I'm a project manager and I have decided I just CANNOT work with my one technician anymore. I realised last night everytime I have a problem with a project, he's involved. I work for a small IT company so don't exactly have a huge choice, but he just keeps letting me down.

*For one project, he didn't communicate he didn't actually manage to get the necessary stock until much later in the day and it caused huge upset with the client (I had obviously sourced and paid for the stock, he just had to collect per his job description). Even though I had spoken to him numerous times that day (I unfortunately couldn't make it to site that day).

*He took FIVE HOURS to do something he had stated he could do in two, and then just went on leave without finishing the job because he wasted so much time and the client couldn't accomodate him at a later hour than what we had planned.

*I had asked him to do a configuration for one client, a very important client, and later I found it took more than a week to do this.

*For another project, he left site without reconfiguring something, didn't communicate and when the client lost connectivity, I had to send a other tech to fix what he did.

*Yesterday we discovered he did a setup completely wrong, wasting stock and again, causing the client to lose connectivity. We had to send another tech to fix his mistake.

My biggest gripe is now I had booked for him to do a large project in another province, 600kms away. Both myself and the technical support manager spoke to him BEFORE booking anything, explained the work needed, asked him if it could be accomplished in the alloted timeframe, told him how we were going to handle stock, etc.

He goes there and basically just messed around the entire time. He made changed with the client re stock without communicating to me and then complained when he got messed around. He didn't see the client at head office like I had discussed with both him and the client. He told me important information on his LAST day there, and then was adamant that the client was right (despite the client accepting proposals that stated otherwise). He went to site knowing he couldn't do work, didn't advise there were stock problem again until his last day there, the client reneged on the stock agreement and then he wanted to extend his stay. He completed less than half the work due to this.

We had discussed with my boss, two mornings in a row, how to approach the issues and the STILL doesn't listen and do as instructed. When I asked but why are you doing XYZ, oh no he got confused by the changes. OK, but why are you going to this site when I asked you to do this? Why did you go back to that site when you said there's nothing to do there?

Why are you complaining to the support manager that I should have booked you a longer stay (which I offered) but then on the phone with us, say you were happy with the proposed timeframes and in fact you were confident you could do it earlier?

Why did you complain to my manager that you're in a panic about stuff, try throw me under the bus staying you don't understand my instruction, and when I show my manager the written communication she says it's clear as day? Why complain that you're scared to take money from the clients, but I tell you not to do that because that was not the agreement and you say it's fine you'll manage? Then I say then at the very least go deposit the money immediately and he says no he doesn't have time. What the actual fuck then.

Then my boss tells me the project was a failure and a waste of money. When in reality, the tech let me down. I was speaking to him multiple times AN HOUSE and he only brings up important issues late in the project when it's too late to do anything about it. As he always does. Then even after we say we were going to do this and that re stock, he STILL wastes time yesterday trying to source.

And then he tries to cover himself by, when asking him what the hell, he starts his sentences with "as I was trying to tell you" and "as I was trying to explain"... No, no you weren't doing any of that.

Now I have to have a debrief with him, go over the days hour by hour to establish what exactly he spent his time doing.