Furious at ds work dismissal

You’re just be nasty now.

Part of being an adult is being responsible with timekeeping.

I couldn’t just rock up late each day to school and say - well it’s only 1-5 minutes and I get the train.

Neither would you accept DS teachers doing that when he was at school and arriving on time.

This has to be a wind up?

Who starts a new job and then turns up late every day? No wonder he got the sack. well deserved.

I suspect what may have happened is he's said, I get the train so may be a little late and they've taken it to mean, things happen. Trains are sometimes late.
Not that he's choosing to take a train that means he's going to be late every day consistently. If he needed that as an adjustment he should have mentioned it in the interview.
It's unfortunate but he's young enough that it doesn't really matter, all the best to him going forward.

New job a month ago, late everyday and already taken holiday? New workers need to show they are keen. This is not a good start.

@OneGreyBiscuit I don’t know your DS you do. But do you actually believe that they would actually tell him it was ok to come in a few minutes late everyday. Really!

This is at the heart of your issue, you feel they have gone back on an agreement. Was an agreement actually made?

My take on these kind of situations.

Employee is taken on in good faith
Employee is expected to get up to a reasonable working standard within a reasonable time
Employee is consistently late but cut a little slack because he is getting up to speed
Employee continues to be late and doesnt show much progress in getting up to speed. Maybe his attitude isnt very impressive (Not being late shows lack of respect)
Employer is still within a time frame to decide that it just isnt working out regardless.

Employer is fully within their rights to deem your son not worth the hastle. Maybe instead of pointing this towards the employer you should give your son a lesson in respecting your employers. Being on time and everything else a good employee should be. Dont be that parent.

Sounds like he's had mixed messages (though maybe OP doesn't have the full story). Why didn't he get the earlier train from day 2? You need to create a good impression at the beginning of a job in particular.

You posted on a forum asking people if you were being unreasonable. Did you not want people to reply honestly?

Why didn’t he take an earlier train as soon as he realised that he was going to be late every day because of an unreliable train service? Doesn’t come across as being very invested in keeping the job to be honest.

Thing is OP, it would have been fine I'm sure if there was no earlier train he could catch, but idk why he wouldn't take it, or why you won't say how much earlier it was ?

It's up to him to work out the train timetables. Hopefully lesson learnt.

I was replying to the OP’s comment specifically…

in this case there is no chance they told him it was ok to be late every day.

Where is the ‘venom’ OP ? Posters are only reflecting what any employer would say. At 19 he should have taken the initiative and got an earlier train, regardless of what they said about it being OK. I can’t imagine any employer being ok with it on a permanent basis and not being at your work station ready to start at the appointed time, isn’t a great start - especially if it’s happening every day.

I've not seen any venomous comments, just people stating the obvious and not agreeing with you.
Report any venomous comments and reply to the rest

It’s true though isn’t it. You probably posted a thread on here hoping to get people on your side so that they would egg you on to take things further.

No excuse for being late on purpose unfortunately. It’s not like the train got cancelled or delayed or he was stuck in traffic and his lateness was unavoidable. He was knowingly late so in my eyes taking the piss. The company decided they weren’t going to tolerate it when they realised he could just get an earlier train. I’m sure everyone else who works there made it to work on time.

why did he ever think being late due to transport was ok?

You take a job and you get yourself there on time.

different if there’s no option for an earlier train but there was. He proved he could get there on time and so they decided he was just too lazy and terminated his contract.

Lesson learned.

If he is still on probation they can dismiss him with immediate effect for any reason and lateness especially if it's everyday can be frustrating. He should have had the initiative to get the earlier train from day 1. Even if the train gets him in super early it's better to sit in the team room with a snack and a book or tablet to entertain yourself than be late. I used to sit and read my book for a couple of hours before my shift started.

If you think the replies are venomous that's a huge overreaction
The vast majority of posters have simply told you that they had every right to dismiss your son and he should have had the initiative to get to work on time.

Just because people don't agree with you and are calling out your ridiculous attitude, doesn't make people nasty.

My adult child had a job in a restaurant in the nearest city and it was agreed he’d turn up a few minutes late each shift due to train times - he worked there for three years and left on really good terms with a nice send off.

So to say that there’s no chance just isn’t true.

How about you spend less time wishing misfortune upon others and teach your child about travel planning. I think that would be a better use of your time. If you had done that as a parent years ago, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

There is a very good chance there has been a misunderstanding on your ds’s part. They might have meant it’s ok to be late if train is unexpectedly late, not every day, and when he started rocking up late every day they had enough.

Had he formally requested the holiday through normal process and was it approved? (Although that doesn’t seem to be what he was sacked for)

Lesson learnt.

Expecting an employee to come into work is hardly a crime.

And it also gave them good proof that when he wanted to he could indeed get to work on time.

Your anger is totally misplaced, and that’s not going to help your DS whatsoever

Why not try replying to the normal questions people are asking then?

They’re probably fed up of having to state the obvious re timekeeping and wondering what’s the next thing he’d push back on not doing or maid up an excuse for. A week or two with him away means they’ll have spoken internally and agreed the lateness isn’t acceptable.