Having managed a team of guys, some of whom "slid" through school and some of whom didn't, I know how it is to have such fellows under one's management. I have to say they're easy to find, but not so easy to eliminate.

Ultimately, the last time I had a team of guys, 5 in all, all of whom were behind schedule on their work, yet were taking unscheduled time off work, and chatting on their cellphones, and taking personal calls at work, I had to get rid of all of them. Oddly enough, a year later, I'd been unable to fill their positions because I couldn't find competent replacements, yet I was able to do all their work as well as my own, and recover from the 120-day schedule slip from which we'd suffered. They'd been complaining that they "couldn't find" solutions to their problems and that was the cause for the major schedule slip. I had warned them that taking such shortcuts was the problem and not the solution.

AFAIK, they're all working somewhere else now. They were hired because the boss liked them, and they were friends more than they were useful employees. I've sold my shares in that company, in which I was a major shareholder, and got away without a loss, but everyone else who held stock lost because my sell-off caused the stock to lose value. It was eventually purchased by a larger company, who's gotten rid of the executive management and absorbed the operation.

RE