Jim and the Dori's

[Jims5543]

Everyone know who Dori is?



If not find out then come back. Google Dori.

I quietly suffer day to day dealing with two Dori's.  One is my receptionist, the other is my field helper.  Nepotism in the workplace is a two edged sword.  On one side, you can sometimes feel like the person you hired will be better because they are family, in this case both are not blood to me but to my wife. On the other side of the sword, they can think that because of the comfortableness of being family, they can "get away" with more.

In this case though it is not about entitlement it is about, hmmm how to put this politely.  I know!! A picture!!



This is an accurate depiction of my life dealing with these two.


Why this thread, I need to vent and Dan thinks it will entertain him. I am pretty sure Dan enjoys it when I suffer.

Why do I keep them?

In 2008 when the market crashed I took a huge financial hit over the next 2 years trying to hang on to key employees that I did not want to lose.

There is another crash coming, I think it is going to make 2008 look like a joke.

So why do I keep them? Because they barely do the job I pay them to do, they are not expensive, and I will not feel bad nor will I hesitate a second to cut them loose.

So as I reach my boiling point, I will share. I may share past stories too.

Hold on to your seats, your glass, whatever, the stupid is strong with these two.

[MPlayle]

... the stupid is strong with these two.

That line made me chuckle - probably the best description.

[gr8kornholio]

At least they are your employees.  I deal with people that operate on a special kind of stupid level daily.  And unfortunately I can't do anything about it.  50.gif

[Jims5543]

... the stupid is strong with these two.

That line made me chuckle - probably the best description.

Oh yes, I get that too so I have it flying at me from every direction, like dicks to a hooker.

[jeff10049]

I have one of those although not family.  Lately, he can't even make enough to cover his own wages it's coming to a head soon. Come in 15 late take another 15 to get ready to work yet put down 8.25 hours on the time card because you worked until 5:15 and stood around half the day. I have been adjusting time cards to reflect actual time present we'll see what happens considering a switch to a flat rate.

[Jims5543]

Old story time.

While I was on Vacation I had John, who used to work for me, fill in two days.

I left Tues night and returned back to the office the following Wednesday.

John worked Thursday, and Saturday for me.

I had not spoken with John since about 2 weeks after I returned. He called and asked if  I was mad, I told him no, just busy as hell. He said he felt bad, he wished he could have done more work. The first day he reported in there was only one job laid out for him to do, he knew this had to be wrong, and spoke to the receptionist. He quickly realized she was stupid, his words, and called Scott, my BIL, who helps with drafting and used to work here too, Scott told him he has not worked in the office in years so he has no idea how things get done there, but there should be a basket with Jobs in it.

I want to point out, there are two fucking employees there, one has been there 4 years the other over 2. Neither have a fucking clue what to do or how to stage some jobs. Even though both have been shown multiple times. The receptionist takes in the order, she should know best what is what.

John, figures it out takes more work than 1 job and heads out.

Saturday he comes in, same deal, 2 jobs, so he digs through and gets more to do. if he had not, I would have had a stack of work to do that would have been overwhelming when I returned, as it was there was a lot.

He tells me straight up, there is something wrong with her, she is not all there.

I hang up with John and remember Scott wanted me to call him, I call, he was telling me about his 3 y/o home AC taking a dump. We talked that then I asked WTF was going on when I was gone.

He came clean, said Office Dori would call him multiple times a day every day asking one question after the other.

He was baffled by some of the questions, as they were simple and she should know that after 4 years.

Mrs5543 walks up on me in the middle of this conversation and hears my half. This is her older sisters 32 y/o daughter we are talking about.

The icing on the cake was Friday, the day before John was going to show up again and it was imperative he has what he needs.

She left early to take he daughter to the doctors, never told a single person, called Scott again and asked if he can keep an eye on the email, Scott told he flat out, he does not work here, he is just a subcontracted drafter and he does not want access to our email.

He then suggests she go to docs then swing back by to check on email before heading home.

That would be an inconvenience to her, so she never did it. An order had come in on Friday afternoon at 4:50 that was needed by Wednesday the week after, the day I return. So I would have to do the field work and get it drawn up and checked by days end.

Meanwhile in Ireland, it is 22:00 at night we had just finished dinner, where I was pounding down Guinness and I had retired to the hotel bar where I had moved on to some Quiet Man 8 y/o whiskey. I was relaxed and had no clue any of this was going on.

I wake up around 0800 we were in a hurry to get out to breakfast and back into Derry to walk around before leaving for Dublin.

I never looked at the email and was more relaxed knowing it was the weekend.

If I had looked I would have known there was a job John could be doing Saturday that my asshole receptionist never bothered to get ready for him. If she had just given me the heads up I would have looked.

If she would have gone out of her fucking way and gone the extra mile I would have been blown away. But no, god forbid anything ever inconvenience her.

Scott also said, for someone that has been there four years she sure is fucking stupid and has no clue.

So now Mrs5543 knows 2 other people have said the same thing.

So what is the fucking solution?  Lets have another talk!!! I said to her, you cannot fix stupid. I read it somewhere online so it has to be true.


She feels it would be wrong to just up and fire her after four years, I basically said it is wrong she has worked here four years does not give a fuck about her job and does not know a fucking thing about the company.

Holy fuck!! I wish I had bosses like Mrs5543 I could have not worked my entire career.

She is terrified of the backlash if we let her go, I do not care. No one seems concerned that this persons lack of ability impacts me.

Jeff, I used to have a time clock when I had 25 employees because I had too many doing what your guy is doing. Lying on their time sheets.  Then I had one guy that was coming in at 5:30, clocking in, and sitting in the office for 1.5 hours until his party chief showed up, then would meander around the office and outside the building for another hour at the end of every day before clocking back out. 12.5 hours of overtime a week doing nothing but playing time clock games. Took me about a month to notice (it was insanely busy back then) that he was cranking OT when his team mate was not.

His death knell came when we had a big job to do We surveyed an entire Golf Course in 3 days) I was on his crew and kept throwing tasks at him, simple tasks a guy that had been here for 5 years should know and he could not perform them.

One last thought, my receptionist is a very pretty and polite girl. The politeness is what saves her, my clients LOVE her and I get tons of compliments about how sweet she is. THAT is her only saving grace.

I pay her flat out 40 hours a week, she works from 9-5 with an hour paid lunch, which she will take every minute of no matter how far behind she is up front, that irritates me because it shows a utter lack of work ethic, just like leaving early and not caring about checking in one last time when I am not in town.

This mentality blows my mind, I did not go from apprentice drafter to VP of a company in 8 years behaving like that. The words, that is not my job, never left my mouth. I tried to learn and do everything I could. I was an office worker, I went out of my way to understand the field equipment and how to operate it, I learned how the girls up front took in orders, researched them, put them in the tracking system. I tried to learn every aspect of the company and how to do everyones job there.

That would be so rewarding to me when the company was downsized and I was one of a handful of employees left. One trick ponies that has been there twice as long as me were let go, and they protested loudly.

I cannot wrap my head around this kind of lazy mentality. I never will.

[gr8kornholio]

Unfortunately it is a rampart part of our society.  As long as people support and coddle people they will continue to need to be supported and coddled.  I could put up a long list of these types, several of them family.  It's sad actually, people afraid to let people fail. 

I thank my stars everyday for the lessons my step dad forced me to learn.  Value of an earned dollar being the biggest one. 

It's interesting you brought up her "saving grace" and that is her crutch to lean on forever.  I'm pretty and sweet, so I can be incompetent and ignorant cause everyone wants a pretty sweet girl around. 

Business and Family....  Oil and Water   Good luck, I'll enjoy the stories.

[Jims5543]

The girl I had before her was brilliant. She was a 4.0 GPA High School student, and I always wondered why she did not go to college.

She implemented systems here that are still being used and she was 19 years old when I hired her. She worked for me for 5 years from 2000-2005.

Her problem? She could go from 0 to bitch in 0.2 seconds. I had 2 clients stop using my company because she was a bitch to them.

Of course, I come to find out an employee from that company was unprofessional and being an asshole to her and she gave it right back. Not cool eat shit, take their shit and curse them out when you get off the phone.

Office Dori has cost me no clients to date, just my mental health.

[94touring]

My job tends to be easy going with the exception of gate agents.  I have too many stories where I wanted to throat punch them.  I've tongue lashed more than I like to admit.

Yesterday commuting home was no different.  Start in Philly to end up in Tulsa, connecting through Dfw.  I list myself ahead of time for flights then go to the gate to check in. Usually goes something like this, as happened yesterday:

Me: Hi I'm listed and would like to check in.
Gate agent:  Let me get your badge....clicks keyboard...well you're not checked in yet, I don't see you.
Me: Yes I know, I'm checking in now. I need to be put down as a d6 priority.
Gate agent:  clicking away...ok so I'll use AAC priority...
Me: Remember a second ago when I said D6 priority, you have to use that or it screws them up in Dfw when I get down there and need to get on the jumpseat.
Gate agent: blank stare and back to clicking. Here's your ticket and let's put a valet tag on your bag.
Me: thanks for the help.

Fast forward to Dfw.

Gate agent #1:  looks like you're on the jump seat, here's your ticket.
Me: thanks. Make my way down the jet bridge with my bag, go to the door to hand my bag to a ramper to toss the bag in the belly.  Put my handle down, velcro it, and wait by the door.
Gate agent #2:  comes walking up...umm can that bag go under here? We might need to check it.
Me: here's my valet tag...points at tag.
Gate agent #2:  ok yeah, here give me the bag. Immediately pulls the handle all the way up into locked position. (Here's the problem with this.  It's a $300 pilot bag and most half wits can't put the handle back down.  Handles can break if left out when being loaded into planes)
Me: oh no the handle needs to stay down.  Puts handle back down and reattach velcro strap. Yeah grab it by this...points to strap meant for handling the bag.
Gate agent #2:  immediately pulls the handle I just put down and velcro'd, all the way out and into locked position.
Me: MA'AM!!  That stays down!  Puts it back down again.
Her: WELL IT'S TOO HEAVY
Me:  You'll break my handle throwing it down the slide.  You're telling me my 25 pound bag is too heavy for you to carry from here to 5 feet outside this door and lift it onto the slide...you know what nevermind I'll do it myself. Handle back down, velcro, launch bag down the slide.  She goes to piss and moan but I walk past and head to the cockpit and settle in.

[gr8kornholio]

That's when you KNOW airlines are messed up.  Pissing on their own pilots.   11.gif

[MiniDave]

No that's what happens when you hire on price rather than experience, maturity, skillz and knowledge.

[94touring]

During flight college I worked the ramp, ticket counter, and gate for a few years.  I tell all my first officers when I'm yelling at various people I don't hesitate or feel bad for throwing my weight around because I've done all their jobs and know how badly they suck at it.  Airlines have outsourced so much that the quality of the product just isn't there.  I also refuse airplanes that aren't to my liking.  Usually has more to do with passenger comfort, like when our AC is less than stellar on a summer day due to broken systems that need fixed.

[94touring]

And to your left folks you'll see why texting while driving a baggage cart is not advisable.  Note it flipped the truck over.

[Jims5543]

Field Dori gave his 2 weeks today, he got a job working for the county utility company reading water meters.

Great celebrations are commencing.




More later up to my eyeballs in paperwork here.

[Jims5543]

sorry for the fly by, I am slow yet somehow super busy at the same time. A lot of problematic jobs all in a row.

[Jims5543]

Field Dori comes into work yesterday acting all weird, like wired. He is pacing around while we are getting ready to leave for the field. Finally, I look over at him and ask WTF is wrong with him.

He tells me he took an energy/fat burning pill and he is tripping out from it.

I said you have nervous energy. Once you start moving around you will be fine.

We get a couple of jobs done, we are driving along and he says, man, I am not feeling good at all, I feel nauseous. I pull over to the side of the road by a vacant lot and this cat starts projectile vomiting for what seemed like 5 minutes.

He composes himself and gets back in the truck, I asked what he had to eat this morning. Nothing, the bottle had instructions to take on an empty stomach so he followed the directions and had not eaten anything so his stomach would stay empty.

You cannot make this stuff up.

I took him to a convenience store after that to get some food in his stomach.

[Jims5543]

As of 12 noon today Field Dori is no longer employed here.

A weekend of drunken celebrations are planned.

[MiniDave]

How hard will it be to hire his replacement?

[Jims5543]

Not replacing. Have been seeing a Real Estate slump for two months now.

[MiniDave]

OK, I thought it sounded like you're really slammed with work.....

[Jims5543]

OK, I thought it sounded like you're really slammed with work.....

sorry for the fly by, I am slow yet somehow super busy at the same time. A lot of problematic jobs all in a row.

If I am not on here, that means I am out living life.

I was busy prior to the hurricane mostly due to many problematic jobs that needed to be nursed through the office.

Last week I may have worked 30 hours.

This week I have been leaving the office every day around 2PM.

Tues and Wed I picked my younger son up from school.


On Tues. we went to have a late lunch together.

On Wed. we met my older son at the shooting range and the 3 of use spent an hour target shooting.

Today I left the office at 2:30 and took my younger son back to the range for a shooting lesson that did not happen. 

Short version, he had a shell go down the back of his shirt while trying my older sons 9MM. Which I was proud of him, since all he has used up to that point was .22's, my Walther and a range rental Luger Mark 3. He freaked out, BUT he kept his finger off the trigger and kept the pistol pointed down range while the shell burned down his back. His ONLY mistake was not putting the gun down on the table in front of him while he dealt with the shell.

The range safety officer jumped in and got him to put the gun down, even though my older son and I were dealing with him. It is the officers job to make sure we are safe and there was not an ounce of resentment from any of us.

I told my younger son what he did wrong, he was gutted. Today he was still not over it, even though my older son and I told him, there were many times when we were spoken to at the range. Stupid things like loading a mag away from the bench, or carrying a weapon to the bench not in a case. Different ranges have different rules, in this one every weapon has to be encased until placed on the firing line and no loading mags unless you are on the firing line.  Other ranges allow you to load mags back away from the line, this one does not.

There was an incident in Sarasota Florida where a father killed his own son.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/father-accidentally-kills-son-at-sarasota-gun-range/2284099

I will never be mad at a range officer who is only doing one thing, making sure we are all safe, the stricter the range, IMHO, the safer it is for everyone.

There are ranges around that are known for being free for all's where rules are not really enforced, I will not go to them.

My younger son never got over having the range officer step in, we had a long talk this evening and he now understands he does not have to be embarrassed, it is just important he learns from his mistakes. The range officer said every single day someone gets a shell down their shirt and freak and he lost count how many wave the gun, he gave my son a compliment for keeping his pointing down range and having his finger off the trigger. I really drill into both of them to keep it off only to shoot and it should be reflex that your finger is pointing straight.

It was upsetting for me to see him so defeated over a mistake, but I think he is over it now. He has learned and that is the key thing here.



So back to work, the plan, one field Dori was gone was to take my older son and put him back in the field with me and lean on my BIL who used to me my #2 during the housing boom, for drafting. He is so good at drafting I barely have to check his work, I go over it, make a couple of minor changes, mostly personal preference / presentation type of stuff and send it out.

My older son, he and I think alike we are in tune with one another.

I took on field Dori's job, which in all honestly, sets the pace for the day.  Needless to say the pace is now 2x to 3x faster now. Tasks that heavily depended on field Dori, like laying out a house used to take 30 minutes or more.  Now they take 10-15 minutes. 

When staking a house corner, where we place a hub in the ground with a tack in it, showing the exact location of the house corner for  the formboard crew to place their board, I would typically have to shoot (measure with field instrument) at Dori 7-10 times in order to get the hub in place and reasonably accurate.  I say reasonably accurate because if I could get the hub withing 0.02 feet (1/4 inch) I would be happy. I was not really happy because I prefer perfect, I could not obtain perfect with him.

Now we are setting hubs to 0.001 feet (1/64 inch)in 2-3 shots.  I run the prism pole now and set the hubs.  My older son runs the instrument and he is really good at it. Dori sucked at it and was careless.


In the last 2 days We staked 10 houses in addition to numerous mortgage surveys.... in other words what typically took me 6-7 hours in the field is not taking me 5 hours or less.

I have a life again.

[94touring]

I'd go crazy with new rod men that took half a dozen times or more to set a point dead on.  Brings back memories.

Tell your son don't feel too bad, he didn't blast a 20 gauge through his own shop wall accidentally.  I understand how sickening it feels. 

[Jims5543]

We now have house stakes down to 10 minutes flat, and being like minded, we are already throwing ideas around as to how to get it under 10 minutes. As task I used to resent is now a new challenge and I want more orders so we can figure it out.

We left the office lat this morning (Monday!!) and still got back in after 5 hours. 

We are chewing bubble gum and kicking ass, and we are all out of gum.  (Bonus points to anyone who knows where that line is from... hint, you had to be a gamer in the 90's)

My mood? 180° from a month ago, it is so much nicer having a conversation with a normal person again.

All those house layouts resulted in a lot of form board surveys, those are the boards in the ground for the foundation to be poured in.  We rocked out 6 of them today, average time was about 7 minutes each, averaging 30 shots per.

I put in a long day today, 7:30 (far cry from my 6 am start times) until 5:30, and now I am checking a few jobs so I have a head start tomorrow.

The goal now is to take off at 1:00 every Friday. So we bust ass Monday through Thursday.

I have a couple of larger jobs coming up, I priced them so they would go away and I will be damned if they took my quotes!!

One is 2.5 acres in farmland the other is in town here and is an acre and heavily developed. I saw something cool when I was doing recon on the property, when I get out there I will snap some pics. Air cooled VW related.

[94touring]

Duke Nukem

[Jims5543]

Duke Nukem

Give the man a prize.


From September 2017 to now things have ramped up so much I had to hire a field helper again. While we were keeping up, we were working really long days.

After collecting resumes for a week I narrowed down my selection to 3 people. 2 were Marine vets and one was a kid maybe 20.

I invited the 20 year old to interview, set an appointment and he stood me up. Fail!

Interview #2 was interesting, he was 58 years old, a Marine vet and only held 3 jobs in his life. My only problem is, he was trying for a entry level job with low pay. I asked him on the phone if he was aware of that and he said yes, he was fine. He was not. Fine, come in and interview.

Half way through the interview he expressed his dissatisfaction with the pay rate.  I had the perfect solution for that issue, not hire him.

Interview #3 was also a Marine Vet and within the first 5 minutes I knew I found a guy that would work out.

He is on week #2 and is doing pretty good, he is eager to learn and hustles, good qualities.  I should mention he is in his 40's as well.

Other rejections:

I put up a CL add for the position with clear instructions to email me a resume.

Instead I received emails that said:

"Hey man, I am interested in your job, hit me up.. 772-xxx-xxxx"  - No resume.

As a matter of fact 80% did not send resumes just emails telling me they were interested and for me to call them.

New guys name in Dan and so far I am happy with his performance and ability to learn.

My largest client, a builder just hired on an entire office staff and opened an office back up in town, we are already seeing a LOT of activity from them, that is what pushed me to hire some help.

If this keeps up I may hire again this summer.



When I sat down to interview the first guy, it dawned on me, I had not interviewed anyone in 10 years.  It was odd to actually be hiring again.