Would You Can Him?

So I am sitting at home and I get a call from one of my Techs. He opens by saying "I F'ed Up" and then proceeds to tell me he drilled through a gas line. So I hop in my car and drive down there and basiclly he did check out the fire wall and knew where he wanted to go through, right by the edge of the wheel well. Well he was about and 1 - 1 1/2" off and put a pin hole in a gas line. I took the car to the shop right beside work immediatly and they said they would have it replaced as soon as the opened in the morning, I should have the vehicle by 10 AM. Anyways after letting the customer know that we messed up big time, I took the customer out to the airport and rented him a car to use until we get his back tomorrow. Im gonna fix the car, pay for the rental and do the install for free but my issue is with my tech. It was a very honest mistake but it was still a fuel line and to me that seems like its too dangerous to ignore. What would you guys do in this case. The guy has no previous problems with me.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

no previous problems then cut the guy a break... I would drug test him or something though, if it hasn't been over three days. And if the mistake was because he was high or some doodie, then get rid of him. That is just plain irresponsible. But if it was an honst mistake not caused by anything like that, then give him a formal write up or something and let it slide this once.

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fiberglass reminds me of peanut brittle... but fiberglass tastes better!

Oh I can gaurentee that he wasnt on anything, the guy is like 31 and a father, he doesnt do any kinda drugs at all, just drinks alot of coffee ;)

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

No prior issues. He made a mistake, that's all. In my shop we would just give him a ton  of doodie, and ask him every time he uses a drill "hey you got a light" (fuel line)

If he makes a habit of these types of problems....bye-bye.

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Ravendarat, mistakes happen ( I do them once in a while as well ), but he also has to know that the mistake cost the company time, money and also the fact that even though you rented a car for the customer & are fixing the problem, you still have to face the fact taht negative publicity is still going to be had from this incident. You can not put a price on that and your installer has to realize this. You probably won't be able to fire him for this seeing that this is a first time incident, but when his yearly review/raise comes up, your going to have to mention this incident him and tell him that he's not going to get the full raise ( or one at all ).

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

I don't think it's worth canning him for- it was an honest mistake.  Just make sure to use a center punch (from now on) to mark a spot before drilling- that way this won't happen again.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

Yea, I would personally explain to him how you feel, and offer him extra side work that he would do without pay, to make up for the time and money lost with his extreme first time incident. 

It could always be worse, he could have called saying "the fireman needs you to come down to sign some papers, I accidently forgot to fuse a cable and a customer's car burned down."

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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.

Well by Futureshop/Best Buy rules he's gone.....that's why you should not even write him up.

doodie happens, I had and installer drill through the rear AC line on an expidition, done 200 fords in the same spot, this one happened to have something a little different. doodie happens...

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Shaughn Murley
Install Manager, Dealer Services
Visions Electronics
Red Deer, Alberta

I too would let it slide.  Everyone has a bad day every now again.

We had a guy drill through a brake booster TWICE on the same car.  They pulled the car out of the bay and gave the keys back to the customer without saying anything.  Luckily the customer realized the problem before getting in to traffic and getting in an accident.

By personally calling you and being open and honest with his mistake it shows that he is a trustworthy individual.  Good people are hard to find!

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Kevin Pierson

You may think that at first (I did), and I'm sure the guy is trustworthy.  However, that's not something little that could just be easily covered up.  Any one with half a brain would know to make a phone call if this happened and they wanted to keep their job.  It's not something that would have gone unnoticed.  I'm not saying he is dishonest, all I'm saying is even if it were a dishonest installer, he/she would (should) know there's no way out of this one than to come clean.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

I would leave him be. The guy probably feels like arse right now. Ensure that if this is his first mistake, that he understands how it affects the company and your bay. If an employee does not understand how shat flows downhill, this is the perfect opportunity to find out. Why I would leave him alone is simple, he did the right and responsable thing, that is call you and inform you instead of covering it up. Had he covered it up, then the chance of a catastrophic chain of events happening would have necessitated actions. Installers make mistakes, good installers own up to them and learn from it. He'll make a mistake again but from now on my bet is that he will second guess something each and every time before he does the deed and that makes a far better installer.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

I would have fired him if he tried to cover it up in any way shape or form. If he called you and didn't act arrogant and was apologetic then just a warning would do.

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Certified Security Specialist
Always check info with a digital multimeter.
I promise to be good.
Tell Darwin I sent you.

I've been sick lately, sorry I won't be on much.

Ya I went the route of just a written warning. I talked to my Regional about it and he agreed with me so I consider it done and in the past now.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

definitely a good call from the looks of things

Oh, I thought you had your own private independent store. I did not know you were a part of a chain.

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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.

we had a guy mounting a over head and put a screw right through the roof of the car and then he got promoted to sup of the department