Interpersonnel relations

My night collapsed into a bitter shambles not too long ago. Not simply for the ugly scene that played out in my store, but also because it meant I had to sit down and ponder deeply as a manager in its wake. There is nothing like abruptly having to pick through a Gordian knot of what is best for the store, customers, and employees and then be able to lay it all out for the owner.

You see John serves us in a janitorial capacity, as well as performing some maintenance as needed. Thus he pops in during the week to do his part to keep this business running smooth and tidy. Most of his time cleaning is devoted to the arcade section, aptly so since no one wants to deal with a squalid row of booths.

John takes his duties quite seriously, which is at the heart of it, the source of my dilemma. On more than one occasion we have had to stop him from embarking on such chores as floor waxing the entire area. He constantly suggests new and more involved cleaning procedures. No one can fault his personal commitment to working.

Unfortunately, John is the type that takes an unalloyed interest in everyone else. He provides status reports on police activity in the area. He even supplies us, the store employees behind the counter, little nicknames for the various officers in the area and theories for what the actions mean. He studies the cars in the parking lot, at times even taking a tablet outside to scribble down plate numbers.

I'm certain you can detect a faint trace of what is concerning me. But wait, there's more. On an erratic basis, customers have approached me to complain about John. Reputedly he hovers around the booths. Some have said he will peer through the glory holes at them.

Everything came to a head the other night, when a customer and John began a verbal altercation in the arcades and then progressed to the counter area. Suffice to say that the argument grew increasingly heated, aspersions were cast, and toward the end I was anticipating the two men coming to blows. The headache had settled squarely upon my shoulders.

The most obvious issue was that John exceeded, and had previous to the latest incident, the scope of his authority. He keeps attempting to enforce store policy. If he'd had any training or instruction, let alone that responsibility, then it might not be a problem. Unfortunately, he will make declarations to patrons that are not always in line with what store policy truly is. In some cases, leaving me no choice but to cut him off at the knees in front of the customer. Obviously, this does not leave a professional or consistent impression with our customers and thus needs to be avoided. In the course of the incident, he even told the customer to leave the store or pull the security tapes. WTFF?! There can be no repeats of that shit. Ever.

We've opted to give John one last chance. His job is to clean, everything else is for me to handle. Provided he can mellow out in how he behaves around customers, the problem is solved. No policy enforcement, no lists of which booths have the highest rates of use, no in-depth surveillance of the entire city block. Unfortunately, I think he's a bit too intent upon what his fellow man is up to, in which case, the next complaint, the terminating complaint, is only a matter of time.

It sucks to have to fire someone who busts their ass to discharge their duties and has been with the company for a goodly span, but a store cannot employ someone who alienates the patronage. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but either way, this issue will be solved.