Morale question with discipline

[DreamGoddessLindsey]

Okay, I've been testing stuff and trying to figure things out, and something is baffling.

 

One of my workers pulled a prank on someone and a fight broke out. So I had to deal with it. I saved before taking action for testing purposes. Then I started trying to discipline.

 

I tried everything except suspend and fire, and no matter which one I picked, he got angry. He even got angry when I took no action! (The side-effect also being that he openly mocked me to the locker room for not taking action.) And I mean angry the morale level.

 

Are some people just impossible to keep their morale up? When people are at the angry or furious levels, you can't re-sign them because they refuse to even start negotiations. That's a problem because this worker's contract is coming up in three months, and he's one of my top stars.

 

Oh, and did I mention he had maximum morale before the incident?

 

Nothing makes sense . . . Help!

[ampulator]

You have two choices... either completely back off, OR TOTALLY BRING DOWN THE HAMMER ON HIM!!! You have to completely tolerate him, or attempt to be a hardass on him. Nothing in-between.

 

So, constantly "fire" him... than back off at the ACTUAL termination meeting.

[Phantom Stranger]

Are some people just impossible to keep their morale up? When people are at the angry or furious levels, you can't re-sign them because they refuse to even start negotiations. That's a problem because this worker's contract is coming up in three months, and he's one of my top stars.

 

Oh, and did I mention he had maximum morale before the incident?

 

Nothing makes sense . . . Help!

 

What's his personality like?

[Remianen]

Okay, I've been testing stuff and trying to figure things out, and something is baffling.

 

One of my workers pulled a prank on someone and a fight broke out. So I had to deal with it. I saved before taking action for testing purposes. Then I started trying to discipline.

 

I tried everything except suspend and fire, and no matter which one I picked, he got angry. He even got angry when I took no action! (The side-effect also being that he openly mocked me to the locker room for not taking action.) And I mean angry the morale level.

 

Are some people just impossible to keep their morale up? When people are at the angry or furious levels, you can't re-sign them because they refuse to even start negotiations. That's a problem because this worker's contract is coming up in three months, and he's one of my top stars.

 

Oh, and did I mention he had maximum morale before the incident?

 

Nothing makes sense . . . Help!

 

Some people only understand a foot in the keister. Why did you stop at suspend or fire? Those are valid options as well. If you were testing, why wouldn't you use all available options? Your sample is incomplete and thus, largely useless since all you know now is 'he'll get angry' but you didn't go far enough to see if anything else would've prevented that.

 

Besides, for the most part, worker reactions to discipline can be awfully predictable. Like:

 

SPOILER: Cheyenne's soft drug use can be immediately remedied by a drug test followed by the fatherly approach.

 

Also, did you even bother to see what the ramifications of each disciplinary choice was? The person he got into a fight with, did they become loyal to your character when you used any of the choices? Did that worker's personality change any?

 

Here's a rule of thumb to use: Nice people tend to respond better to 'nice' disciplinary choices. A-holes respond better to harsher disciplinary choices.

[DreamGoddessLindsey]

Some people only understand a foot in the keister. Why did you stop at suspend or fire? Those are valid options as well. If you were testing, why wouldn't you use all available options? Your sample is incomplete and thus, largely useless since all you know now is 'he'll get angry' but you didn't go far enough to see if anything else would've prevented that.

 

Besides, for the most part, worker reactions to discipline can be awfully predictable. Like:

 

Also, did you even bother to see what the ramifications of each disciplinary choice was? The person he got into a fight with, did they become loyal to your character when you used any of the choices? Did that worker's personality change any?

 

Here's a rule of thumb to use: Nice people tend to respond better to 'nice' disciplinary choices. A-holes respond better to harsher disciplinary choices.

 

Well I stopped at suspend or fire because they would be qualified as "overreactions" for something like a mean prank. I don't wanna be a jackass boss, after all. I always figure the punishment should fit the crime, you know? The offender's personality didn't change in any of the cases. I didn't check the person he got in the fight with.

[James Casey]

If this person is a repeat offender, canning him isn't the worst idea - you can build someone up to take his place who won't give you those problems.

 

If they're a one-off, go for the lowest punishment (my standard response to anything short of an outright brawl as a first offence) and sweeten them up with preferential booking ahead of the contract talks.

 

Then dump on them if they don't want to deal to bleed their overness dry

 

Some people are just impossible to deal with backstage, in which case you're best off rid of them.

 

(If, however, you have below average leadership skills, it may be a result of that - you won't have respect without those points in your user skills).

[Remianen]

Well I stopped at suspend or fire because they would be qualified as "overreactions" for something like a mean prank. I don't wanna be a jackass boss, after all. I always figure the punishment should fit the crime, you know? The offender's personality didn't change in any of the cases. I didn't check the person he got in the fight with.

 

Zero tolerance is just that. Sometimes, that's all the a-holes understand. Besides, I'd wager that if you had suspended or fired the worker in question, the person they got into a fight with would've become loyal to you. People tend to like it when their boss has their back.

[DreamGoddessLindsey]

Zero tolerance is just that. Sometimes, that's all the a-holes understand. Besides, I'd wager that if you had suspended or fired the worker in question, the person they got into a fight with would've become loyal to you. People tend to like it when their boss has their back.

 

Hmmm . . . Maybe I'm not the best boss then. I tend to care more about the show than the workers.

 

If a punishment would get in the way of my storyline plans, I don't go through with the punishment.

 

I don't do any drug testing, either. They only get busted if the cops or the press get wind of it.

[Remianen]

I don't do any drug testing, either. They only get busted if the cops or the press get wind of it.

 

So, you'd rather take a prestige hit than a backstage morale hit?

 

It's just different approaches, I think. For me, there's no such thing as a 'star worker'. I make them stars and I can make them nobodies just as easily. I don't stress over workers asking for more than I'm willing to give them because I usually have 3-6 people just waiting to take that person's spot. My plans are fluid (and modular) enough that I can change a storyline whenever I please.

 

I learned way back in TEW05 not to make firm plans unless your workers are exclusive and signed for long stretches. So I formulate pushes and programs around contract lengths.

[ampulator]

Actually, DGL, some workers LIKE hardasses. They see being "nice" as a sign of weakness and indesiveness; a person that doesn't have what it takes to make the hard decisions.

 

I had a case where Craig Princed pranked Mitch Naess, and I decided to give a "Last Chance". Not only did his morale didn't drop, but in his Morale notes, it had a "+" when it came to the disciplinary meeting.

 

So, he actually got a tiny morale BOOST when I brought the hammer down on him.

 

On the contract length, I always go for the longest contract length possible. It's almost always to your advantage. If you want to get the worker to leave, just stop using him, use them improperly, or even just plain out job them out. They will request for their release then, which, I believe, like getting dinged for behavior, legal, drug, and alcohol issues, means you get to release them at no financial cost to yourself.