Think before you speak...

Ever have one of those "open mouth, insert foot" instances? Well, I had one today...well, not really me, but one of my employee's decided to vent their frustration in the wrong manner and I had to spend the better part of my afternoon trying to smooth out the situation.

It's day's like this, I wish I only had to manage myself and not six other people.

Here's the rundown, I had to tell one of my hardest working employee's that they will not make their full monthly bonus due to errors found during an audit. This person has not missed their goals in almost four years.

Two errors were found, and since it was the same error, I thought I could have one thrown out and still give her a chance to make her goals. I told her I'd go to my boss to see what could be done. She knew she made the mistakes and knew I might not be able to fix the situation.

Long story short, I lost the battle. But little did I know the war was about to start. I told her there was nothing I could do and to please correct the issues at hand. She did as she was asked, but when she responded via e-mail, she also e-mailed my boss, our department manager, with a smart remark that ended with, "...I have lost all respect for our leadership..."

The minute I opened that e-mail, my heart sank. I was so afraid I'd have to write her up for her actions. Before anything else could happen, I spoke to my employee and asked why she chose that route. She told me she was upset and felt she needed to let her feelings be known.

I've told my employees time and time again, if you have a problem with upper management, come to me. Let me take the next step. I don't need any of them burning bridges or saying things they'll regret later.

After that ordeal, I had to spend the next hour of my afternoon explaining the situation to my DM. Luckily, he was rather cool about the whole thing, but I was embarrassed to have to go in there to defend my employee in the first place.

I've had to go to bat for all of my employees at one time or another, but I've never had one step this far out of line. The sad thing is, she didn't think she did anything wrong. I'm hoping she's at least apologized to our DM.

Vacation season can not start soon enough for me!