NO DISCIPLINARY FOR YOU

I have worked at a local supermarket for four years. After my first year there, I am recommended for promotion and then promoted to store supervisor. Two months prior to my promotion, a new hire joins the team: [Employee #1]. He also happens to be a regular customer who only got the job because of his continuous and obsessive nagging. He quickly becomes the biggest brown-noser you could ever meet, and since he only does so with the managers, it becomes clear as crystal that he’s doing it to become one.

This story occurs after my promotion. I’m in the back office doing a mountain of paperwork. [Employee #1] is on the register. It’s quiet, but he starts obnoxiously ringing the staff bell, so of course, as I’m the only other employee there, I have to go answer him. I walk up to the register. There are no waiting customers.

Me: “Yes, [Employee #1]?”

[Employee #1] makes a smug display of checking his watch before matter-of-factly glaring at me and pointing to it.

Employee #1: “It’s 5:02 pm.”

[Employee #2] is supposed to be here for a shift at 5:00 pm; however, he called me a half-hour ago to let me know his bike was having trouble and he is going to be here ASAP. I haven’t told [Employee #1] this, principally because it’s a ridiculously quiet Sunday, and more importantly because, despite how small the inconvenience is and has been in the past, [Employee #1] will make sure to stretch and dramatise how much of a problem it is for him. I simply cannot be bothered to entertain his ego.

Me: “Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure [Employee #2]’s just stuck in traffic.”

As I return to the office, [Employee #1] murmurs something under his breath before sighing audibly but I let it go. This man is a pathetic excuse of an adult and I do not have the energy or time to waste on wet nursing him over such a trivial problem.

The only reason for his behaviour is that when I was promoted, [Employee #1] started turning up for work later and later only on my shifts, starting with five-minute-late arrivals before arriving almost forty-five minutes late on our clearance day, which triggered his first disciplinary meeting. Since then, the man has been a total time freak; I’ve seen him twice checking the schedule clock to see when people have arrived. He’s even confronted several employees about their lateness, which has, of course, poisoned people’s opinions about him. [Employee #2] does eventually arrive at 5:12 pm. Not five minutes later, [Employee #1] marches to my door and knocks loudly.

Me: “Yes, [Employee #1]?”

Employee #1: “Right, I want you to give [Employee #2] a disciplinary.”

Me: *Sighing* “[Employee #1]…”

Employee #1: “No, no, no, no, no, shut the f*** up. Disciplinary, now.”

I have finally had enough of his bulls***.

Me: “Excuse me, I am the supervisor—”

Employee #1: “OBVIOUSLY, YOU’RE PLAYING F****** FAVOURITES, SO YOU EITHER GIVE HIM A DISCIPLINARY NOW OR I’LL F****** WALK.”

It’s a quiet Sunday. The threat of him walking is easily the most feeble attempt at leverage I have ever seen from another human being.

Me: “Okay then, so you’re saying you’re quitting?”

Employee #1: “GIVE HIM A F*****’ DISCIPLINARY!”

Me: “Are you leaving or not? I have a ton of work to do. So, you can either go back to the till or go home.”

He stood there, face flushed red, but eventually retreated back to the registers and didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night. I phoned my manager and let her know what had just happened. [Employee #1] had threatened three times over to quit within the previous year. Eventually, [Employee #1] was terminated, much to the relief of everyone else.

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