What follows was a great suggestion and interesting story.

-----

Hello Ron. Hope all is well. Where do I start? Your next newsletter should be about hiring friends.

I had a couple of childhood friends move to Florida from NY and after they struggled for over one year to try to make it on their own, called me and asked for a job. First mistake I made was hiring them. No matter what you do, your friends will always feel that they deserve to be treated special and that they have the right to do anything they feel.

Second mistake was not laying down the law on paper and having it signed. I went over everything as far as company rules go but as time went on so did their selective memory.

You must get everything in writing even, if it's a temporary situation like a job where you can't start until 8:00 a.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. These two friends felt that they would still leave at 3:30 p.m. instead of 4:30 p.m. but turn in eight hours anyway.

Well why not? It was my bad for not stating to them that quitting time would change to one hour later also. The other eight employees understood just fine.