A brief holiday rant

[Critters2]

Why don't people who are royal freaking pains in the ass know that if they threaten to leave or quit, the response won't be "Oh no! Don't go! We need at least one royal freaking pain in the ass around here!"?

I asked the church custodian to please call when he's not going to be here to open the building on Sunday mornings. Didn't bitch about the fact that he wasn't here, when others were able to get here. Yes, it was a bad morning. Yes, the TV stations made it sound worse than it was. Yes, the organist, who lives in the country, couldn't get here. All of that is true. It's also true that the organist called to say she couldn't get here. So, all's well between her and me.

So, I asked him to call. You'd think I asked him to carry diphtheria medication across the frozen tundra. What I thought would be a quick reminder became this big ol' effin thing. And then he threatened to quit his job and leave the church. Since I don't think churches should hire church members to begin with, doing or the other of these would probably solve some problems. But, does he really think that I'm going to miss the most difficult church employee I've ever dealt with? Cuz, the answer is no. No, I won't.

Thank you. Merry Christmas.

[ThomCat]

1. It sounds like you have an organization that doesn't like

to accept that you have authority. :(

I hope you can work things out, and either get them in line and cooperating, or replace them. As much as I DON'T think people should automatically obey anyone, I also think that people shouldn't automatically disobey either, and that seems to be what's going on. You have people digging in their heals just to see if they can.

[Critters2]

2. My assistant agreed that she screwed up, and fixed the problem.

I was irritated that it happened, and hated having to point it out to her (I HATE being the boss), but she did her job once it was pointed out. We're good.

The custodian, though, is an ongoing problem. He basically doesn't want to work. He's been rude to parishioners who've noticed things that need to be done and point them out. I try to be patient, because he's not really very bright and couldn't find other work, I fear. But it's not unreasonable to ask someone to call when they're not coming to work. I bent over backwards to be gentle, to point out that it wasn't the not coming I was pissed about. It was not calling.

But yeah, I think there's some kind of testing going on. My predecessor was coasting toward retirement (has even joked about that), so never really pushed anyone to do anything. I've been trying to set just minimal standards for doing things well, and people push back.

I don't have the authority to hire and fire, but I have to support of those who do. I just don't want to have to use it.

Thanks, Thom. Have a Merry Christmas! :hi: