keep track of themselves. When I was a front line manager I dealt with a few people who would need to be talked to, and all but one responded with, "I'm hardly ever late! What are you talking about?" or "I'm sorry I'm not perfect but traffic was bad and I've only been late a couple of times!"
Meanwhile, I've got a list of dates with their arrival times that is long. Some of them would then tell me they had no idea they were late that many times while others would foolishly hold fast to the notion that it just couldn't be. "I don't think that's right. You must have everyone's late arrivals on there. All of those couldn't be just me."
Managers don't have time to babysit and hand hold people - and isn't that what posters complain about anyway?
If you have issues, man up and learn something from them and change your behavior instead of living in denial.
Stuck in a traffic jam? Chances are you have a cellphone. Take a picture. If you really are stuck, you have time.
Had flat tire? Again, take a picture.
Car broke down? Show the repair bill.
Taxi didn't show up? Show me the time of day on your phone where you actually called them.
In 2015, unforeseen events can be documented as they happen. Good employees, when faced with them, document them. Chances are when you go to show your boss that picture, if you have no tardiness problems in the past, they'll even tell you "don't worry", or if they want to see it's more because they want to relate to it with you rather want it as evidence.
Good employees who are faced that one rare issue, don't have a problem. Those who make lateness a trend such as Nlamberts wonderful employee with four straight excuses, find themselves without a job a week after their amazing road trip they posted on facebook.
Most do understand and are willing to cut some slack to those who are not chronic excuse makers. I agree there are bad managers out there who are ridiculously rigid, but I don't think they are the norm.
The real problem is that irresponsible people don't keep track of themselves. When I was a front line manager I dealt with a few people who would need to be talked to, and all but one responded with, "I'm hardly ever late! What are you talking about?" or "I'm sorry I'm not perfect but traffic was bad and I've only been late a couple of times!"
Meanwhile, I've got a list of dates with their arrival times that is long. Some of them would then tell me they had no idea they were late that many times while others would foolishly hold fast to the notion that it just couldn't be. "I don't think that's right. You must have everyone's late arrivals on there. All of those couldn't be just me."
Managers don't have time to babysit and hand hold people - and isn't that what posters complain about anyway?
If you have issues, man up and learn something from them and change your behavior instead of living in denial.
Do you think the supervisor should air out their grievances to the employee? Or should the employee's negative work performance come as a total surprise to them?
When I was in the military several years ago, one day I went to the printer for something I printed. On the print tray, I noticed my supervisor drafted a letter of reprimand addressed to me, intended to go to the commanding officer. My supervisor listed a bunch of incidents that I never guessed were considered negative. She then speculated on what kind of person I must be to commit those infractions. Nothing she mentioned in the letter was brought up in our counseling and feedback "sessions." If she didn't completely operate behind my back, and had an interest in me showing improvement, I wouldn't have had that black eye on my record.
Most people can't read minds. A minor incident could be a major one, in the supervisor's eyes. As far as punctuality, employees usually understand that you should be at your work site at the appointed time. However, they don't know if being on time (instead of arriving early every time) looks bad. They don't know if they took too long to have a smoke break. They don't know if leaving the office to do a job that they always do looked bad, just because they didn't ask permission from the supervisor first. If you're not clear on the rules, employees will start breaking them, then leave work thinking they impressed the hell out of everybody.
I think some of the people here pretend to be perfect when they aren't. I don't know anyone who hasn't been 2 minutes late for anything in their life. I agree that being late in the first few weeks on a job is not good, but I think firing someone for 2 minutes is a bit excessive.
I'm wondering if you were slow learning the job, so they were looking for an excuse to get rid of you. They probably didn't want to fire you for being slow, since they might have feared a lawsuit or issue with your state labor department. You being late was a good excuse.
That said, I would make an effort to be on time at your next job. Early, if possible.
i was not late very many times, plus they were less than 5 minutes lates
You were late. Period. Doesn't matter if it's 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 20 minutes. You are on probation when you start a job. You were late multiple times. Be happy I'm not your boss. If you're late during your probation period with me, you're fired. If you're late by 1 minute, you're fired. Why? You can't be bothered to do what you're supposed to and that is to show up on time and be prepared to work. There are plenty of people who show up on time or early to work.
Being two minutes late is NOTHING in retail, unless you are the key holder (the person opening the store).
A few lates is no reason to let a worker go. I'm in HR. It's BS to let someone go over that. As I was taught, "People have LIVES."
The OP is struggling. He could use some support. I'm sad that you and some others on this board don't see the person, just the chance to be a harda$$ anonymously.
I've worked in HR and now own my own business. If you're late and on probation, you're fired. End of story. If you're on probation and I see you on your phone one time, you're fired. I do not give second chances during probation. If momma or grandma really was run over by a bus, your family can call the store to give you an update. If not, then you have to wait until your shift is over. You're not paid to be on Facebook or taking selfies or whatever.
Your life doesn't have a single thing to do with my business. My personal life doesn't either. My personal life ends at the back door. I leave that out in the parking lot. I expect the same for all employees. If you can't handle that, then you can't work for me. There's a reason I became a store manager when I was 18 and only had 3 months experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jessica2099
Sure, do this! Only listen to the responses that tell you what you want to hear. You will go far with that advice. It's always someone else's fault, after all. Never yours.
It is never productive to learn from one's mistakes. Or to take constructive criticism, or to own up to one's mistakes. Why bother with all that, it's more fun to blame other people. Who cares that you were 10 minutes late multiple times, at least you were there! And geez, where were your gold stars every time you were on time.
The encouraging posts are the ones tell him to get his act together. The posts that do not help him are the ones that are blaming the employer.
Yes, blaming others will get you absolutely nowhere in life. More people need to realize this. Mommy and Daddy aren't going to be there to hold your hand in life. Bosses are mean people. We expect you to do your job and be on time. Crazy people we are!
If the OP truly does have a mental disability, he should look into an employment opportunity through his local ARC. They provide wonderful employment opportunities for many disabled folks. Some of the greatest workers I've ever worked with came from ARC. They came to work on time. Remember that!
Do you think the supervisor should air out their grievances to the employee? Or should the employee's negative work performance come as a total surprise to them?
When I was in the military several years ago, one day I went to the printer for something I printed. On the print tray, I noticed my supervisor drafted a letter of reprimand addressed to me, intended to go to the commanding officer. My supervisor listed a bunch of incidents that I never guessed were considered negative. She then speculated on what kind of person I must be to commit those infractions. Nothing she mentioned in the letter was brought up in our counseling and feedback "sessions." If she didn't completely operate behind my back, and had an interest in me showing improvement, I wouldn't have had that black eye on my record.
Most people can't read minds. A minor incident could be a major one, in the supervisor's eyes. As far as punctuality, employees usually understand that you should be at your work site at the appointed time. However, they don't know if being on time (instead of arriving early every time) looks bad. They don't know if they took too long to have a smoke break. They don't know if leaving the office to do a job that they always do looked bad, just because they didn't ask permission from the supervisor first. If you're not clear on the rules, employees will start breaking them, then leave work thinking they impressed the hell out of everybody.
It's the job of the supervisor to work to save all employees on their team because it's unfair to the employee, bad management and fiscally unsound to do otherwise. And by saving them, I mean working with them one-on-one to address issues and help them get where they need to be.
It sounds like your supervisor was either a wimp and didn't want to have a discussion with you, or had an end goal of simply getting rid of you without giving you an opportunity to change. Either way, that's an incompetent manager, in my opinion.
Do you think the supervisor should air out their grievances to the employee? Or should the employee's negative work performance come as a total surprise to them?
When I was in the military several years ago, one day I went to the printer for something I printed. On the print tray, I noticed my supervisor drafted a letter of reprimand addressed to me, intended to go to the commanding officer. My supervisor listed a bunch of incidents that I never guessed were considered negative. She then speculated on what kind of person I must be to commit those infractions. Nothing she mentioned in the letter was brought up in our counseling and feedback "sessions." If she didn't completely operate behind my back, and had an interest in me showing improvement, I wouldn't have had that black eye on my record.
Most people can't read minds. A minor incident could be a major one, in the supervisor's eyes. As far as punctuality, employees usually understand that you should be at your work site at the appointed time. However, they don't know if being on time (instead of arriving early every time) looks bad. They don't know if they took too long to have a smoke break. They don't know if leaving the office to do a job that they always do looked bad, just because they didn't ask permission from the supervisor first. If you're not clear on the rules, employees will start breaking them, then leave work thinking they impressed the hell out of everybody.
I meant to add something about this. While people are not mind readers, a good bit of what you're talking about is common sense and something everyone should be learning from their parents when they get their first job.
They don't know if they took too long to have a smoke break? Or that they cannot just get up and leave their job to do something outside the office without getting permission from their supervisor? However did they manage to get through school not understanding simple things like this? Surely they didn't get through by taking longer lunch periods or leaving class to exit the building and do something else.
why do they let you go, its not like i was late by allot of minutes, on a few. ive seen people come late damit, these job cant sit here and say others dont make mistakes.
It seems you're illiterate too.
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