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First Month on the Job - What Else Can Happen?

E-Dog Night

By E-Dog Night
in The Tailgate

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E-Dog Night

E-Dog Night

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I recently switched careers. At the start of 2006, I was assistant editor of a scientific journal. Today, I'm managing a golf course. Bit of a jump, to say the least.

I've actually been working at this golf course for about two years, in a very part time role - about 12 hours a month during the busy season - since 2004. Basically about two 6-hour shifts per week. Gotta subsidize that golf addiction somehow!

But now I'm the manager. I work 50-70 hours a week. And in one month, the following has happened:

  • Someone has stolen $100 - twice - from the vault, while I got my bearings under me. Won't happen again, but someone who knew the system took advantage of my noob status.
  • The clubhouse was hit by lightening, frying all the computers. We were without a Point of Sale system for a week.
  • Our phone lines got shorted out by all the rain, making credit cards impossible to verify. I got enter them all by hand once things were fixed. Nothing gets my juices flowing like enetering names and credit card numbers for hours on end.
  • Speaking of rain, do you have any idea what a foot and a half of rain in one week does to a golf course? Dead greens, disease, fungus, 14 fallen trees, flooded fairways, just to name a few. Oh, and no money comes in while the rain is falling.
  • One of my previously favorite co-workers has recently accused me of racism, because I wrote him up after he threatened two other employees - one of which was me. He now doesn't listen to a damn thing I say, and accused me of being on a power trip when I tried to explain that threatening the manager is considered insubordinate. I can't fire him, because the corporate office is afraid of being sued.

This are just the main things. Add a million little things that go wrong every day, and you get the picture.

Anyone been here? Any advice? If this keeps up, then by the end of the year, I'll have 2 hairs left and they'll both be grey.

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canethang 305

canethang 305

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Dude I feel for ya, my wife and I both you to manage *$'s stores and I have had everything from coming in to a store with waist deep water waiting for, to floor drain's putting sewage into the store, to some clown of a assistant manager telling me he loned another store $300 to cover a delivary on New Year's EVwe (HMMM...).

If you wanna be the boss you gotta pay the cost, being a manager of anything this is gonna happen every week. I have learned to deal cause That's my profession of choice.

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E-Dog Night

E-Dog Night

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Ha, sounds familiar. I haven't had sewage in the Pro Shop...yet. That must have been a fun morning.

One thing I've learned - if you're the manager, the buck stops with you.

- You don't call in sick. People call in sick to you.

- From the employees point of view, every problem is a reflection on your ability as a manager. The reason the problem happened in the first place is because you weren't doing your job, and if you can't fix it in 30 seconds, you don't know what you're doing.

- You have more keys than any one person should ever have.

- People come to you with every issue imaginable, no matter how busy you are, or how mundane the issue.

- No one ever says, "You're doing a gret job". It's your job to say that to other people.

- Your schedule is but a suggestion, and overtime doesn't exist.

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Tarhog

Tarhog

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I can sympathize...I won't bore anyone with the details, but I've had similar luck of late at work - only a lot worse than yours :)

I'll give you a tip on your problem employee.

Promote him :) Make up a new position....give him additional responsibilities...make HIM accountable for some of thankless crap required to keep your business up and running, and more importantly, require him to 'manage' some of his fellow employees.

And watch him suffer :laugh:

Hope things smooth out for you soon. Hell - I hope it for myself!

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drums and skins

drums and skins

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try getting one of those manual credit card readers. when i worked at an ice rink, that's all we used. no electronics at all.

Carbon copy credit slides are a very big security risk.

When worst comes to worst, Mastercard/Visa/whoever your support is can offer charging through calling their toll free 1-800 number... But thats only helpful if the charge system is down. No use when all phones are fried ;).

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E-Dog Night

E-Dog Night

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try getting one of those manual credit card readers. when i worked at an ice rink, that's all we used. no electronics at all.

We have one. We used it. It got quite a workout, actually. Still hae to manually enter the names and numbers into the computer once it came back up.

I can sympathize...I won't bore anyone with the details, but I've had similar luck of late at work - only a lot worse than yours

I'll give you a tip on your problem employee.

Promote him Make up a new position....give him additional responsibilities...make HIM accountable for some of thankless crap required to keep your business up and running, and more importantly, require him to 'manage' some of his fellow employees.

And watch him suffer

I think that's awesome advice. I'll bring that up to the VPs.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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I feel for ya buddy

Running my own company the past few years always kept me on call. It seemed tha 1) I never could get away from work even if I was 3,000 miles away and 2) I was constantly worrying something would go wrong. And when it did, I would have to fix a mess

It can really drain the life out of you. Hopefully the paycheck makes it worth it

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PokerPacker

PokerPacker

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I feel for ya buddy

Running my own company the past few years always kept me on call. It seemed tha 1) I never could get away from work even if I was 3,000 miles away and 2) I was constantly worrying something would go wrong. And when it did, I would have to fix a mess

It can really drain the life out of you. Hopefully the paycheck makes it worth it

damn, your own company at 24? it must be hard to enjoy your mid twenties witha company to run.

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E-Dog Night

E-Dog Night

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I feel for ya buddy

Running my own company the past few years always kept me on call. It seemed tha 1) I never could get away from work even if I was 3,000 miles away and 2) I was constantly worrying something would go wrong. And when it did, I would have to fix a mess

It can really drain the life out of you. Hopefully the paycheck makes it worth it

Actually, I took a pay cut to do this job. :( But, it will provide rewards down the road. And to be fair, I hated being behind a desk 8 hours a day. As stressful as it has been, this job really suits my personality.

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TradeTheBeal!

TradeTheBeal!

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Actually, I took a pay cut to do this job. :( But, it will provide rewards down the road. And to be fair, I hated being behind a desk 8 hours a day. As stressful as it has been, this job really suits my personality.

Welcome to proprietorship, I guess. The ordeal of upper management, on any level, is good training for being a sole proprietor/business owner...which, IMO, is the American dream.

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DeanCollins

DeanCollins

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Actually, I took a pay cut to do this job. :( But, it will provide rewards down the road. And to be fair, I hated being behind a desk 8 hours a day. As stressful as it has been, this job really suits my personality.

E-dog welcome to mgt. You're really paying your dues right now. have you taken any mgt courses or seminars? Fred Pryor has some good ones like "dealing with problem employees", "time management", "team building",

"conflict and stress management" http://www.pryor.com/index_Body.asp

one of the common mistakes of new managers is to try and do too much of the work themselves. delegate as much as you can so you can be available for planing and problem solving. This requires trusting your subordinates and letting them make mistakes while building thier confidence level thru positive feedback rather than micro-managing and critisizing. It's tough, especially if you're a perfectionist like I am. find a mentor that's familiar with your job.

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DeanCollins

DeanCollins

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No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :)

But seriously - that is something I NEED to do. When I wake up, and I immediately think of the problem employee on my hands, something is wrong.

in the "managing difficult employees" or what ever call it now, they discuss the process how to legally terminate the employee. I liked the promotion idea. set him up to fail, let the stress work him for a while till he quits.

I usually don't have to fire people, my sarcasm drives them out :silly:

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Tarhog

Tarhog

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No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :)

But seriously - that is something I NEED to do. When I wake up, and I immediately think of the problem employee on my hands, something is wrong.

On a more serious note, I've found that managers frequently doing everything they can to AVOID addressing a problem employee or a problem behavior in an otherwise good employee. Its hard to do, but I've found pulling someone in, letting them know they have an area they need to work on, going through your expectations very clearly and not allowing the person to take the conversation in any other direction, and then following up consistently - most people will respond. They'll be stung initially, but I've been outright shocked at how well most people respond once you've identified the issue.

It ain't fun, but 'calling' the individual on their performance in a non-personal professional way and re-setting your expectations, is what needs to happen. And I think staying positive - always, no matter the circumstances - refusing to allow the ****ers and moaners to get a hold within your employees, thats also the key. I really try and send the message to my staff that 'we are going to be the best - if you can't help us do that, we don't want you here, its not the place for you'.

Good luck :cheers:

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