I had to terminate one the artists at my studio yesterday.
It’s not that he was a bad guy. He’s a good person. And it’s not that he does bad artwork. Well, most of the time. He’s been slipping a little lately though. Which can be a problem in itself.
The biggest reason was because of the impression he left with clients when they walked in the door.
First impression is everything, even in a tattoo studio.
I’ve spent years cultivating a friendly, clean, and safe environment catering to clients who would normally not walk into a tattoo shop. And that was getting skewed.
When I first hired him I had some complaints that he was a little course and rough around the edges with some of the customers. I said something to him about it on several occasions, and he seemed to get better with it.
But over time I started getting more and more complaints. Lately it had gotten to the point where I felt like I was doing damage control more than I was doing anything else.
After dwelling on what to do for over a week, I decided I had to let him go.
Because people more than likely won’t remember his name. What they will remember is the experience they had at my studio, whether good or bad. And it’s my studio image and name that I have to protect.
Sometimes I really do hate being “the boss”.
Until next time...
You’re absolutely right. In the end, it’s your name and studio that will be remembered, for better or worse. If an employee is negatively impacting your brand, you do what you need to do even if it isn’t the easiest thing to do.
You gotta do, what you gotta do.
Firing people is rarely easy but it sounds like to did what you could to avoid it by working with the employee along the way. Sounds like it was the right decision.
The Right Thing and the Easy Thing are not always the same Thing. You did the Right Thing. Keep it up. It pays in the end. And garners the respect of those that matter.
Business image is extremely important, as you obviously know. Working with an employee on any problems he/she may have is one mark of a good employer. You handled everything extremely well and obviously had no reasonable alternate to termination.
If you don’t take care of your customers, soon you won’t have any customers to worry about. You did what you had to do to keep your business, and nobody can (or should) fault you for it.