What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

[Mike_Lowery]

All the education and training I've received couldn't prepare for what happened. I work with youth, so we're taking these young'ns out on an excursion, and a staff member decides to get gangsta and eats one of the kids' lunches.

WTF you say to the kid when this happens? I did get dude to buy the kid another Sunny D and bag of chips tho.

[jdub]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Hold up. It was a trained professional done it? First, I'd give the kid my lunch. Then I'd drop the hammer on my colleague. How you gonna steal a kid's lunch? Gansta? I don't see that as gangsta by any stretch. That's just some mope to lazy to get to brown baggin' it.

I remember raiding the box of lunches when I took a group of 48 2nd graders on a field trip to Sea Life Park, but I was 19, hungover and oblivious to the ethical ramifications of that kind of petty larceny.

I'm curious, Mike, what did you say to the kid? And for that matter, what did you say to your colleague. Asking that, I'm confident whatever you said was appropriate.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

I promised the kid that I'll get him repaid with the same kind of chips and juice from my colleague.

To my co-worker: urged him to repay the kid, before the 'rents get involved.

[jdub]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

I promised the kid that I'll get him repaid with the same kind of chips and juice from my colleague.

To my co-worker: urged him to repay the kid, before the 'rents get involved.

Sounds like you done the right thing. I'd not enjoy being on that staff if my mom found out that a staff member stole my lunch on a field trip back in the day. That's perfectly awful.

But in the interest of keeping the thread railed, I'll say that the most difficult work situation I've dealt with was when my band, people I brought into the band, fired me in a manner most accurately described as cowardly and juvenile.

We lived together. They continued to gig (a total of 5 shows, I think), playing my songs and working the modest cache we'd achieved in the business of gigging. I even went to see them play, at swanky corporate shindig for AskJeeves.com in a marbled enclave in San Francisco (for a nearly penniless musician on the skids, the prospect of free booze and food is far more seductive than any hollow, passive aggressive refusal to attend could be). They blew. I was stoked.

It ended well enough, due mostly to the fact that I am pathologically incapable of holding a grudge.

[Marco]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

All the education and training I've received couldn't prepare for what happened. I work with youth, so we're taking these young'ns out on an excursion, and a staff member decides to get gangsta and eats one of the kids' lunches.

WTF you say to the kid when this happens? I did get dude to buy the kid another Sunny D and bag of chips tho.

Maybe I'm missing something here (or am just an insensitive d*ck), but is that really that big of a deal? Just get some other kids to share their lunch with the kid who lost his, then get the staffer to refund it the next day.

I mean, I know I wouldn't be all that pissed if my preschool teacher called to tell me my daughter missed one lunch cuz a staffer ate it. I'd kinda laugh about it, actually. I can think of choke worse things that can happen to my daughter at school than that: an accident, abuse, being bullied, etc. Now, if the lunch-stealing was something that happened on a regular basis, that's a different story.

At my job, the most difficult situations always occur toward the end of the night, when customers are at their drunkest and fights break out. I'm not exactly bouncer material (6'1, but only about 170 pounds), and have to deal with it if our bouncers aren't around. That's when I thank god for the Mediation elective I took as an elective last year. Surprisingly, drunk people react well when you speak to them calmly and rationally.

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Mike,
I think you did exactly the right thing. Although, on the face of it, lunch swiping isn't that big a deal the karmic snowball via an angry set of parents is worth avoiding.

The most difficult situation I had to deal with was a trio of apathetic managers who gave preferential treatment to their office buddies over those who performed. I called a meeting with all of them and they insisted there was no problem.

Seeing the ish storm was not going to end in the near future, I left there with a quickness. That was five months ago. One of those managers was just fired and the entire company is now on the verge of bankruptcy. Payback is a mean mofo.

[cezanne]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Maybe I'm missing something here (or am just an insensitive d*ck), but is that really that big of a deal? Just get some other kids to share their lunch with the kid who lost his, then get the staffer to refund it the next day.....

What it comes down to is that teachers are in a position of trust and being a role model. What is "d*ck" is the teacher eating the kid's lunch.

[Marco]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

What it comes down to is that teachers are in a position of trust and being a role model. What is "d*ck" is the teacher eating the kid's lunch.

Oh, I get that. And of course that's a "d*ck" thing to do.

But to keep it in perspective, he was betraying the kids trust... for a bag lunch. Not like he was betraying their trust by molesting them or da kine. The story of the dance studio owner's son who was accused of having sex with several girls in the studio a few years back comes to mind. When I was growing up, I saw teachers do a lot of unteacherly-like things (yes, I know "unteacherly" is not a word), but it's not like they scarred me for life. It's all part of growing up.

And I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the lunch stealer wasn't a full-time teacher, but an intern or a youth counselor or someone like that.

Anyways, it's not like I'm condoning his actions. It just doesn't outrage me as I guess it does everyone else here.

[GnosticWarrior]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

I admit, I'm one who at first would be overly outraged. If I was in Mike's shoes and this guy's overall work ethic bothered me, than this incident would have been the straw the broke the camel's back. I would even be afraid that I would cross the line and let my emotions get the best of me. But if I did cross the line, I would be no better than he.

I would definately document the incident. If he's a problem employee, this is more ammo to get rid of him. However, I worked in the office of an elem. school and my sister is a pre-school teacher. So, I know that staffing concerns are an issue and somtimes you just have to accept what is out there. And I can't blame a lower ranking employee with a bad attitude who does not have the children's best interest at heart, if the principal or director doesn't either.

It seems like its the teachers or those with direct conact with the children to pick up the slack for all the flaws in the system. It can't be done that way. Everyone needs to be on the same page and team. Unfortunately its rarely the case, and even the parents don't realize that at times they can become a big part of the problem. And some actually show that they don't care either and look at school as having a break for them to dump their responsibility off to someone else.

We're all human and don't always make the best decisions. Hopefully our mistakes helps us make the right ones in the future. Sorry, I don't know what the solution is.

[tutusue]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

[...]I work with youth, so we're taking these young'ns out on an excursion[...]

Mike...I know you work(ed?) with special needs kids...autistic, iirc. Was this an excursion for challenged kids?

[tikiyaki]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Having to listen to Hollywood egomaniac, dumbass bosses....that's why I'm self employed now.

[tutusue]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Having to listen to Hollywood egomaniac, dumbass bosses....that's why I'm self employed now.

Ha! That's exactly why I moved to Hawaii and no longer work on any non-local project!

[Hellbent]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Anyways, it's not like I'm condoning his actions. It just doesn't outrage me as I guess it does everyone else here.

I dunno. Do you get mad if someone eats your lunch from the staff fridge? Being an adult, you are totally capable of cussing, then going to mcdonalds to buy a lunch. But a kid on a field trip, with possibly no cash on them? Its okay that they have to share a snack because of an adults actions?
hmmmm

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

Mike...I know you work(ed?) with special needs kids...autistic, iirc. Was this an excursion for challenged kids?

Not specifically for challenged kids, but we have a couple of'em.

[Marco]

Re: What's the most difficult situation you dealt with at work?

I dunno. Do you get mad if someone eats your lunch from the staff fridge? Being an adult, you are totally capable of cussing, then going to mcdonalds to buy a lunch.

I've never had someone eat my lunch at work (we have chefs who can make us free stuff from the kitchen), but if someone did, I'd be bummed, but not that mad. But then again, I don't get mad easily.

But a kid on a field trip, with possibly no cash on them? Its okay that they have to share a snack because of an adults actions?
hmmmm

I didn't say that at all. I just said it wouldn't outrage me. Please don't try to twist things around. I know it's wrong. Alls I'm saying is I can think of a lot worse things than that happening to my (or anyone's) kids.

I asked my wife about this, and she pretty much agrees with all of you. So I guess it's just me, then. Ah well.