[...] Fire the employee that’s doing nothing for your company but bleeding you for a monthly [...]

[...] Drama in Real Life: “You’re Fired!” [...]

[...] 17th, 2007 · No Comments Following links a couple of days ago, I found a really compelling and honest account of someone firing their employee. I didn't want to close the window, because one of the phrases was resonating so strongly with [...]

nice post

Your advice was sound and heartfelt; hopefully at some point he will take it to heart.

From a personal experience perspective, if he is truly interested in the music industry, a fun way to gain experience is to work on the road with a tour. There are many “roadie” jobs for guitar techs, stage hands, etc. if you are willing to travel, which in his case would help with the housing dilemma. I have personal experience being on the road with tours in other capacities, but have seen several people get started and make a nice long term job experience out of it.

There are always opportunities to fit interests if the individual is willing to put for the time and effort to adapt the opportunity. The question of course would be if this would a chance taken advantage of or squandered as with his current employ with you.

[...] at Get Rich Slowly, J.D. talks about firing an employee in his family business. I thought I’d share my story on [...]

[...] Drama in Real Life: "You’re Fired!" – 47 Votes [...]

[...] The things that are priorities in our lives are the things we actually do, and what we are doing is Secure Delivery. We intend to grow this company and make a living off of it (we’re in the black but we’re not rich yet!). If anybody else wants to intrude on our plans, the quotes start at $10,000 and go up sharply from there I know a lot of people make money with a blend of AdSense, product sales, blogging, etc. At what point would you decide to focus all your energy on one project and drop the others? I understand that many “internet money” options can be somewhat automatic after setting them up, but what would be your indication to stop making random sites and focus on one project? [...]

[...] Rich Slowly discusses his Real Life Drama of Having to Fire Someone. I can definitely relate to this one, being part owner in a family business and having to deal with [...]

[...] around to reading it and I’m glad I did. It’s from JD at Get Rich Slowly and titled, Drama In Real Life: “You’re Fired!” I love this blog and this type of post is [...]

I had to fire a contractor at my last job and immediately got the call back with the sob story. It was definitely the right thing to fire the contractor, but the repercussions in her life were real. I only explained why we were firing her (missed deadlines, unacceptable quality of work).

[...] related his experiences firing someone this past [...]

[...] JD had to fire someone the other day… but was kind enough to talk to him and try to help him work through his [...]

[...] Rich Slowly: Drama in Real Life: “You’re Fired!”. JD wrote about his experiences when he was forced to fire someone recently. This does not sound [...]

JD, you did good, but I must admit that you are a more patient man than I am. I would not have the patience to go through the conversation you described, where it just seems the other side is simply not listening and keeps repeating the same point over and over. Good going!

good job!

[...] Drama in Real Life: “You’re Fired!” from Get Rich Slowly by J.D.  I have had to fire a couple of people, and it sucks.  No gentler or more clever way to put it.  This is a very interesting post about how people put themselves in bad situations and then have to reap what they’ve sowed. [...]

The employer went way beyond in giving him a second chance and time to improve his work behavior. Instead he was late or a no-show.

He’s 21 years old. He has quite a few productive years ahead of him should he choose to be so (Where is the italics to stress this point?).

I feel sorry for the guy but he put himself there. It’s up to him to “dig” out as of it were.

[...] reap, what you sow. JD at Get Rich Slowly had to fire someone at his family’s business, because they had become unreliable. Just because you [...]

Note the very first word of this entry, “We”. Well, I am the other part of that, “We”.

I hired this employee. I disciplined this employee. I forgave this employee when he made mistakes. I had high hopes for this employee. I covered for this employee when he was absent. I physically fired this employeed.

JD just happened to be the guy he talked to after I had fired him.

A few weeks prior to the firing, when problems first start arising, I sat down with said employee and discussed things with him. I told him that, while it seemed the flood waters were rising all around him, he needed some kind of lifeline to hold on to — and our company was willing to be that lifeline. But in order for us to be a lifeline, he needed to hold on to the rope — and that meant showing up for work and doing his job.

I also told him that our lifeline could not pull him out of the water — he needed to dig deep inside himself and find the strength to pull himself out of the water. He was not willing to put forth the effort to do this. He wanted someone else to do it for him. He let go of the lifeline, and we had no choice but to real the lifeline in and start over with somebody new.

JD didn’t have to talk to him when he called back, but he took the time to try and ease the pain. Something I wasn’t willing to do at that point.

I know guiding one individual to their path may not bring you the same fulfillment as does teaching thousands daily through your writing, but if guiding people is along your life’s path then I think that handling it the way you did is incongruent.