An employee with ADD

[MCx2]

I'm hesitant to post this in open chat, because I was hoping for serious answers but here it goes anyway. One of my employees is a 17 year old kid with an extreme case of ADD. So extreme, I can tell within the first 2 minutes of him being here in the morning, if he is medicated or not. Something that will take him less than a minute to do literally takes him 5 minutes to do if he isn't on his medication. Most of the time, it's just real annoying, but yesterday he cost me time and money. Today he came in un-medicated again, and I had to tell him 3 times to do something, which he still got wrong. So I sent him home and told him not to come back until he takes his medicine. I would never fire him because he's a great kid, but I can't have him here fucking everything up. Do you think I'm in the wrong for sending him home? Cuz I feel guilty as shit.

 

[DOMS]

You did the right thing. It's his responsibility to make sure that he takes his meds and not you.

It may not be a completely appropriate comparison, but you wouldn't let an employee come in drunk.

A bit of disclosure: I have low grade ADD and OCD.

 

[MCx2]

You did the right thing. It's his responsibility to make sure that he takes his meds and not you.

It may not be a completely appropriate comparison, but you wouldn't let an employee come in drunk.

A bit of disclosure: I have low grade ADD and OCD.

Ditto. I see him do a lot of the things that I do, only after a brief moment, I realize I'm doing it, take a deep breath and regroup. He on the other hand, will take 15 minutes to eat 1/2 a sandwich because he's too busy literally staring off into space. I've never quite seen a case of ADD to the extent he has it.

Good, that makes me feel a little better. Thanks DOMS.

 

[DOMS]

Ditto. I see him do a lot of the things that I do, only after a brief moment, I realize I'm doing it, take a deep breath and regroup. He on the other hand, will take 15 minutes to eat 1/2 a sandwich because he's too busy literally staring off into space. I've never quite seen a case of ADD to the extent he has it.

Good, that makes me feel a little better. Thanks DOMS.

No problem, man.

The fact that you even hired him (and haven't fired him) is pretty damn nice of you. Now, as an employee, it's part of his job to make sure he takes his meds before he comes to work.

 

[Brachiisaurus]

No problem, man.

The fact that you even hired him (and haven't fired him) is pretty damn nice of you. Now, as an employee, it's part of his job to make sure he takes his meds before he comes to work.

Absolutely agreed.

There is a certain amount of respect and trust in this type of thing.
He came to work for you knowing his own situation obviously and full-well knowing that in order to do a good job he must take his meds.

 

[BigDyl]

A bit of disclosure: I have low grade AIDS and The Clap.

 

[AKIRA]

I'm hesitant to post this in open chat, because I was hoping for serious answers but here it goes anyway. One of my employees is a 17 year old kid with an extreme case of ADD. So extreme, I can tell within the first 2 minutes of him being here in the morning, if he is medicated or not. Something that will take him less than a minute to do literally takes him 5 minutes to do if he isn't on his medication. Most of the time, it's just real annoying, but yesterday he cost me time and money. Today he came in un-medicated again, and I had to tell him 3 times to do something, which he still got wrong. So I sent him home and told him not to come back until he takes his medicine. I would never fire him because he's a great kid, but I can't have him here fucking everything up. Do you think I'm in the wrong for sending him home? Cuz I feel guilty as shit.

If you were pointing your finger towards the door as you told him to go home, I wouldve laughed my ass off.

 

[shiznit2169]

Ditto. I see him do a lot of the things that I do, only after a brief moment, I realize I'm doing it, take a deep breath and regroup. He on the other hand, will take 15 minutes to eat 1/2 a sandwich because he's too busy literally staring off into space. I've never quite seen a case of ADD to the extent he has it.

Good, that makes me feel a little better. Thanks DOMS.

My roomate, and friend, also has extreme ADD. He never takes his medication. Some of the things he does is just totally bizarre and weird. For example, he will often buy food but he doesn't eat it or has a couple bites and then just leaves it there for a few days. When he does eat, he will take a few bites and just stare around or constantly bite his nails, cluck his tongue, or sit still for like 5-10 minutes. Whenever he leaves the room, he always and i mean ALWAYS comes back at least 2-3 times because he forgot his keys, his hat, his ID, his wallet or whatever else he needed. He also will place something somewhere and FORGET where he put it 2 minutes later.

He is also extremely lazy. He leaves trash lying around and just throws bottles and paper under his desk when the garbage can is RIGHT NEXT to him. Sometimes i have to force him to clean his shit up and won't stop bothering him until he does. I also try to make him take his medication (which is adderall) but he never takes it and just sells it for money.

It's just amazing .. i'm always observing the things he does and can never understand why he does these things. I try to help him out as much as possible but it can get quite annoying a lot.

 

[KentDog]

You did the right thing. It's his responsibility to make sure that he takes his meds and not you.

It may not be a completely appropriate comparison, but you wouldn't let an employee come in drunk.

Good analogy. I think if his ADD affects his work as much as you are saying, then he should know to take his pills.

 

[fufu]

My roomate, and friend, also has extreme ADD. He never takes his medication. Some of the things he does is just totally bizarre and weird. For example, he will often buy food but he doesn't eat it or has a couple bites and then just leaves it there for a few days. When he does eat, he will take a few bites and just stare around or constantly bite his nails, cluck his tongue, or sit still for like 5-10 minutes. Whenever he leaves the room, he always and i mean ALWAYS comes back at least 2-3 times because he forgot his keys, his hat, his ID, his wallet or whatever else he needed. He also will place something somewhere and FORGET where he put it 2 minutes later.

He is also extremely lazy. He leaves trash lying around and just throws bottles and paper under his desk when the garbage can is RIGHT NEXT to him. Sometimes i have to force him to clean his shit up and won't stop bothering him until he does. I also try to make him take his medication (which is adderall) but he never takes it and just sells it for money.

It's just amazing .. i'm always observing the things he does and can never understand why he does these things. I try to help him out as much as possible but it can get quite annoying a lot.

Sounds like me. Alot like me. Oh shit!

 

[maniclion]

My friend Christian had ADHD when we were growing up, when he would start to get out of control I would beat the shit out of him...that usually got his attention....

 

[KentDog]

My friend Christian had ADHD when we were growing up, when he would start to get out of control I would beat the shit out of him...that usually got his attention....

You make a great friend, manic

 

[Yanick]

You're definitely doing the right thing. Like DOMS said, you're a good guy for hiring him in the first place, but on the other hand its his responsibility to be able to be productive at work (if it is within his ability, which is surely is).

The analogy that came to my head is a fairly personal one. My father is an amputee, both legs above the knee. He wears prosthetic legs so that he can walk. It would be like him deciding he doesn't want to wear the prosthetics on certain days to work and expect people to push him around all day to get stuff. You just don't do that shit, it sucks that your life is the way it is but we all have to play the hand we're dealt.