Advice Needed!

JLD

Meeting with him in the morning at 8 am.

Once again thanks for the comments!

Tom R

He did what???

CharlesD

My siding crew that I paid by the hour (three men) took my tools off my job without finishing it and went to another job one of them had sold off the job I had them doing.
I didn't have a clue what happened to them and my tools until one day I was taking a scenic way home and passed them working on a house.
I stopped, asked what they were doing. Each blamed the other for what they were doing but it boiled down to it being one person's idea but I fired all of them. Then I loaded all my jacks and breaks and cutting tables, ladders ect onto my truck and drove away leaving them with two unfinished jobs with no way to do them. The instigator of this went out and bought a truck load of tools and they started a business but never sold anything.
I hired one of the guys back later on. The ring leader moved out of the area.
I probably shouldn't have fired them because they had been good employees for a long time but at the time it seemed to be the right thing to do

DavidC

The hardest thing I ever had to do as a business owner was to fire my best friend. We were primarily roofers at the time and he thought chimney cleaning was a good idea. I had no interest but he was enthusiastic and needed money so we made a deal.

I ran an ad in the Pennysaver and took the calls. He would do the estimates and the cleaning after hours under the company name. I was to keep 10% after expenses and get all the referral work other than chimney cleaning. We got a couple of calls and I handed off to him as planned.

He never brought in a single check and I didn't get any percentage. Being close friends I figured I could live with the idea I was helping him get through some rough financial times. But when I happened to drive by a cleaning job and seen him roofing a barn I stopped and fired him on the spot. He is still the best roofer I ever trained but I could not overlook him stealing work.

There was a healing period afterward, but we remain friends today. Right is often tough to do.

Good Luck
Dave

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TNGHomes

Fire him and do it quick, I cant stand when an employee Friend or not starts to think that the time and work they have put in gives them privelages and you owe them plus a check for there time.
It has happened to me all to often, you start on a large project things are going good you give a couple of complements about how they are doing and all of a sudden they act like you couldnt survive without them.....FIRE HIM....Like in the movie Jerry Mcquire "ITS NOT SHOW FRIENDS,,,,,ITS SHOW BUSINESS". Get all of your tools back first, it will save you tons of drama.

PA woodbutcher

WTF? What's going. Should be done and over with by now.

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'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.' - Ronald Reagan

Double-A

My take on this is simple. If you have bad breath, wouldn't you rather a good friend tell you than have some stranger, or worse yet, someone to whom you're trying to sell a job?

If this man is treating you and others this way, then he has a problem. He doesn't have anyone's best interests in mind but his own. This puts him squarely in the clueless category as far as I'm concerned and I don't have time or patience for clueless people.

I'd gather my stuff together and tell him how the cow ate the cabbage. No embellishment, no anger, no emotion. "You're screwed up and I'm done with being used."

Being a good operator is not carte blanche to steal. The way I see it, he is robbing you and your family, and himself of opportunities and income. If he can't see that, then he's clueless and trying to explain the hows and whys is just wasting time and causing frustration.

Momma used to say that teaching a pig to dance is a waste of good music and will probably just irritate the pig. Don't fret over it. Do what you have to and move on. Life is too short to fool with fools.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

PA woodbutcher

As close a relatinship as you had, it is gone. If he's stealing from you, he's no friend

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'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.' - Ronald Reagan

Gus Dering

Boy, an update on how that morning meeting went would be nice now that you have us all spun into the web.

I suppose a video is out of the question though.

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Bone Saw

I'm definitely in the fire him, hang him screw him, he stole from you camp, but I have to ask where were you as a buisness owner while all this is taking place. it doesn't sound like he was taking home a company truck and "borrowing" a ladder here and a rotary hammer there. Purely from a lliability and logistical standpoint, if this guy is "borrowing" some kind of heavy equipment of yours in the first place, let alone to the point of you losing accountability of it and its whereabouts, than shame on YOU. Lets hear the full story now

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SC sawdaddy

Hope he did'nt get he ar$$ whipped getting he tools back.

SelfContract

UNFORTUNATEDLY for all you guys here... his answer would be... "I did forgive him... he promised he won't do it again.. and we have compromised again...etc.??"

Willie T

Frankly, times are tough. And you aren't making any money right now either. Before I burned any bridges to possible financial recovery or advancement, I would try to determine just how much work he did with my equipment. With that knowledge, you have some place solid to stand as far as "encouraging" him to be square with you.

He owes you, period. (Try to get the personal feelings out of the way, hard as it is) You also need money right now. Try to get something equatable out of him, and possibly retain a good operator for your business. Simply firing him gives you nothing in your pocket. And you have to go looking for another operator.

Remember, he knows he has no access to equipment except through you. He also knows you could likely thwart his future attempts at employment with anyone you know. Keep it personal, and you'll both lose. Make it business, and (although belated) he can pay you what he owes you. Wouldn't you have let him use your equipment for a side job at an agreed-upon rate before this happened? Well, except for hurt feelings and angry pride, the same situation is still possible.

I say, be firm, be hard, be just.............. BUT get something for yourself out of this. And use this chance to make everyone in your company fully aware of just how things are to work.

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Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL