Many people love to be unhappy.
IMHO, the only thing scarier than an unhappy DI, is a DI with a happy face.
Posted on 03/14/2010 1:07:02 AM PST by floridavoter2
About 10 years ago I was having my annual holiday party, and my niece had come with her newly minted M.B.A. boyfriend. As he looked around the room, he noted that my employees seemed happy. I told him that I thought they were.
Then, figuring I would take his new degree for a test drive, I asked him how he thought I did that. "I'm sure you treat them well," he replied.
"That's half of it," I said. "Do you know what the other half is?"
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
You would have to be very careful in many states about firing someone for “being unhappy.” I would document some more objective reasons.
The author’s idea is probably sound, but, when, as I have seen, the culture of everyone is rewarded for their job, even when not upto par. And everything is lollipops and bubblegum the entire premise falls apart. At that point it is the manager who has it wrong, not the employee. A manager has to consider weather he/she wants a kiss @@s, worker bee, enabler, etc.
Be generous with the money.
I had left commission sales and I loved commission, but I wanted to get away from direct sales and professional fund raising, I was extremely good at it, but it was breaking my heart, emotionally.
The first time that I truly became connected with work was in my late 20s when I first became a service plumber, the owner treated me great and gave me 10% of materials and 50% of labor off of all of all my work, his wife was the best dispatcher that I have ever seen and I gave them everything that I had, averaging 115 hours a week, the first year I did not take a day off, except for one Sunday, I helped them build their young business.
And no, none of that is an exaggeration, and yes I know how 115 hours a week computes. Those were heady days, I worked 56 hours straight once, but the owner claimed that he worked 72 hours straight once and I believed him, he was trying to get water to a large apartment complex.
Money and a sense of worth and value, make people want to help, and it is the decent thing to do.
Terminally unhappy customers are also not worth keeping; some people seem to live to make others miserable, wasting time better spent elsewhere.
Some negative employees serve a purpose for the company. That is why they are kept on.
“Terminally unhappy customers are also not worth keeping; some people seem to live to make others miserable, wasting time better spent elsewhere.”
I work for a midwestern stock brokerage and we have a number of clients like that too. They’re not unhappy solely because their 401K has tanked or that their broker made a bad stock recommendaton - they’re just unhappy.
They spend way too much time nitpicking everything apart. Some of them are borderline verbally abusive to the broker’s staff people. On a side note, I do not speak with clients in my job. I’m exclusively in the back office. They make unreasonable demands of the brokers. I’ve heard some of these demands and even by our full service standards, some of them are ridiculous.
A few brokers have told me of their misfortunes in dealing with these clients and out of the blue, I’ve said “You can fire your client...right?” There’s a moments hesitation and then they’ll usually say “I wish it were that easy”.
In certain cases, maybe it is better to tell some clients to take their money and go elsewhere.
hmmm...I think I struck a nerve....
I agree that some companies treat their employees badly and usually the employee can move on if that is the case. But I am referring more to the types of employees who poison the air around them because of their nasty attitudes that never improve. They constantly go on about how the grass is greener on the other side, yet they get to the other side and their attitude still stinks. In my experiences with people like this it has had VERY little, if anything, to do with the company.
“...Some negative employees serve a purpose for the company. That is why they are kept on....”
I’d hate to work for a company like that...
As both an employer and employee I have mostly found the respect given an employee correlates with his contribution to the bottom line.
I have no problem with this and in fact believe there would be much less friction in any workplace if employees simply (in a manner of speaking), STFU and got to the job at hand.
The best I ever received as a youngster was from my dad. He said when you are old enough to go to work, show up early, never take unscheduled time off, never leave early, give 110% all the time and keep your mouth shut.
That kind of thing is just common sense and human experience that applies even outside of work.
Since we recognize that in our off work life, I sure hope that business managers recognize it so that where we work isn't ruined by people that we won't even tolerate, when we aren't being forced to.
Bosses should not make work a living hell, they should strive to make it as good as they can.
Excellent advice unless you had a job that required a lot of talking.
This guy, like my former boss, read one too many business “self-help” books. He has employees who APPEAR happy in his company. Successful small organizations pay more attention at the hire to virtues and fit than to skills and cost. Chemistry is a big, overlooked factor in customer service, and the customer is all.
It’s difficult to do; we’ve all heard “the customer is always right”, and most customers should be treated that way. After all, it’s a fulfilling experience to win a challenging person over; however, if someone is determined to be unreasonable, particularly in front of other customers, it’s better to invite him to take his unprofitable business elsewhere.
Most of the water cooler bitching is about other employees who for one reason or another aren't getting the job done and make extra work for the the rest of his coworkers. It can be laziness, incompetence, sickness, pregnancy, whatever.
Bitching lets them vent and makes them feel better for the short term problem and for long term problems gets the attention of the boss who, if he's smart, will correct the problem by whatever means necessary. Bitching by employees who have a good reason is a positive.
I would have to agree with you.
I work in an office where customer service is KEY. There have been some truly objectionable people that NO ONE wanted to work with. When those people were there, the atmosphere was not conducive to a happy work environment.
I also have to say that MY attitude was suffering for a while, and my boss could see it. It made for some instances where I could see that they wanted to get rid of me. I had to wake up and realize what this was getting me...and I changed my attitude. Things have now improved. There is a camaraderie at work where everyone is working well together and everyone has a POSITIVE ATTITUDE...and our customers know it. Personally speaking, I went from being someone they weren’t sure they wanted to being one of the the best they have.
Attitudes are everything.
Actually I had experience with “political correctness” way back in the 1960’s when I was denied a promotion because the powers that be thought it ought to go to a black. I was upset, of course but very young at the time and resilient enough to hang in there. It paid off because the guy promoted as a total bust in his new position and was gone within 6 months. He seemed to think just being in charge was enough to get the job done without any effort on his part to direct or be creative.
Many off us that are reading this thread will wish that you were working for us, you sound like someone that will become a manager.
Customer service is an art.
Not everybody has those skills nor always apply them.
It takes a tremendous amount of attention and dedication to truly be good at customer service and if somebody who goes to work in that arena doesn’t prepare themselves before beginning the day, they can easily find themselves making their position more difficult than it already is....
Customer service is easy when dealing with customers with character and emotions just like yourself. It’s the other 99% of the world which can be so challenging. ;^)
Read post 19.
Depends on the situation.
Most Drill Instructors aren’t very happy people on the job, and morale within their teams can still be better developed than in many other environments.
That is very true, and I applied that philosophy to my teaching. My first year I was miserable and tried so hard to be a martinet. I realized that I would not want to be a student in my own class! I did a 180-and been teaching for 10 years, and the nicest compliment I get from my students is how much fun they think my classes are. Attitude is indeed everything!
By the author’s reasoning, we Freepers should be “fired” for being unhappy with the direction our nation is heading.
I have no problem at all in providing first-class CUSTOMER service; I realize that’s why I have a job at all; however, and this is a big however, that does not mean I am a punching bag for incompetent management. Next time one of these idiots questions my ‘loyalty’ I’ll have to ask: where was IBM’s loyalty when they cut my pay 10%? Where was their loyalty when I asked again and again for better hours or, heaven forfend, a permanent job? Loyalty is a two-way street my friends; too many American workers have sacrificed WAY too much for these leftist clowns. Again, that’s why I can’t get too excited about wage slavery.
Although I’m lousy on the internet, in person, I love helping people, I like service work and I don’t know why someone would do it that doesn’t like it.
The military’s finest soldiers are the Green Berets, guess who the most helpful, informative, and humble soldiers are?
This was a great little piece! It said a lot and accomplished a lot in a concise, straightforward -— indeed, somewhat profound -— way.
I once had a very profound talk with a family member about a very troubling situation. Somehow this article reminded me of that conversation. I realized it’s because her advice boiled down to this same principle: Want a happy life? Surround yourself with happy people.
IOW, it’s true in life as well as business that at some point there is nothing else that you can do to address someone’s unhappiness and the negative impact it is causing. At that point, your only option is to part ways.
You are very right. Money plus recognition for a job well done is an extremely motivating and attractive situation for good and hard workers.
I think the point the author is making, however, is that there are some people for whom even the best opportunities for money and recognition are not enough. They continue to have a bad attitude and negative impact no matter how they are actually treated.
Those folks have to go to make more room for people like you, who work hard, take pride in their work, and — look what YOU did -— YOU helped build a business from the ground up (literally, I’d say!)! This is the cornerstone of our economy and our freedom!
I absolutely agree.
I agree with you. I’ve found the best managed companies with the best morale, have fostered productivity by giving out bonuses, in private, just before Christmas holidays.
It served as a mechanism of real performance appraisal and a mechanism for unilateral authority which by grace gave real unfettered authority to those deserving by their judgment.
Even so, if on balance their negativity outweighs that “purpose,” buh-bye, as far as I’m concerned.
Negative people are bad enough when the ship is in smooth sailing. Hit some rough waters and they do nothing but enlarge the crisis.
Large companies can be run by groupthink which partially explains why they get blindsided so frequently. An employee that is negative may be so because unlike the "in group", they recognize that the light ahead is not the end of the tunnel but instead is the headlight of an oncoming train. Their negativity stems from an inability to do anything about it. To them, they feel that they are living a bad dream -- aware of what is happening yet unable to do anything about it.
Leaving is easier said than done when faced with having to pick up a family and move across country.
I have a friend in interior design for very high-end clients. She has developed a sort of client interview process that she goes through when she first meets the client and the client thinks they are interviewing her.
If the client shows any of the signs that, after multiple decades in the business, they are “trouble,” she tells them she doesn’t think she’s “right” for the job they have in mind.
Excellent idea! And exactly why hidebound bureaucracies like IBM won’t go for it.
Ya got that right! Over the years, I've come to see that the people who do this are regarded as absolute superstars in most companies. Just showing up on time every time and doing your job to the best of your ability usually puts you in the top tier of performers!
I think this is what the author is saying. Once the problem reaches a critical mass, he corrects it by firing the person whose personal problems are negatively impacting everyone else.
And yes, legitimate employee griping is a form of feedback.
I commend you!
Pessimism vs optimism
correlates with a list of unpleasant results and aspects of living.
Folks can change from Pessimists to Optimists with serious effort.
Molly coddling Pessimists is not likely to do anyone any good. They tend to be skilled at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory relentlessly.
Yes, hearing about what needs corrected and can be corrected is a good thing in a healthy organization.
Encouraging pessimism and pessimists in their wailing, whining and moaning, is not healthy for any organization nor for the individuals.
I think there’s a website of value:
http://www.NoComplainingRule.com
Check out author Jon Gordon.
Basically:
1. PRACTICE GRATITUDE
2. PRAISE OTHERS
3. FOCUS ON SUCCESS
4. LET GO—focus on things you have the power to change
5. Pray to God and Meditate on His Word.
INDEED.
CONGRATS on your IMPRESSIVE change.
I disagree. Most DI's love their job. They are not generally "unhappy" in the sense that the author is intending. They are not seething with a "this all sucks" attitude. Quite the opposite. They do think recruits suck, but that causes them no unhappiness.
Sheesh. The author specifically tied the unhappiness of the employee to an unfixable negative impact on the company. That’s when he decided it was time to fire the person.
Some of the people on this thread are proving the author’s point quite well!
Yup. Chronic complainers/negative thinking people are a cancer on any organization. They are never happy with anything, and always desire to get everyone else to think like them.
Many people love to be unhappy.
IMHO, the only thing scarier than an unhappy DI, is a DI with a happy face.
Amen.
Too true. We sent a few down the road, and didn’t do business with others we had heard about, and whose initial contact showed their personalities in a bad light.
LOL, When I first started my plumbing business I got a call from a guy, he explained how I could buy my boat based purely on his 50 million dollars worth of properties and 30 year history.
Being a salesman myself, all I heard was sales, as a plumber I wanted to know why the serviceman's dream was selling me so hard when the Yellow Pages was full of plumbers, and how does such a serviceman's dream not already have a great relationship with a plumbing company?
After rejecting the guy (I could hear his jaw drop), a few days later I was talking to a real estate buddy, and he recognized the name of that caller, he said that the family was real, the empire was real, but that the "empire" devours new tradesmen and exploits them.
I have always screened my customers.
Avoiding adversity is a panacea for progress.
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