Q: Stop worrying about employees who quit their jobs. If they don't want to work for you or your company anymore, let them leave. Everyone should worry about companies that employ incompetent, rude, lazy and untrainable employees who remain employed but deserve to be fired. I run into such employees every day at my company and many other companies, and I walk away wondering how and why they retain their jobs. All my friends have had the same experiences. For example, I took a pair of slacks to be shortened by a tailor. When I picked them up and put them on, they were too short and were ruined. I took a suit to a dry cleaner that shrunk it so that I could no longer wear it, and they refused to take responsibility for what they had done. I was buying a shirt and when the salesperson wrote up the sales ticket, she carelessly put the pen down on the counter and got ink on the shirt. There wasn't another shirt in stock so I couldn't buy it. The next two are incredible: I got a double-scoop ice cream cone while walking through a shopping area. After the clerk stacked the ice cream on the cone, he sneezed on it, an obvious accident, but continued to hand it to me; I, of course, refused it and told him I wanted another one, but the lack of sense of that employee to think I would accept it was incredulous. At a restaurant for lunch, our waitress approached our table and asked if we were ready to order. We said we needed a few minutes. She returned 15-20 minutes later despite us waving to get her attention. On coming back to our table, she rudely said, "Do you know what you want now? Because I am really busy."

Our complaints could go on and on, but you get the idea. These things happen to all of us, but nothing is done about it, even when we complain to a manager or when a manager sees it. I understand these are likely temporary or part-time workers, but each of them deserves to be fired. Surely there must be responsible people out there who value having a job, part time or full time, and who value themselves enough to deliver a good performance, even though the job is not going to turn into a career. Why do employers keep this type of person?

A: The most likely reason these employees are not fired is that business owners need to protect themselves these days from real or fabricated claims of discrimination. To avoid such claims, an owner needs to have a written complaint detailing the employee's ill behavior. Though each employee's action you experienced was unprofessional, few customers are willing to write a formal and detailed complaint letter to the store owner or manager. Customers may also fear retaliation if the managers accidentally or intentionally release their names to the accused employees.

You are right about those employees possibly needing to be fired, but they may instead need: 1) Further training to continue in the job, 2) To receive a written warning for the owner to maintain a proper record for legal purposes, and finally, 3) To be fired if all legal protection is accomplished. Though their misconduct is clearly unacceptable, protecting the business owner from backlash may not be worth one's effort. Waiting and hoping the employee will quit might be easier and more practical in all those situations.

Email LindseyNovak@yahoo.com with all workplace experiences and questions. For more information, visit www.lindseyparkernovak.com and for past columns, see www.creators.com/read/At-Work-Lindsey-Novak.

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