I've been managing a small electronics store for a few years. I have two co-workers: the boss, and the technician.
I have a problem with the technician: he's very nice, skilled, and actually the one who got me the job in that place.
However:
- He forgets everything (from someone's repair status to the fact that there is no IPhone 7S).
- Sometimes loses phone parts; the phone lab looks like a mess and I'm the one who have to order his parts.
- He has no remote idea about how to stick to work and finish repairs at the right time and to add on that, he also gives customers wrong estimates about their phone repair. It got to the point that I had to repair phones if I wanted them to be ready in time.
- Instead of doing his actual job and researching the problem or assigning the job to the appropriate technician (we have additional technicians for more complex problems like chip replacements or computer problems, etc) he'll run ccleaner on the customer's phone/computer and send him home to see if he still have the problem.
Another big problem is that he easily could be distracted from his work. for example:
- a friend come to visit him at work and he'll talk to him for an hour.
- He'll spend half an hour talking with his friends on the phone even if I need his help with something.
I've tried to gently talk with him about a few of these issues and see how he'll react when I'm facing him with the facts but he just denied everything and told me he does not think there's anything wrong with his work. My boss also has tried to talk to him a few times, there was a little difference but we still have the same problems.
It is simple that he's not right for the store. However, currently we don't have a good replacement and he was in the storefront since its very early days and a lot of customers like him.
I really frustrated about that:
- Should I try to face him again and again with my problems?
- Should I push the boss to replace him? He's very skilled and can sometimes really surprise everyone by fixing phone that looks unfixable.
- How to deal with the fact that he was in the store a lot before I was and even helped me get that job opportunity?