I have a small (but swiftly growing) business and I seem to be having the hardest time getting decent help. Maybe it's me??? Naw.

We have a great place to work. We all have a wonderful time, we essentially set our own hours, we joke around but when it comes time to work, everyone here simply does their job and it's great.

About a year and a half ago, I hired an assistant. Her job is to essentially do the filing, help around the shop, take care of customers, answer the phone, take messages, work in the kitchen when needed (picking peppers, juicing limes) and help load and unload the van when it's going to or coming from a show.

The first assistant we hired was perfect, except for that the first week she was here, she missed two days work and was late three times. I let her go.

The second assistant I hired was also perfect, except that she came down with a case of mono during our busy season. When she was well enough to come back to work, instead she went back to school full-time, but wanted me to hold her job until June when she'd finish.

The last assistant I hired was going along beautifully, until about a month ago, when she started leaving early and occasionally, when I was out of town at a show, she simply didn't show up. She was having some trouble with her teenage son that was causing her to miss some work as well, but we had been working around it all and the thought of firing her, although we could have, didn't even enter our minds.

Then about a week ago, out of the blue, she simply quit. She didn't even quit to my face, simply sent an email saying I won't be coming back. I was stunned, she'd never so much as complained that she didn't like the job or that she was even remotely unhappy. In fact, it was a case of the exact opposite, she went around town (we're in a small town) and told everyone how much she loved working with us.

The unemployment officer called to follow up with us and she told me that the reason that the assistant quit was because we were making her clean toilets and asking her to do things that weren't in her job description. But we weren't and in fact we were bending over backwards to be good to her. Or so I thought.

She had indeed cleaned the bathroom one day last month, but nobody asked her to do it. And in fact, she wasn't even doing all of the duties we had originally told her we needed her to do, because she had mobility problems. We had accommodated her physical needs. She'd had two crutches to get around on, but the majority of her tasks didn't require her to move around. The most difficult thing that anyone asked her to do the entire time she was here, aside from juice limes, (we have a machine), was to be on time and show up on the days she was supposed to work. It's not like were weren't a helpful employer, one day a friend of hers was getting married and I worked her shift so she could go to the wedding. Another day, a friend of hers had died and we closed our shop so she could go to the funeral.

Since then I have discovered that she has essentially done bare bones work only since August 24th and I have had to do everything that had not been done since then. Aargh.

Is it something I'm doing or not doing when I hire the employee? Because it sure as heck looks like I'm simply hiring the wrong people. Our kitchen and sales staff are incredible, we have, as yet, never had a problem.

At this moment I have had to put on hold hiring an assistant again, because with the Christmas shows coming up, I simply don't have time to train one.

What I'd like to know is what can I ask or what can I do to help prevent me hiring another deadbeat???

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!