update about the manager who was scaring her employees with sad Facebook posts

by Alison Green on December 15, 2011

Here’s our next “where are they now” update. This one is from the business owner who had a manager who was scaring her staff by posting borderline suicidal posts on Facebook:

Update #1: We talked about her FB posts and she confirmed that she was just blowing off steam and being melodramatic for fun but also admitted that yes, things were really bad and she had a restraining order against her ex. So it was kind of both answers, but she seemed embarrassed that people were taking them seriously and worrying about her. The suicidal posts stopped shortly afterwards. It’s like it never happened, she’s seeing a new guy and all posts are about love and happiness. Could it all happen again? Probably so. I don’t feel like she really heard the message that there was a managerial problem with her angsty posts, though she claimed to understand.

Update #2: I got a voicemail from another company, saying she had put me down as a reference. She never asked me if she could use me as a reference and she never told me she was seeking outside work, supplemental or otherwise! It was extremely awkward. I called them back and it turned out the job was full-time managerial, so definitely not supplemental. (They had already hired someone else so I was able to press them for details.) I eventually managed her out for poor performance, and her reports are all really relieved to not have to cover for her anymore or deal with the constant drama. We have far less experienced people now–so it’s more work for me–but it’s a relief. I actually reread her resume while writing up her termination report because I wondered how I had made such a bad hiring decision. Unfortunately, I would totally hire her again based on that resume and the great interview. Sigh.

You may also like:
{ 4 comments }

{ 4 comments… read them below }

  1. Steve*

    Re update #2 “I would totally hire her again based on that resume and the great interview.” Reference checks – look to your reference checks process.

      1. Kristina*

        Or Google the person next time. I’m guessing she wasn’t the kind of person to only share wall posts with friends, you probably could have read all about her previous dramas.

  2. Emily*

    What a strange situation, but it seems like a good update. No harm was done in the end and you learned something about your hiring process. Even with a great hiring process you could have a bad hire slip through but this is a good opportunity to see what could be tightened up (like reference checks as Steve mentioned).

Comments are closed.