What To Do With Co-Worker?

[Audrey]

Hey guys and gals!

I need your advice.
I have been working at my current frame-shop for about eight months....just moved here a year ago.

There's a guy who's been working for my boss for YEARS, and while he only works about ten/fifteen hours a week now, he manages to WREAK HAVOC in that amount of time. After the day I just had, I'm about to slap him the next time I see him.

He takes all kinds of "specialty orders," and because he's been framing for years, he thinks no one else can do them, so he leaves no directions on the invoice on how to do them. Just writes his name across them. Trouble is, he doesn't work often enough to FINISH (or even start) them, so I spend a lot of time talking to customers who are angry that their stuff isn't finished. When he DOES do them, I've noticed that there's lots of things he doesn't charge for to "help the sale," that customers then expect ME to not charge for, either. (I'm talking about second mat charges, a glass float charge, specialty mat cuts, etc.) This is partly the reason he writes his name on these orders--because only HE knows exactly what the order entails, material-wise.

I've mentioned these problems to my boss, but he shrugs and basically says, "Oh, he's been here for years--don't mind him."

I'm tired of it. I just got myself CHEWED OUT today by a customer whose order was due a week ago--again, my co-worker had left NO diagram on the invoice on how the customer wanted it. I used to cover for him (customer-wise) as best I could, out of pride and a feeling that it's partly my responsibility as another employee, but I'm tired of dealing with all this drama. It's hard enough to do my own job, without worrying about him doing his.

I feel like it makes the entire shop look bad for me to shrug and tell these customers, "Look, talk to my boss. I have no answer for why this isn't done." But I'm not anyone's mother, and this shouldn't be my responsibility.

What would YOU do? I feel, as one of the shop's newest employees, that it's difficult to call attention to the work ethics of a long-standing employee, but I'm really steamed.

Help. http://www.thegrumble.com/framer/ubbs/frown.gif

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I don't care what color your sofa is.

[Frame Harbor]

If you told your boss everything you just confessed in here, that would be it. The other piece of advice you might get would be to keep silent and open your own shop a day or two faster.

[sumik]

Audrey, I understand how you feel. I've also had to do a lot of "covering" for someone. Unfortunately it's my boss. It really stressed me out for a couple of years. I also worried about how it reflected on the store. Know what... I finally figured "Hey,it's not my store." If that's the way they want to run things,oh well. So, now I just say I don't know why something is not done and take a message. I sometimes get mad and want to say something, but it's not worth losing my job over. If your boss wants to tolerate this, oh well...If it causes the business to fail,than follow Frame Harbors advice. I would think a bank would be a little more open to giving a loan to someone who is not a quitter,just had the misfortune of working for a spineless businessman,who let his employees run the show. Good luck.

[Janet]

Audrey,

You're in a no-win situation. Keep all the things that are driving you crazy in mind when you DO open your own shop. You'll be a great success because you always care about the customer and producing excellent work.

If your boss doesn't care and the part-time person half-way writing up these orders doesn't care, your hands are tied to a certain degree.

I hope you can find a way to get out of your present workplace and open up your own frame shop. Have you contacted the Small Business Administration in your area? They may be able to help you reach your goal sooner than you anticipated.

You are not going to change your boss' attitude nor are you going to be able to change the way this other part-time person handles the orders he takes. It's not your shop. I do admire you for tolerating everything you put up with and caring enough to try and "cover" for them. I must say, you are one loyal employee.

Best of luck to you,

Janet

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How cheap do you want it to look??

[Charles Lowry]

Audrey, you have recieved a lot of good advice. I worked for the Fone Company for 30 years. There were a coupla guys that I was with the whole time. They fit the description of your co-'worker' to a T.
It always seems that there is something they might have on the 'boss'. Maybe 8X10 glossys... We never won by complaining. That's was always our first inclination. It really pi**es you off when that sorta thing is going on. And you bust your butt to try and do a good job.
Personally, I would let the boss stew in his own pot. He didn't hire you to look out for this guy. He hired you to help him make money. So..that's what I'd do. I found that the more we complained, even when the boss KNEW what was goin on, the more we brought the boss's wrath down on us. I hate to say 'grin and bear it', but, well, grin and bear it. I agree with Janet (always a good thing to do), you need to get out and get your shop going. With your care for customers and your work ethic, you'll do really well. Try and think of your present situation as a real learning experience. It's hard to see a silver lining when you're surrounded by clouds, but hang in there. All comes to she who waits.
Good luck!!

[PAMELA DESIMONE,CPF]

Audrey, You have every right to be angry, at you fellow employee AND your boss. Where is the owner when these things are happening? If a customer is angry, they should be dealing with the owner, not an employee. In the future, take the customers name and phone# and let the boss handle it. If the boss is present, call them out. If he/she have to handle enough problems, maybe he/she will do something about it. One more thing. It sounds to me like you give due dates, and the customer expects that to be met, which is fine, but not always possible. Our slips have due dates, but we ALWAYS tell people we will call them when the order is ready, just in case it takes longer to complete, or it is done early. The other way to appraoch this would be to call the customer if the order is NOT done, and tell them it will be a little longer. I found a customer doesn't seem to mind waiting a little longer, but they do mind if they come in on the expected date and it is not finished.

[Susan May]

Audrey,
The next time a customer comes in to pick up their picture, and it's one of "his", instead of handling the customer you might ask your boss to tell the customer. The boss might act differently when they are the one to deal with the angry customers.
Just act innocent, and ignorant... "I looked for the lady's picture, but I don't find it in the finished bins... Could you help the customer, while I look for it in the back?" If the boss tells you to deal with the customer, while they look, you can always tell the customer "My boss is looking for your work, he should be out in a moment. Thank you for your patience." Just remember, it's their shop, not yours. They are the ones responsible in the long run.

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Sue May :)
"You want it when?!?!?"

[MerpsMom]

And if the boss won't handle it, find out when Mr.-I'll-Do-It-Myself is on the work schedule, and let the customer talk directly to him. That way, "their" personal framer can explain the problem to them. http://www.thegrumble.com/framer/ubbs/shutup.gif

[John Ranes II, CPF, GCF]

Audrey,

Print out this page.

Hand it to your boss, expalining that you've had a small but sesitive problem at work. You needed some professional help, so went to a group of other framers to find out their reaction.

Mention that you really didn't know how to handle the situation and looked for the advise of others. Ask him what does he think?

John

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The Frame Workshop of Appleton, Inc.
www.theframeworkshop.com (http://www.theframeworkshop.com)
Appleton, Wisconsin
jerserwi@aol.com
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[Bob Carter]

Leave-There must be 100 shops in San Antonio that would hire an experienced framer today.

[Audrey]

That's precisely the problem....I applied at other frame-shops when I moved here, and THIS particular one offered me more than any other....pay-wise, anyway. *grin* Texans do a lot of framing, but they don't like paying much for it...places like Hobby Lobby and Michael's absorb a great deal; New York prices and wages just wouldn't fly down here. *sigh* So you have to take your money where you can....

Anyway, apparently the woman who yelled at me yesterday called the boss this morning and yelled at him, too....he, being the coward he is, told her that "he'd have a talk" with the framer in question, and that he'd "take care of it."

Which basically meant that he wrote a note to my co-worker, who comes in to work tonight. "Please do 'x' order ASAP."

Thanks for all the wise advice, btw....you have all just witnessed the morphing of A Caring and Compassionate Framer into A Typical Employee. *grin* I will continue to take care of the customers that I know personally; with everyone else, it's all about passing the buck.

The problem with this co-worker is that he'll spend like three hours at the counter, shooting the breeze and getting to 'know' the customers, so half of them adore him, and the other half are driven crazy by all the promises he won't fulfill. Our shop doesn't stretch canvases; the boss likes to keep things "high-production." But this guy knows how to stretch, so he feels the need to promise people that he'll stretch their canvases on his own time....and then forget all about it. He'll promise people to take apart their ancient, crappy frames and "repair them," and then when he screws it up, he tells them that "we'll get you a new one, no charge. Sorry about that." Like somehow it's cost-efficient to "repair" damaged frames, and then give away new ones....!

So I don't care anymore. If he wants to run this shop like it's the one he used to own, and the boss lets him, it's not my problem. I think he costs the shop more money than he's ever made it, but the boss doesn't see it that way, and IT'S NOT MY SHOP. *sigh of thankfulness*

There. I feel much better. I gave my co-worker's schedule to another customer today, and told her to "feel FREE to call when he's working if you want to know what's up with your order." God knows nobody else does.

Thanks for letting me vent. http://www.thegrumble.com/framer/ubbs/smile.gif

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I don't care what color your sofa is.

[Bogframe]

MerpsMom said it all, I've been in this situation, and that's the only way to handle it.

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Seth J. Bogdanove, CPF
21 years framing and still loving it