Flip side to the other thread...

Have you ever had to fire someone? Was it easy for you, extremely difficult, enjoyed it, hated it?

Who was the first person you fired? (not meaning their name, of course lol)...Why did you fire them? Were you nervous or eager? Was it your decision or someone else's? Did they take it well?

Yes, once. Keep in mind, I've worked for my and my family's-owned companies pretty much my entire 30-year business career. We NEVER fire anyone...well, almost never. You can count the number of times on one hand.

I fired the president of my home-loan company and he deserved it. I should have fired him much sooner, but like I said we just don't do that. And we had personally raised this guy in the business world after he flamed out on the PGA tour. He was like family.

But what a rotten SOB he turned out to be. Liar, double-crosser, thief, and absolutely NO loyalty.

I was pissed as hell when I fired the gutless son of a bitch - he wouldn't show up like a man for it, so I had to do it over the phone. To this day, when I see him around town, he cannot look me in the eye.

Like I said, I was pissed when I fired the fucker, but it felt good to do it.

And it STILL feels good when I think about it.

Only 1 person here has ever had to fire someone? lol...

I was running a small movie theatre in La Jolla and had 2 fire an employee of mine. He was a rockabilly teenager/aspiring musician who was hired by the guy who I took over 4 bcuz he wanted 2 sex him down.

He was the sweetest kid, but he just could not get it. Register, ushering, showing up on time. He wasn't stupid, he was just not cut out for working with cash or numbers. My boss finally said "next time he screws up, fire him". Sure enough he did and I felt awful about it. It was seriously like murdering a puppy.

I don't miss my management days.

Once when I was editor in chief of a student publication in undergrad, I'd hired a guy to be our art director and designer for promotional materials, ad cards, etc. Dude got creative WAY beyond our parameters and pulled the art diva thing on me when I tried to rein him in. My editorial board and faculty advisor insisted I boot him.

My feelings were mixed. I hated having to do it, because he was extraordinarily talented. Also, he'd had been a personal friend of mine since middle school. On the other hand, while I love him, he's admittedly a jerk to the core... even 'til this very day, so putting him in his place was actually a bit fun.

He didn't speak to me for a couple months or so, but he came around. We're close friends to this day.

I've fired several people... mostly for just not cutting it on the job... space-cases, rule breakers, ALWAYS late... you name it...

The concept is a little different in the military....we process non-hackers for chapter under different articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice...but I've assisted in the "firing" of many....mostly for drugs or for attitude issues...never fun or easy, but in the end, I'd rather have floks I know I can depend on....

reneGade20 said:

In your line of work ABSOLUTELY!

How ya been man?

RenHoek said:

Just hanging with it....doing what I can...

and noticing that I said "floks" instead of "folks"...

when i worked in hotel management i had to fire two waitresses.

they deserved it but it still wasn't nice.

Yes a number of times. It's business not personal.

I had to fire my brother.

It was horrible. He left another job to work in my machine shop. After four days he didn't show up or call or answer the phone. Seems he had a big problem with drinking. We couldn't work it out so I fired him.

He got sober several years later.....he's still an asshole.

pearle said:

working with family is hard. my hubby has a family business. it is colourful to say the least.