Hey, I think in most cases the former employee is where the blame belongs on a mismatch. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever been loose with the truth when applying/interviewing for a job. A running joke around here is "[desired skillset here] is what I do best!" then when I'd get offered the job, I'd have to work like crazy to get up to proper speed. Like when a company asked me how well I knew Access programming and I said "It's what I do best!", got the gig, and on the way home bought Access and a lot of books.
No such issue with Tree. He was very forthcoming and nothing he said in the interview was later found to be untrue. I'm as impressed with him today as I was 6 weeks ago and would gladly give him a good reference. Unfortunately, due to my not really understanding the position we were filling, we put the wrong person (but a good and valuable person) in the job. More unfortunately, the kind of tech savvy needed isn't easily found in and around Boogerville.
Out here, an IBM Selectric is leading edge stuff.
