Can’t Cover This Much Incompetence

We have a “new” guy at my hotel. He’s been here for a few months now, but doesn’t seem to want to learn the job. He still can’t do half the job on his own. He makes stupid mistakes all the time, like putting pets into non-pet-friendly rooms, or giving out corporate rates to individual employees when those rates are exclusive to bookings made by corporate, etc. He calls and texts me and one of my other coworkers all through his shift, because our manager is out on medical leave. We’ve even given him extra days of training and he’s still terrible and slow.

I’m not salaried; I’m hourly and at the same level he is. As I said, it’s been months. I’ve answered every text and phone call and I’ve even come in multiple times during my off time when I was out with my wife and kids to help him, as have two of my other coworkers, all without clocking in.

One day, my oldest is sick and I’m trying to find someone to cover my shift so I don’t have to drive a vomiting and feverish two-year-old to her grandparents. I call our acting manager and [New Guy] is the only one available. I have my coworker call him, I call him, we text. No response. Supposedly, he’s in class all morning, so I expect a delay, but still, a response when he gets a break.

Finally, ten minutes before my shift starts, once I’ve already dropped my daughter off and am at work getting ready to punch in he responds, “Sorry, just getting up. I have plans for tonight.” That is when I decide I am never responding to one of his texts again unless it is a legitimate emergency and the manager or my coworker — acting manager, but also hourly and with no real power — is out of town. Not my job, not my problem. I go above and beyond to help you and you can’t even respond to a text in a timely manner? Screw you.