Fire(ing) At The City Pool!

I work for a city pool and the majority of the staff is very professional. However, there are the odd few that try and fail. We have just hired a bunch of people, and there is this one guy who can’t seem to get his schedule right. He is supposed to start guarding at five so the staff can switch over and swimming lessons can start. More than once, he is late, causing delays and confusion. My boss even offers to switch his shift if he can’t make it on time. He always maintains that he can do it but is eventually given a warning.

One day, the phone rings two hours before his shift starts.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Pool]. This is [My Name]; how may I help you?”

Coworker: “Hi, [My Name], it’s [Coworker]. What time does my shift start again?”

I sigh internally because it has been the same start time for months.

Me: “Hi, [Coworker], 5:00 pm is when you’re scheduled to start.”

Coworker: “Oh, not 5:30?”

Me: “No, 5:00 pm.”

Coworker: “Okay, so, my lab for school is running until 5:30. I’m calling because I see you’re done at 5:00. Would you be able to stay until 5:30 for me?”

Me: “Normally, I would. However, if you look closer at the schedule, you’ll see I’m instructing at 5:15, so I can’t stay later.”

Coworker: “Oh, really? What about [Coworker #1]? Could they stay?”

Me: “He is also instructing at 5:15.”

Coworker: “Ohhh, what about [Coworker #2]?”

Me: “Again, if you look at the schedule, you will see that we are all instructing.”

Coworker: “Oh, okay, okay. Do you know of anyone I can call who would come in until I get there?”

Me: *Pause* “Sorry, you want to call someone to come in for a half-hour?”

Coworker: “Yeah. Someone will, right?”

Me: “Uh… no, I can’t think of anyone that would do that.”

Coworker: “Oh, well, you don’t start teaching until 5:15 right? Could you guard until then, and I’ll see if I can leave my lab fifteen minutes early?”

Me: “Uh, yeah, I can do that, but fifteen minutes early would be 5:15. That doesn’t give you a lot of time to get down here.”

Coworker: *Thinking for a moment* “You know what, never mind. It’ll be fine. I’ll be there for 5:00.”

Me: “Okay, are you sure?”

Coworker: “Yeah, I’ll work it out.”

Me: “Okay, so we’ll see you at 5:00?”

Coworker: “Yep.”

I wasn’t convinced, so I called my boss to let him know what happened and to be prepared. Sure enough, the coworker then called my boss to let me know he wouldn’t be there until 5:30. It wasn’t until 5:45 that he finally showed up, and my boss told him that he was fired.