Today, we had a girl flat out abandon her job. Second one in about an 8 month period. We’re a small, mom and pop firm, and normally if we have a full staff, there are 3 ladies who deal with clients and handle cases. Losing 1/3 of your staff just like that, hurts.
It's been quite the ordeal for us over the last few years. We went from having a 20 year period with very little turnover, to years of not being able to find anyone who wants to work, or that can work. I had always heard about the sense of entitlement of today’s younger generation, but we have experienced it first hand, and it’s mind-boggling to actually deal with it.
That’s not to say the problems have been limited to the younger hires we’ve made, because the last two times we went with someone older, both hires that claimed to have prior legal experience, we had to let them both go because they literally couldn’t file alphabetically, They were both doing things that made you wonder what planet they were from.
However, today marked the 5th hire in the last few years that either walked off the job, or had to be let go because they simply didn’t think they should be asked to work. You go out front, and they’re either on the internet, something I would never do, or had their face glued to the phone. And when you call them out on it, they would tell you they were caught up, which was a lie, or flat out get offended that you would question them, or expect them to do what you’re paying them for.
A few months back, one girl left for the weekend, and never showed back up. Not a word. No call. No text. No email, just gone. Last week, one girl was out the entire week, legitimately sick, as in hospital sick. The girl who walked off today, was out the Friday before last with a “sick child.” She texted the office manager on Saturday, saying her kid had some funky named virus, which we found out later is the new, fun name for a common cold. Despite assuring us when we interviewed, that she absolutely had her kids covered if they had to be out of school, or sick or whatever, she was out the entire week, and never once contacted us. I guess she would come back whenever she was ready to come back.
She showed up today like nothing had happened. We told her we needed to have a talk after lunch, as both me and the other attorney had appointments all morning. She left at lunch, and told one of the other assistants she probably wasn’t coming back. She didn’t! 3 weeks ago, her husband had his truck repossessed, and suddenly, they don’t need her income. My law partner and I agreed today, it’s a good thing that we’re both old and getting close to shutting this puppy down and doing something else. I'm ready.
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