Earlier this week, one of our supervisors, Bob, got some stick from the boss for a series of mishaps, some of which have cost the company. For a while now, there have been plans for us to move into bigger premises, mainly because our clientele has grown as has the number of staff. We were excited at the prospect of working in a more spacious environment because at the moment, the office is just too cramped and we can’t accommodate more than a dozen clients at a time. A 3-man committee was appointed and tasked with scouting for new premises and along the way, Bob somehow managed to convince them that he would do it all by himself. He was facilitated to survey a number of locations and gave regular updates during meetings that convinced us he was making progress. With frequent travel, high profile meetings and other pressing matters, the boss hadn’t found time to inspect the prospective premises suggested by Bob, until a few days ago. It turns out they are nothing like he led us to believe in his numerous reports and definitely not what the boss wanted. One is way out of town and would be inconvenient and costly to potential clients. The second is still under construction and the earliest it can be ready, realistically, is July 2015. No wonder the boss was mad. Bob’s other mistake is that he took it upon himself to recruit two employees. No one knows how he got past HR but he did and they have been here for two months. Our former receptionist got a better offer at another company and her replacement is rumoured to be Bob’s girl. The second of Bob’s recruitments is a driver who has been involved in three accidents in the short time he has worked with us. So far, there haven’t been any fatalities but more than ever, there’s a certain level of anxiety whenever we have to use the company car. More serious though have been the soaring repair and maintenance costs that led to questions over who that ‘bad’ driver is. As we now know, Bob and the driver are cousins and I guess he was only doing what many people have done or would want to do if they had the chance; ‘connecting’ friends and family. Unfortunately for Bob, company policy doesn’t allow such tendencies and both his recruits have been given notice. It would have helped if they were qualified for their respective posts and did a good job, but the girl is still in school and so has to run to class several times. She also hasn’t mastered the switchboard and still sends visitors to the wrong office. And as mentioned earlier, the driver hasn’t impressed anyone either so there’s really no way around it. Bob himself has since been reassigned or to put it bluntly, demoted. Because he cares more about his interests than those of the team most of the time, few have been sympathetic about his predicament.
