Just Fire Him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have half a dozen Marks. We keep them around, because that's all we can find for $30-$40 an hour.

See- this is another issue. The owner is late 70s and thinks $80,000 a year is "a kings pay". His brain is stuck in 1980.

It is still "king's pay," because wages haven't kept up with inflation.

My parents each made around $30,000 working very, very hard, both with a terrible commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, what an awful lot of very specific, identifiable information about your employer and his construction business.

Better hope none of the "misfits" from work are wasting time on this forum.

Relax- I changed the details. And if someone reading this recognizes themself, than it should be a wake up call. Cause you're gettng fired tomorrow.

Every post from the OP drips of blatant age discrimination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have half a dozen Marks. We keep them around, because that's all we can find for $30-$40 an hour.

See- this is another issue. The owner is late 70s and thinks $80,000 a year is "a kings pay". His brain is stuck in 1980.

I've beat my head against a wall explaing that if we hired a college grad for $110,000 a year who has been using computers and a hundred different software programs, building spreadsheets and doing basic accounting for his entire life that he'd replace 2 Marks in an instant, but he thinks that is insane. So, we get poor, technology illiterate broken old men tha need babysitting.

Your ageism is bleeding through in everything you write. While your Mark may not be computer literate, it's not his age. Who do you think developed all the computers and the code(s) that your recent college grad has been using his entire life? Those boomer programmers and sw engineers that first learned programming with punch cards and Fortran and COBOL before moving on to C, Object-Oriented Programming C++, Java, etc etc.

I've met more than my fair share of young college grads who know how to use technology but don't understand it. Don't conflate the two.

Also, you sound like a terrible manager. It's your job to train and set him up for success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he do his job? You don’t really address this.

He does a C- version of his job after having other people hold his hand to make him do it and answer 20 questions about what to do next. Its one breathe away from being more work having him around.

Yes, you fire him for this reason, regardless of his age and charm.

[Anonymous]

Delete his write access to the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have half a dozen Marks. We keep them around, because that's all we can find for $30-$40 an hour.

See- this is another issue. The owner is late 70s and thinks $80,000 a year is "a kings pay". His brain is stuck in 1980.

I've beat my head against a wall explaing that if we hired a college grad for $110,000 a year who has been using computers and a hundred different software programs, building spreadsheets and doing basic accounting for his entire life that he'd replace 2 Marks in an instant, but he thinks that is insane. So, we get poor, technology illiterate broken old men tha need babysitting.

Your ageism is bleeding through in everything you write. While your Mark may not be computer literate, it's not his age. Who do you think developed all the computers and the code(s) that your recent college grad has been using his entire life? Those boomer programmers and sw engineers that first learned programming with punch cards and Fortran and COBOL before moving on to C, Object-Oriented Programming C++, Java, etc etc.

I've met more than my fair share of young college grads who know how to use technology but don't understand it. Don't conflate the two.

Also, you sound like a terrible manager. It's your job to train and set him up for success.

I don’t think Mark was programming COBOL in the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Mark's talents are in other areas. This is not the right job for him. Either let him go or demote him to position that equates with his skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, what an awful lot of very specific, identifiable information about your employer and his construction business.

Better hope none of the "misfits" from work are wasting time on this forum.

Relax- I changed the details. And if someone reading this recognizes themself, than it should be a wake up call. Cause you're gettng fired tomorrow.

And to the OP, for someone who is all about quality, learn to spell the employer’s city correctly - it’s Annandale, not Annanadale. The first of at least three editorial mistakes that I’ve spotted in reading your post and responses. Sure hope a rock doesn’t crash into your glass house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he do his job? You don’t really address this.

He does a C- version of his job after having other people hold his hand to make him do it and answer 20 questions about what to do next. Its one breathe away from being more work having him around.

Yes, you fire him for this reason, regardless of his age and charm.

You corporate drones are so tiresome. The OP doesn't own the company. The ownership of this company decided that they are good with hiring older people that need the job, even though that's not the most efficient thing to do. Good for them. You too will be older and irrelevant some day. And you will be grateful that there still some companies that will hire someone over 40. You need companies like this to exist.

[Anonymous]

Sounds neuro divergent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he do his job? You don’t really address this.

He does a C- version of his job after having other people hold his hand to make him do it and answer 20 questions about what to do next. Its one breathe away from being more work having him around.

Yes, you fire him for this reason, regardless of his age and charm.

You corporate drones are so tiresome. The OP doesn't own the company. The ownership of this company decided that they are good with hiring older people that need the job, even though that's not the most efficient thing to do. Good for them. You too will be older and irrelevant some day. And you will be grateful that there still some companies that will hire someone over 40. You need companies like this to exist.

This. OP is just a middle manager. Essentially OP's boss expects OP to be able to handle the quirks of those older, imperfect employees. Maybe the owner's intent is to hire veterans or semi-disabled people who still have something to give but aren't spry enough to run up and down the stairs. OP's job is to run the office and manage things like access to the shared calendar, and if OP can't do that, they may be the one who ends up replaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have half a dozen Marks. We keep them around, because that's all we can find for $30-$40 an hour.

See- this is another issue. The owner is late 70s and thinks $80,000 a year is "a kings pay". His brain is stuck in 1980.

I've beat my head against a wall explaing that if we hired a college grad for $110,000 a year who has been using computers and a hundred different software programs, building spreadsheets and doing basic accounting for his entire life that he'd replace 2 Marks in an instant, but he thinks that is insane. So, we get poor, technology illiterate broken old men tha need babysitting.

Your ageism is bleeding through in everything you write. While your Mark may not be computer literate, it's not his age. Who do you think developed all the computers and the code(s) that your recent college grad has been using his entire life? Those boomer programmers and sw engineers that first learned programming with punch cards and Fortran and COBOL before moving on to C, Object-Oriented Programming C++, Java, etc etc.

I've met more than my fair share of young college grads who know how to use technology but don't understand it. Don't conflate the two.

Also, you sound like a terrible manager. It's your job to train and set him up for success.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. And to the comment that "Mark wasn't programming COBOL in the 80s," this person never said he was. This person said. "Your Mark may not be computer literate, it's not his age." There's ageism and illiteracy all over everything the OP has written.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds neuro divergent

Op?

Maybe.

[Anonymous]

One day we’ll all be that old person that is not good at their job and is hanging on till retirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sad. Maybe he’s trying to make it to age 67 for social security, who knows what his family finances and dynamics look like. I don’t want to make excuses, just trying to be empathetic. And ageism is a real thing, too. Figure out what you can do to help him grow, think outside of the box.

Did you read the OP? He's been sitting with him, daily, for three months. Sometimes the student either can't learn, or just doesn't care to.