What would you do? PA booking error

[Anna]

My co-worker asked his (always ditzy) PA to book him a flight. He gave her a QF credit voucher and his QFF card so she could put the number into the booking.

She did nothing with the credit voucher, and booked his flight as a classic award on his QFF points. Now she is trying to cancel the booking and QF want the 5,000 point cancellation fee.

Personally I would sack her for losing 5,000 precious FF points but perhaps I am overreacting. What do others think?

 

[nlagalle]

My co-worker asked his (always ditzy) PA to book him a flight. He gave her a QF credit voucher and his QFF card so she could put the number into the booking.

She did nothing with the credit voucher, and booked his flight as a classic award on his QFF points. Now she is trying to cancel the booking and QF want the 5,000 point cancellation fee.

Personally I would sack her for losing 5,000 precious FF points but perhaps I am overreacting. What do others think?

Maybe get her to transfer 5k of her own points to cover the loss... I'm sure she must be a cousin from way back!

 

[Taezar]

Hey Anna.
Well if your co-worker knew the PA was always ditzy, clear instructions (preferably written) should have been provided. Has training been provided to this person as to how to make these bookings? Probably not. If yes, then a discussion with HR regarding the failure of the training/failure of her to implement the training.
You can't sack someone for making a mistake. Making an error is hardly cause for dismissal.
In my personal and professional experience, no such thing as a bad apple or bad staff member - just a bad manager.
Yours in HR.
Taez

 

[BadgerBoi]

My co-worker asked his (always ditzy) PA to book him a flight. He gave her a QF credit voucher and his QFF card so she could put the number into the booking.

She did nothing with the credit voucher, and booked his flight as a classic award on his QFF points. Now she is trying to cancel the booking and QF want the 5,000 point cancellation fee.

Personally I would sack her for losing 5,000 precious FF points but perhaps I am overreacting. What do others think?

Yes you are right - you are overreacting.

 

[Anna]

no such thing as a bad apple or bad staff member - just a bad manager.

Yes, I think that giving her his QFF PIN was a bad move on his part.

 

[rechoboam]

I don't book most of my flights but I don't give anyone my pin, I just add the booking to my list later on...

 

[harvyk]

Hey Anna.
In my personal and professional experience, no such thing as a bad apple or bad staff member - just a bad manager.

Disagree, I've come across a number of people whom no matter how much training they are given, they are just a bad employee. I've also come across people whom have been given written instructions who just won't follow them for what ever reason...

To the OP, 5000 points isn't really that much, I can understand being a little annoyed but to the best of my knowledge 5000 points won't even get a Y to J upgrade on even the shortest flights... Besides show me an employee who has never made a mistake which has had a cost associated with it...

 

[gumpy]

These people aren't as clued up about these things as the folk on the forum. To assume she understood the different mechanisms to buying a ticket would be the first error...

Should have been a case of here is my voucher, now call QF and book a flight for me. Here is my QF# for the booking.

 

[gumpy]

Disagree, I've come across a number of people whom no matter how much training they are given, they are just a bad employee. I've also come across people whom have been given written instructions who just won't follow them for what ever reason...

To the OP, 5000 points isn't really that much, I can understand being a little annoyed but to the best of my knowledge 5000 points won't even get a Y to J upgrade on even the shortest flights... Besides show me an employee who has never made a mistake which has had a cost associated with it...

Agreed with first point

2nd point to the OP - aren't PA's for work related stuff not personal? I guess they can assist with almost anything.

 

[Mal]

Hardly sackable solely for that mistake (Wow, ~$100 worth of points, I've made bigger screw-ups in my corporate life). I question why a ditzy PA is employed though. Eye candy? Family member? Been around for so long that they would be hard to dismiss? Feel sorry for them?

Sack them because they're useless and make repeated mistakes, but not because of a ~$100 mistake.

 

[Anna]

Should have been a case of here is my voucher, now call QF and book a flight for me. Here is my QF# for the booking.

That's exactly what she was told, except it was "here is my QF card with PIN".

aren't PA's for work related stuff not personal?

It was a work related booking.

 

[gumpy]

That's exactly what she was told, except it was "here is my QF card with PIN".



It was a work related booking.

Ok... the pin part's weird and I don't get it... but if she was told here use the voucher... omfg... i'd be pissed off...

I'd ask her what she thought the voucher was for?

If it is a work related booking then work can pay for his/her next flight for leisure and all is fair-ish

 

[samiam]

...aren't PA's for work related stuff not personal? I guess they can assist with almost anything.

They can often start off on mainly work-related activities and then might start to take care of more personal matters as a relationship (ie. trust) builds.

 

[NYCguy]

Yes you are right - you are overreacting.

For 5000 points, I think it's a little rich to be talking about sacking her, especially if she is a notorious dimwit AND she was entrusted with... LOL... The PIN of the account! I mean, C'MON!!!!

That was a poor decision that has backfired.

I would not divulge such details to my staff. They don't have access to my PIN-protected financial account details, or my FFP balances.

 

[simongr]

Personally I would sack her for losing 5,000 precious FF points but perhaps I am overreacting. What do others think?

I would sack her for being an idiot and a useless PA not for the loss of points - this would be based on I expect a catalogue of errors over time.

Hey Anna.
Well if your co-worker knew the PA was always ditzy, clear instructions (preferably written) should have been provided. Has training been provided to this person as to how to make these bookings? Probably not. If yes, then a discussion with HR regarding the failure of the training/failure of her to implement the training.
You can't sack someone for making a mistake. Making an error is hardly cause for dismissal.
In my personal and professional experience, no such thing as a bad apple or bad staff member - just a bad manager.
Yours in HR.
Taez

I think there is a happy medium between my brutal style of management and the overly long and complex process we now seem to be locked into from a HR perspective. There are bad employees, bad managers and employees and managers together that create bad companies...

Yes you are right - you are overreacting.

People should learn that mistakes have consequences.

Yes, I think that giving her his QFF PIN was a bad move on his part.

At this point I would question whether the manager showed the right sort of judgement in giving out his PIN... did she have his network password as well???

I don't book most of my flights but I don't give anyone my pin, I just add the booking to my list later on...

Yep - the best and easiest solution.

To the OP, 5000 points isn't really that much, I can understand being a little annoyed but to the best of my knowledge 5000 points won't even get a Y to J upgrade on even the shortest flights... Besides show me an employee who has never made a mistake which has had a cost associated with it...

Yes it will.

These people aren't as clued up about these things as the folk on the forum. To assume she understood the different mechanisms to buying a ticket would be the first error...

Should have been a case of here is my voucher, now call QF and book a flight for me. Here is my QF# for the booking.

That's exactly what she was told, except it was "here is my QF card with PIN".

It was a work related booking.

I wouldnt trust this dingbat to manage my appointments let alone my flights...

 

[BadgerBoi]

Hey Anna.
Well if your co-worker knew the PA was always ditzy, clear instructions (preferably written) should have been provided.

Sounds like the firm is full of ditzes - the PA, the colleague, and the person who thinks they'd be able to sack the PA for screwing up when she was given poor instructions in the first place
Wouldn't trust any of them with my business.

 

[Simo]

I would not have given her my pin for my qff account.I do all my own flight bookings so probs. But if I can't or any reason I get them e mailed to me asap.

 

[Fantic125]

People do make mistakes, and, let's face it, this is pretty minor.

Has anyone died?
No.

Will it impact on future business / reputation / sales of the business?
No.

Will it significantly imact the bottom line?
No.

Is it a PITA?
Yes.

Toughen up Princess. There's more to lose in life than 5,000 FF points.

 

[TonyHancock]

Having gone through the GFC and given up salary to keep my team together I always find the flippant "sack them" approach a little difficult to deal with.

Mistakes happen, the hardest part of management for me is accepting that tasks carried out by direct reports are sometimes not carried out exactly as I would have done them. I will not criticise anyone in my team for making decisions, I encourage it, and sometimes things don't go exactly as they should, but when things don't go as planned it is an opportunity to find out why and make sure it doesn't happen in the future.

Just remember when you sack someone you are having a massive impact on a person's life. I accept that there are times when someone is not suitable for a job and need to be managed out of the business for the company's and there own good. It should be handled professionally and compassionately and with thought.

Like most forum posts we don't know both sides of the story and probably never will.

 

[Fantic125]

Having gone through the GFC and given up salary to keep my team together I always find the flippant "sack them" approach a little difficult to deal with.

Mistakes happen, the hardest part of management for me is accepting that tasks carried out by direct reports are sometimes not carried out exactly as I would have done them. I will not criticise anyone in my team for making decisions, I encourage it, and sometimes things don't go exactly as they should, but when things don't go as planned it is an opportunity to find out why and make sure it doesn't happen in the future.

Just remember when you sack someone you are having a massive impact on a person's life. I accept that there are times when someone is not suitable for a job and need to be managed out of the business for the company's and there own good. It should be handled professionally and compassionately and with thought.

Like most forum posts we don't know both sides of the story and probably never will.

(Tongue in cheek) -
With an attititude like that the only reason I'd keep you on my team is because you like decent shiraz.

And given you're love for people, you'd be promoted to HR Manager. :shock: