First, a very happy birthday greeting to longtime family friend Fabian |fab_ab|. Happy Birthday Fabian! We should go out sometime, yes? =D

Of course the work week has resumed and naturally there's a lot to do. At least I didn't have to commute yesterday - the company van had space for me this time around and so that saved me the hassle to train-hopping last night. I just wish the trip were faster, but naturally given all the clients we pick up along the way and the insane traffic build-up that comes with the ironically-termed "rush hour", it just adds a ridiculous amount of travel time to the daily trips. We really need to develop transporter technology soon, haha.

I'm getting pretty concerned about my new trainer for the campaign I'm training now - or perhaps the better term should be irritated or annoyed. He's been out of work for some time and he seems to be going through a pretty bad spat in terms of his life. I'll not go into specifics, but the bulk of it is financial in nature and he's having a very difficult time getting to work. Now I can understand this happens to a lot of people and I've dealt with more than my fair share to trainees with the same situation, but then they always persevere and work on trying to find a way to get to work. They borrow money from somewhere and avoid borrowing from their trainers and the like and just focus on getting there. For a trainer to be faced with a similar situation and often ending up being late or even not going to work because of the financial challenges is just terribly disappointing.

As a new employee, shouldn't you be trying to show your best side and put your best foot forward? Shouldn't you present yourself as resourceful and independent and not as this guy with all the problems of the world going, "oh woe is me!" and all that? The rest of my team is pretty strong and have all gone through their share of hardships and have come out stronger for it. I respect them even more for that and that same strength is what makes them such great trainers. More and more I'm questioning if hiring this newest trainer was the right thing.

It would have helped if his classroom demeanor was better but it's not. He's acting like a learner and a petulant one at that, only really participating when the class jeers or taunts fellow learners and often making remarks in the vernacular. What happened to his training manager experience? The fact that he's worked in the US? Where is the professionalism I saw in the interview and his demo?

I'm a pretty fair judge of character, I think, and I didn't expect a lot of this. I guess I relied too much on his prior management experience to make me believe in him, which counteracted my initial hesitations about him. This is what happens when (a) I'm significantly in need of trainers and (b) I don't listen to my instincts. Bugger.

He's on a very short leash this week. If he doesn't shape up, I will feel no guilt in recommending his non-regularization.

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You know, I haven't thought about this until I read this, LOL