She Showed Up to Work in the Wrong City [The Bad Hire Ep. 51]

She walked into the office on her first day.

The receptionist had no idea who she was.

It took 18 minutes for anyone to figure out what was wrong:

She was in the wrong city.

The job was in Atlanta. She lives in Charlotte. She had assumed the job was remote, so she drove four and a half hours and made it in at 3:45 p.m.

And somehow, that's only one of the stories in Episode 51.

This week on The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to another collection of unbelievable workplace stories involving a bonus program that backfired, a new hire who critiqued everything in his first hour, an office makeover nobody asked for, references who didn't know they were references, a four-day breakup email with headers, and an accidental invite to the executives' private Slack. Plus, Mackenzie, CEO of Sacramento Splash, shares what happened when she hired a close friend.

• They used the employees' own ideas to eliminate their jobs
• "Basically how we did it at my old place, but worse"
• The new hire who moved the couches and the plant
• The ambush reference check
• What I Was Hoping For. What I Found. My Recommendation.
• Six days in the executives' Slack channel
• Atlanta, not Charlotte
• Mackenzie Wieser on firing a friend
• The new hire who redlined his own NDA

• Bad managers create bad hires.
• Day one is for listening.
• References should always know they're references.
• Access mistakes happen. What you do next matters.
• Write contracts that aren't one-sided.

• 00:00 Cold open
• 00:16 Welcome to The Bad Hire
• 00:52 Ken welcomes Nathan and Emma
• 01:19 Two shows back to back: episodes 51 and 52
• 02:10 Submit your story or join a guest segment
• 03:09 A submitted story from Alexander
• 03:35 The $1,000 idea bonus
• 04:51 Every VP gets laid off
• 05:51 They implemented the ideas and cut the jobs
• 06:14 Why we love bad manager stories
• 08:40 Hiring for a tough culture
• 10:24 Sponsor: Bchex
• 11:08 He critiqued everything in his first hour
• 11:31 He moved to someone else's desk
• 12:51 "Is there a formal channel for my suggestions?"
• 13:21 Let go on Wednesday
• 16:24 Forty minutes in, she rearranged the office
• 18:16 The plant and the Post-it note
• 18:37 Let go by Thursday
• 20:11 The references who didn't know they were references
• 22:37 "Ambush reference checking"
• 22:56 Always give your references a heads-up
• 24:06 Recruiter pressure and the compliance wall
• 27:38 Four days in, he emailed senior leadership
• 28:00 The email with headers
• 29:11 Let go the same day
• 29:29 Ken: I'd want to hear him out
• 32:20 Added to the executives' private Slack
• 33:31 The 11 p.m. message
• 34:50 Leaders are allowed to talk about performance
• 36:48 If you end up somewhere you shouldn't be, get out
• 37:36 Hired for Atlanta
• 38:03 She shows up in Charlotte
• 38:44 The four-and-a-half-hour drive
• 41:35 Guest segment: Mackenzie Wieser of Sacramento Splash
• 42:14 Hiring a close friend
• 43:21 The cost of hiring friends
• 44:17 "You love your family, but you choose your team"
• 47:21 The company that banned personal conversations
• 48:06 The new hire who redlined his paperwork
• 48:32 He amended the NDA
• 49:37 Sign the originals or decline
• 50:24 Ken takes the new hire's side
• 53:20 Write contracts that aren't one-sided
• 54:45 Final thoughts and show wrap up