Our First Ghosting Employee!

[DinaLRosenberg]

Just need to vent. Had our first employee ghost us and it feels like a bad break up! Seriously you guys, I'm not OK!

We currently have eight employees and most of them have been with us for between 2-3 years. We have GREAT longevity and (we think) we treat our employees well.

As is the nature of retail, we don't expect people to stay forever, especially those that are young (this employee is 19). We extend as much grace as possible wherever we can.

But our employee ghosted us.. literally didn't show up to. her shifts, didn't answer ours or her co-workers texts....

We fired her via text...

UGH just an awful feeling..

[VanKalkerFarms]

It is rough, we've had probably a dozen over the years do this.  Just crazy to me to just not show up to work without saying anything.  Like even if you hate it and want to quit on the spot at least do that vs hurting the co-workers by not showing up.  We run 2 morning shift employees and 2 afternoon so 1 not showing up is detrimental.

[Donnie-M]

Don't get me started on the "Ghost" interviews!! lol

[sugarlab]

Oooh I had that once! Well actually twice, same person. I hired her originally right before the bakery moved to the harbor. She worked one training shift and then didn't come to the second. We called, texted, emailed and got nothing. I was actually starting to wonder if I should worry. We eventually heard from her and she said it was a bad time in her life and that she was ashamed. I wished her well. Fast forward a year or so and I saw her apply again. I was curious so I interviewed her. I asked her point blank about her ghosting the last time and said that I believe in second chances and this was hers. She seemed to have matured since her first interview and I gave it a shot. She never showed up. I honestly can't even remember how we fired her specifically. She also ended up filing for unemployement and I had a call with the state. I was like "uhh she never even worked a shift!" It was sooo bizarre!

[Tamyra_Paunchy]

Oh no!! So sorry to hear this. This happened to me last year and for days I was so confused, continuing to check my phone and email every time I heard a ping - thinking it was the person with some sort of explanation. Guy interviewed, agreed to work at farmer's market, did his new hire docs online, sent in direct deposit account information and everything. I sent him instructions on how to park at his first venue, agreed to meet him there, begin training, etc. Then the next day he just didn't show. I worked the entire event alone. I went through a whole range of emotions over the course of the day. Was awful. To this day I'll never understand people doing this. 

[BrianaJo]

This happened with our first employee. She was renting a house from her Grandma who begrudgingly had to raise the rent on her so she asked for more shifts so we adjusted the schedule to give her more hours even though it was a bit tight for us to do so being in the peak of our slowest season. She had also just started a relationship with an ~interesting~ character. She never showed up for any shifts after we gave her more hours. I was very confused and hurt. I even tried to find her on social media to make sure she was ok but there weren't any new posts. Lots of excuses for her ran through my mind, like, maybe her new boyfriend stabbed her and she's in the hospital, or she got kidnapped, or maybe her Grandma kicked her out and she didn't have another place so now she's homeless. Those might sound extreme, but she always had her phone on her, so why wouldn't she be able to text us back? My conclusion was something had to have happened that she wouldn't be able to respond. This was in the middle of Winter so the next week a bad snow & ice storm rolled-in knocking out a lot of power across the city. She had balding tires on her car so then I was thinking oh noe, she's in a dead in a ditch somewhere. We had known her for years from working together somewhere else, so we thought this would be out of character of her. When we contacted a friend of hers, she hadn't heard from her either. I even considered filing a missing persons report. I talked myself out of doing that assuming a family member would if she were truly missing. After a month of her gone, we had to move on. 

[CareyJo]

Wow!  I'm sorry this happened and you clearly care that something had happened to this person and you wanted to make sure that they were okay.  I would be the same way.  We have big hearts and sometimes care too much.  It's hard not to let it get to you.  I agree with @Donnie-M's comment - don't fire over a text, set out a condition.  Can't have your last check till I hear from you, I need you to sign an exit agreement, etc.  Just something to save yourself in the event of a claim and to give you peace of mind.

[phillipsrw]

Not nice when this happens, especially when you feel you have a nice team and you look after them. Definitely worse since the pandemic, seems to be linked in general to certain generations, and not helped by the excess of job opportunities in the market. 

We had a few employees over the years we wish would do a Casper, but unfortunately they seem to hang on! 👻