I have been in your position before as well Mr Wabbit.

One was an instant dismissal where the guy punched another employee and I witnessed the whole thing so it was a bully getting his comeuppance.The worst concerned a young guy who was a tryer but just couldn't do the job properly. He was trained and retrained and his collegues helped but in the end he was not doing what he was hired to do and couldn't be carried. I knew he had done his best but the job was beyond his capabilities.

We had had several meetings about the problems he had with his duties before and i had asked him what he needed to help him and he had done more training but he made a silly mistake right afterwards that cost a lot of money through lost production.

I tried to be compassionate when delivering the news and it was a hard task as he was a nice person who gave his best wich just wasn't good enough.

One good thing was that the company employed a job seeking agency and through that he found a job suited to him and I recently met him and he has just been recognised for 10 years service and is happy in his job. Working with people and not machinery is his forte. (He works with the YMCA these days)

It sucks being a boss at times.