Wednesday, December 7, 2011

How Many Chances?

I wonder, how many chances do you give somebody to right their wrongs?  Do you believe that somebody should have infinite chances?  Or does there come a point where you lose faith in a person to do the right thing?

I have been thinking about this in two different situations.  The first has been with work.

I have a coworker who is in his forties.  He has been in the industry for over ten years.  He is a full-time employee, receives benefits, and has a regular schedule.  The guy is a complete fuck up.  I don't say that lightly either or with any humor.  This guy is completely incompetent and totally irresponsible.  Some things he has done:

- He was suspended five days but not fired for a case of sexual harassment against a female employee.
- He has had complaints filed against him for his interactions with female customers.
- He repeatedly finishes about 50% of the tasks expected of him, perhaps even less.
- He takes more breaks from work that he is allowed, and takes longer breaks than is accepted in our store policy.  He also does this without permission.
- He has walked off the job a number of times without permission to use the store computers for personal reasons.
- He has ignored and defied his supervisor, saying he was going to do what they said and then effectively not.
- He has left a seven inch work knife on the shelf where customers could have found it.  Luckily an employee found it and not a child.
- He consistently either clocks out early without permission or simply stops working and meanders around for forty five minutes or more before the end of his shift.

And beyond all that, he is constantly talking about the other employees behind their backs.  He says stuff about how they are slackers.  He says they are irresponsible.  How come they get more responsibilities than him?  How come he doesn't get to do the things they do?  The worst part is that I've brought up my grievances with him to my assistant manager, my manager, and shift manager.  All three have refused to do anything, either out of cowardice or simply using the excuse, "Don't let it get to you.  You just do what you need to do and don't worry about him."

Except its not that simple to me.  In a fair work environment, everybody is held to the same standards.  In a fair work environment, those who meet and exceed those expectations are rewarded.  That might be an increase in hours or an increase in pay.  And those who fail to meet even the basic minimum standards get a minimum number of chances before they're fired.  This guy has gotten so many chances and the bosses in power don't do anything about it.

Should I go to my store manager?  Should I give my department managers one more chance to fix the problem and deal with his incompetence?  Should I just go straight to this employee myself?  Actually wondering what to do here.

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Why am I talking about this on my political blog?  It reminds me of a certain political party that starts with R... and ends with Cans.  No, not the Rhubarbicans party.  I'm talking about Republicans.

Republicans have been consistent on a couple of things for a long time now.

(1)  They have been consistently incompetent.
(2)  They have been consistently wrong.
(3)  They have been consistently irresponsible.
(4)  They have consistently accused their opponents of the same wrongdoings that they have done themselves.
(5)  They have consistently been hypocrites.

My question is, should Republicans get any more chances?  Ever again?  We've given them so many, but they just keep fucking up.  We've tried to give them a chance to be responsible, but they seem incapable of it.  They've dragged us into two worthless wars and gotten thousands killed.  They've stolen from the poor and given to the rich.  And worst of all they will never, ever admit they were wrong, instead accusing the other side of their own wrongs.

But what about the people that vote for Republicans?  The same people who won't admit that they've voted for the side that was wrong?  Keep voting for the incompetent, irresponsible, hypocritical side?  All because they can never admit they're wrong.

Should we give these voters a chance?  Should we even bother trying to convince them otherwise?  Even bother having those conservations with them anymore?  Or is it just time to accept that they are wrong, and completely irrelevant?

I always used to believe that someone should always get a chance.  But I think I've decided otherwise with Republicans and the people that vote for their incompetence, ignorance, and hypocrisy.  I think they need to be made irrelevant to the political debate in this country.

BUT, what do you think?  Should Republicans be given a chance anymore?  Should people who vote for them be taken seriously anymore?  Or should they be given another chance to change?

AND, what should I do about my awful fucking coworker?  Anything at all?



PEACE

p.s.  I swear to God, working in the corporate retail world is like being in a Dilbert comic strip.... urgh

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