You're the boss........

Aztec Driver

Aztec Driver

Line Up and Wait
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Mar 7, 2005
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Elizabethtown, PA
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Bryon
You are the owner/manager of a small company. You have just a few employees, and each one responsible for multiple tasks. 2 of you are full-timers, and one is a part-timer. Several other part-timers round out the company in other areas of the company.

Your part time employee accidentally damaged a piece of equipment while working with it one day. In your anger and frustration, you said some things that were rather harsh and hurtful to said employee.

The incident was forgotten soon after, but you notice that your employee is rather cold shouldered to you and very curt and short. This employee is still functioning to a satisfactory level, and has not done any overt actions or mouthiness to you, just short, to the point, and all business. No pleasantries of any kind, just pertinent information, straightforward very short conversations, mostly by text, since the two of you spend very little time in the same area.

What do you, as the owner, do? Assume for the first part of this exercise that you, as the owner, cannot remember the episode described, nor your reaction to it. More additions to the scenario in future posts.
 
eh, I'll play for now, but I hope the details don't change the situation too much.


Man up and apologize to this person in front of everyone (since it's such a small company). Call a quick meeting, say you'd like to apologize for how you spoke to this person in this situation, and that you were wrong, you're sorry, and that's not how you are going to handle that situation in the future. I say do this either "anonymously" or not, meaning you can say who the person was or just say "one of you". Then tell them to get back to work ya lazy bums!
 
Worried about sabotage? Employee going somewhere else soon? If an employee is making the company money and is unlikely to torch the place, not liking the boss is pretty minor.
 
eman1200 said:
eh, I'll play for now, but I hope the details don't change the situation too much.


Man up and apologize to this person in front of everyone (since it's such a small company). Call a quick meeting, say you'd like to apologize for how you spoke to this person in this situation, and that you were wrong, you're sorry, and that's not how you are going to handle that situation in the future. I say do this either "anonymously" or not, meaning you can say who the person was or just say "one of you". Then tell them to get back to work ya lazy bums!
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Yabut, you, as the owner, do not remember the episode and do not know why this person is angry at you.
 
What do you, as the owner, do? Assume for the first part of this exercise that you, as the owner, cannot remember the episode described, nor your reaction to it. More additions to the scenario in future posts.
Click to expand...

Given the first part of the scenario:

Your part time employee accidentally damaged a piece of equipment while working with it one day. In your anger and frustration, you said some things that were rather harsh and hurtful to said employee.
Click to expand...

how can you say you cannot remember the incident?

Ok, for the sake of argument we will say that you actually didn't remember the incident. Did the employee tell you he had a problem? Did you ask him?

Bottom line is you as an employer have a responsibility to clear the air with the employee. Find out what the problem is. Maybe eat some crow and apologize.

I mean really, stuff happens. Apologize and move on.
 
Aztec Driver said:
You are the owner/manager of a small company. You have just a few employees, and each one responsible for multiple tasks. 2 of you are full-timers, and one is a part-timer. Several other part-timers round out the company in other areas of the company.

Your part time employee accidentally damaged a piece of equipment while working with it one day. In your anger and frustration, you said some things that were rather harsh and hurtful to said employee.

The incident was forgotten soon after, but you notice that your employee is rather cold shouldered to you and very curt and short. This employee is still functioning to a satisfactory level, and has not done any overt actions or mouthiness to you, just short, to the point, and all business. No pleasantries of any kind, just pertinent information, straightforward very short conversations, mostly by text, since the two of you spend very little time in the same area.

What do you, as the owner, do? Assume for the first part of this exercise that you, as the owner, cannot remember the episode described, nor your reaction to it. More additions to the scenario in future posts.
Click to expand...

What to do, don't flip out on employees in the first place. Pull him aside, tell him you shouldn't have flipped out and apologize, then be done with it. Accidents happen, stuff breaks, it's part of being a business owner, flipping out fixes nothing.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Given the first part of the scenario:



how can you say you cannot remember the incident?

Ok, for the sake of argument we will say that you actually didn't remember the incident. Did the employee tell you he had a problem? Did you ask him?

Bottom line is you as an employer have a responsibility to clear the air with the employee. Find out what the problem is. Maybe eat some crow and apologize.

I mean really, stuff happens. Apologize and move on.
Click to expand...

The incident happened, but you, the owner, do not remember it, nor do you remember what your reaction to it was.
 
Aztec Driver said:
Yabut, you, as the owner, do not remember the episode and do not know why this person is angry at you.
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eh, what's the point of saying there was an incident if the person in question doesn't know there was an incident? then it's just "a person is mad-ish at you and you don't know why, what do you do...."
 
And now to add to the scenario.

You, the owner, has an opportunity to see and talk to the employee after one of his jobs. The employee has taken care of everything properly, and comes to see you at your request.

You, the owner, ask how everything is. The answer is "I'm fine." You, the owner then say that you have noticed a marked decrease in hospitality from him, to which he replies," I do not wish to talk about it."

What is your response now?
 
eman1200 said:
eh, what's the point of saying there was an incident if the person in question doesn't know there was an incident? then it's just "a person is mad-ish at you and you don't know why, what do you do...."
Click to expand...

Sorry, I guess I jumped the gun a little, from the owner's perspective. I am trying to relate to both sides of this issue and am trying to get impartial thoughts on what would be somewhat normal (if anyone here can be classified as normal :D) responses to see if one of these individuals was out of line.
 
Aztec Driver said:
And now to add to the scenario.

You, the owner, has an opportunity to see and talk to the employee after one of his jobs. The employee has taken care of everything properly, and comes to see you at your request.

You, the owner, ask how everything is. The answer is "I'm fine." You, the owner then say that you have noticed a marked decrease in hospitality from him, to which he replies," I do not wish to talk about it."

What is your response now?
Click to expand...

I would ask my wife to take my sack out of her purse and let me wear them again.

Seriously, just tell him you are sorry and be done with it. You're the boss not his buddy, people have bad days, he could be thinking about a fight he had with his girlfriend.
 
Employer is getting bad vibes from the employee and can't figure out why? Sounds like a very common situation...
 
A boss either has the personal need to be loved by everyone in which case they would be cognizant of their transgression or they are clueless pychos or somewhere down the aspergers line wherein they wouldn't know they offended someone if you played back a videotape and might not care if they could comprehend it. The employee might move on sooner rather then later, no big deal unless he possesses a rare skillset.
Aztec Driver said:
And now to add to the scenario.

You, the owner, has an opportunity to see and talk to the employee after one of his jobs. The employee has taken care of everything properly, and comes to see you at your request.

You, the owner, ask how everything is. The answer is "I'm fine." You, the owner then say that you have noticed a marked decrease in hospitality from him, to which he replies," I do not wish to talk about it."

What is your response now?
Click to expand...
 
PaulS said:
I would ask my wife to take my sack out of her purse and let me wear them again.

Seriously, just tell him you are sorry and be done with it. You're the boss not his buddy, people have bad days, he could be thinking about a fight he had with his girlfriend.
Click to expand...
The boss' wife DEFINITELY does NOT carry his sack.
 
My management style is direct, but then again, at one point, I had over 900 employees. BLUF: you as the boss, have the responsibility, and duty to find out the problem and correct it, even if that means eating crow! If their was a confrontation, adress it, as stated above.
 
I've been that employee. Was at a small company, new owner came in and wanted to clean house. He put together his hit list the first week, told me he wanted me to stay, told me I was the new supervisor, then told me to tell x, y, and z they were laid off. Then told me NOT to tell a, b, and c they were getting laid off and lie to them and tell them they were safe. He needed a few extra days out of them first.

I never felt like I could trust the guy, so I kept my mouth shut, kept to myself, and did my job and nothing more until I quit.

--

Simplest advice from me, clear the air privately in a neutral location. Then make it public if you think it's appropriate. Consider if the damage would not have happened with better training or clear instruction. It's also possible his attitude may never come back and he'll hold a grudge. He may also blaming himself for the accident.
 
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So the employee has refused to talk to you about it. You have a burning "need" to know exactly why this person is mad at you. Other employees have noticed the person is angry, but have no clue as to why because he has either not confided in them, or they do not want to share any information that they know with you, the owner.

What do you do now?
 
Aztec Driver said:
So the employee has refused to talk to you about it. You have a burning "need" to know exactly why this person is mad at you. Other employees have noticed the person is angry, but have no clue as to why because he has either not confided in them, or they do not want to share any information that they know with you, the owner.

What do you do now?
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I think the boss' wife is so good, she has his sack in her purse and he doesn't even know it.
 
First have boss tested for Alzheimer's! :D If the boss blasted an employee and had a broken piece of equipment and he doesn't remember it, something is wrong. I've got 70 employees and I can't remember raising my voice to an employee in the last 5 years, probably longer than that. So either the boss is having memory issues or he blasts people all the time. Either way it's time to move on.;)
 
Now change the company to a part 135 on demand charter business. Does that change your actions as the owner at all, and, if so, how and why?

Said part-timer and two full-timers are all pilots in the flight line.
 
N747JB said:
First have boss tested for Alzheimer's! :D If the boss blasted an employee and had a broken piece of equipment and he doesn't remember it, something is wrong. I've got 70 employees and I can't remember raising my voice to an employee in the last 5 years, probably longer than that. So either the boss is having memory issues or he blasts people all the time. Either way it's time to move on.;)
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Where is the LIKE button :wink2:
 
Aztec Driver said:
Yabut, you, as the owner, do not remember the episode and do not know why this person is angry at you.
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Then I'd take the individual to lunch and clear the air. Admit you don't remember the details but it is obvious your response at the time was hurtful to individual and to the relationship and for that you're sorry and would like to re-establish a good working relationship.
 
LDJones said:
Then I'd take the individual to lunch and clear the air. Admit you don't remember the details but it is obvious your response at the time was hurtful to individual and to the relationship and for that you're sorry and would like to re-establish a good working relationship.
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Not too unlike what I said in post #5.
 
Specifically, would there be anyone out there who would demand the employee tell you what is bothering him, or be taken off the flight line because you cannot run flight ops with a crew member who will not talk to you about the problem.

Now shift to the employee perspective.

What would your response be to the above mentioned episode?
 
Aztec Driver said:
Specifically, would there be anyone out there who would demand the employee tell you what is bothering him, or be taken off the flight line because you cannot run flight ops with a crew member who will not talk to you about the problem.
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If you want the employee to leave you could do that. But I don't think it will improve relations. The employee is probably on his or her way out anyway and that would accelerate the process.
 
Aztec Driver said:
Specifically, would there be anyone out there who would demand the employee tell you what is bothering him, or be taken off the flight line because you cannot run flight ops with a crew member who will not talk to you about the problem.

Now shift to the employee perspective.

What would your response be to the above mentioned episode?
Click to expand...
No, that is weird. You say the boss doesn't know what the boss did? Then without a third person peacemaker to clue the boss in and a boss that can take that info and resolve it there is nothing here. The employee will move on, be fired, or the world will have another employee that doesn't like his boss, omg, the horror the horror.
 
Aztec Driver said:
Specifically, would there be anyone out there who would demand the employee tell you what is bothering him, or be taken off the flight line because you cannot run flight ops with a crew member who will not talk to you about the problem.

Now shift to the employee perspective.

What would your response be to the above mentioned episode?
Click to expand...


If you trust your boss, I would clear the air with your boss. If that doesn't exist now or perhaps never did, move on. Life is too short to live and work like this...
 
Everskyward said:
If you want the employee to leave you could do that. But I don't think it will improve relations. The employee is probably on his or her way out anyway and that would accelerate the process.
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The employee, in this scenario, was not on his way out, he just did not want to deal with the drama and psychological dress down that comes with the boss' lectures and would have dealt with the problem on his own and just forgotten about it in due time.:mad2:

And yes, it did accelerate that process. And it was spun this way:

"So let me make sure that I have this correct, You are making the choice not to talk to me about the problem, even though I will remove you from flight ops until you resolve this problem?" And the email sent out to all employees said that "xxxx has chosen to leave the company."
 
Aztec Driver said:
The employee, in this scenario, was not on his way out, he just did not want to deal with the drama and psychological dress down that comes with the boss' lectures and would have dealt with the problem on his own and just forgotten about it in due time.:mad2:

And yes, it did accelerate that process. And it was spun this way:

"So let me make sure that I have this correct, You are making the choice not to talk to me about the problem, even though I will remove you from flight ops until you resolve this problem?" And the email sent out to all employees said that "xxxx has chosen to leave the company."
Click to expand...

Is this a new episode of "As The Prop Turns"...:dunno:......:D
 
Aztec Driver said:
You are the owner/manager of a small company. You have just a few employees, and each one responsible for multiple tasks. 2 of you are full-timers, and one is a part-timer. Several other part-timers round out the company in other areas of the company.

Your part time employee accidentally damaged a piece of equipment while working with it one day. In your anger and frustration, you said some things that were rather harsh and hurtful to said employee.

The incident was forgotten soon after, but you notice that your employee is rather cold shouldered to you and very curt and short. This employee is still functioning to a satisfactory level, and has not done any overt actions or mouthiness to you, just short, to the point, and all business. No pleasantries of any kind, just pertinent information, straightforward very short conversations, mostly by text, since the two of you spend very little time in the same area.

What do you, as the owner, do? Assume for the first part of this exercise that you, as the owner, cannot remember the episode described, nor your reaction to it. More additions to the scenario in future posts.
Click to expand...

Sounds like part-time employee needs full-time job working for a boss he respects and is respected by, as well as one that does not suffer from CRS syndrome.
 
RV10flyer said:
Sounds like part-time employee needs full-time job working for a boss he respects and is respected by, as well as one that does not suffer from CRS syndrome.
Click to expand...
Fortunately, the "part-timer" has a full time job with a "perfect" boss, himself.:D
 
I just thought it odd that he would "suspend" my flight ops when there was no operational problems associated with my irritation at him. He kept reiterating that he will return my flight status if we have a face to face talk, but, of course, that isn't going to happen if I have to kiss his feet. I told him what irritated me after the fact, but I was not returning regardless.

I guess it is just time to turn the page on this part of my life. It was fun while it lasted.

I just wanted to get an idea if I was in the wrong here, and if his actions were justified. It didn't seem to me that it warranted this level of sanction, but I don't know how flight ops are in other companies.
 
Aztec Driver said:
I just thought it odd that he would "suspend" my flight ops when there was no operational problems associated with my irritation at him. He kept reiterating that he will return my flight status if we have a face to face talk, but, of course, that isn't going to happen if I have to kiss his feet. I told him what irritated me after the fact, but I was not returning regardless.

I guess it is just time to turn the page on this part of my life. It was fun while it lasted.

I just wanted to get an idea if I was in the wrong here, and if his actions were justified. It didn't seem to me that it warranted this level of sanction, but I don't know how flight ops are in other companies.
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You were willing to tell him what was bothering you after the fact but not before? Some people are like oil and water. I try very hard not to get involved in personalities and office politics, but I've noticed that it pays to at least attempt to play the game with your bosses even if they might not be your favorite people. But if you really can't get along it's better in the long run to move on.
 
I had one job during HS punching a time clock. Then the military and three more companies without clocks. So for the past 14 yrs, I have been self employed. I love my HVAC customers and they seem to be happy with my work. Other than no retirement, it is the best job I have ever had! I love it so much, I won't need no stinkin retirement.

Good luck with your next move in life. It sounds like it was time for a change.
 
I never gave the boss a chance to get mad over something untoward happening. If I made a goof, I would walk right into the office and tell him I f'ed up. Then ask what I could do to rectify the error.
 
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