This New Hire’s Days Are Numbered

Me: “[New Hire], I was wondering if you could help me out. I’m missing social security numbers for these people.”

(I hand her a list of names.)

Me: “Can you check to see if these people happen to be in [case management system]? I’d really appreciate it.”

New Hire: “No problem.”

(A few hours later…)

Me: “Were you able to get any of those social security numbers for me?”

New Hire: “Yeah. I marked which ones were in the system.”

(The new hire hands me back the list of names, but it’s unchanged — no social security numbers have been written down.)

Me: “Okay… but where are the social security numbers? Did you write them down?”

New Hire: “You didn’t ask for the social security numbers. You just said you wanted to know if they were in the system.”

Me: “Well, I guess technically I did just ask if they were in the system. I thought it was implied that when I said I was missing the social security numbers, I needed the actual numbers and wanted you to write them down.”

New Hire: “Ugh, fine! I’ll go back and look them up all over again.”

Me: “Thanks?”