Saturday, September 20, 2008

Bad Karma

I think I almost got someone fired yesterday, and I feel really bad about it.

Here's the thing - at work we have quite a few vending machines in our break-room as well as out in the plant (10, I think), and just about every other day I receive a complaint that one of them isn't working/isn't taking money/is stealing money/is out of stock/isn't giving change/is making strange noises/is leaking...

I made so many calls to the maintenance people, I thought surely they were plotting to kill me. Well, the regional manager for the company stopped in yesterday to discuss these issues with me. I told him what was going on, that I thought things weren't being fixed or fixed fast enough, etc., and he basically told me that it boiled down to the stock guy that comes every few days to fill the machines. Apparently, he is supposed to log when there is a complaint (which he wasn't), and there were a bunch of other stocking things that he wasn't doing that was causing the machines to malfunction.

I feel bad, because the poor guy is so nice and he just went through a divorce, and the regional manager is taking our account away from him and replacing him with someone else. I felt so bad and I think the manager realized it because he went on to assure me that the stock guy would be taken care of and given a new smaller account as a replacement. He said he has had similar complaints about this guy lately, so he thinks he's going to put him in a new area, hopefully giving him a nice wake-up call.

I suppose you can't really let life affect the quality of your work, but I still feel bad about it. Such is life though, I guess. I still don't feel like it was all his fault though, because he only had 25 logged maintenance calls for me this year, and I know there has been way more than that so far.

Note to Self: So, I get to meet our new stock guy, Bill, next week... I hope Bill is as nice as our last guy...

8 comments:

Maki said...

Aww cheer up, MJ! It's not your fault even when you feel like it is. You just did your job to make people happy in your company. It's unfortunate the stocking guy is a nice guy because it would be a lot easier to fire a guy who was nasty. Good luck with the new stocking guy and hope he does better job!!!

Significant Snail said...

Don't be hard on yourself, you were doing your job. It's not like you were the only one to notice there was a problem and it wasn't your decision to make (changing his position). I'm sure he realized himself that things were slipping - the change may do him good.

Anonymous said...

Hey MJ,
I know what you mean. You don't want to get anyone into trouble but the unfortunate thing in our society is that people don't get corrected when they make mistakes, they get in trouble or fired. It's a shame too. Hopefully the guy has a new easier route and is doing better.
Annie

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the manager probably knows the guy and knows he's a nice guy too, so maybe he'll go easy on him. As Maki said, it's easier to fire a guy who was nasty, and that could actually work in his favor!

colbymarshall said...

Oops.

DES said...

MJ...I think you did the right thing! Problems begin with ppl don't do their job, but then if you didn't do your job (by reporting complaints) then it continues to snowball and no one wins. *shrugs*

I agree with another commenter...maybe the change will be in his best interest.

Luck with the 'new guy'! :)

pure evyl said...

The dude needed a wake up call. Hopefully this was it.

MJ said...

Thanks to all! Don't worry, I didn't lose any sleep over it. I know it's all for the better.