Better employees

[Po]

Am I the only one who has no patience with the employees?  Or have I just not played a business with employees long enough for them to learn how to do their freakin' job!?  A newly hired npc was assigned to the cash register.  Even though she already had the gold register badge, all she did was wonder around the store interrupting browsing customers by chat, joke, etc. 

I'd been playing this art dealership for awhile where the owner had built up many customer loyalty stars, profits were rolling in and so forth.  I wanted the owner to expand but she couldn't handle any more interactions by herself without hurting the business.   Within hours of this little twit being hired, no one was buying anything and most of the customers had left.  Even though the employee had been assigned cashier duty, she took so long heading for the register (if she ever did, I missed this part) that the customers threw their bags on the floor.  Meanwhile, she was busy interrupting customers while they were shopping!

I was constantly checking her mood and it was great. She did have access to food, comfort, etc, if she needed it.   I was also using Merola's energize painting. 

This is only the third or fourth time I have attempted to have a npc employee, but this is ridiculous.  Blah.  Oh, and "assign restocking" was not available as an option, even when she first arrived for work.  The only options my sim had was to send the npc home, "to shoo" or "call over".  Slapping her silly was not an option.   

Am I the only one who has this problem?     

[Ness]

try the business runs you hack.

[starrling]

Find the BRY here:  http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=3884.0
and use the other hacks he mentions in the post.  Works really well!  I hated employees too, but now it's fairly easy (and sensible).  I don't consider it a cheat, but more like brains for the game (which is sorely lacking otherwise).

[Ness]

thanks for digging out the link that I was just too lazy to do, Starrling.

It's really not a cheat at all - it just directs the sims to do what they should to keep things running properly without a billion or so mouse clicks.

[starrling]

No problem Ness, you did have that look about you, "ohhhIdontwannagetalinktodaytoootired" lol. 

And yes, it's one AWESOME hack.

[Ness]

I'm on holidays!

[starrling]

Congratulations! 
 

[Po]

That was fast!  Thanks for answering, and I'm sorry that it was a redundant post.  I thought I'd looked through everything, but I guess not.  oopsies.

*sob* I could just about  JM for making all these incredibly useful hacks!  Really don't think I'd bother playing otherwise. 

[LK]

*sob* I could just about  JM for making all these incredibly useful hacks! 

That is not recommended.  Your lips would either be ripped, or shrivel up and fall off.

[Po]

*sob* I could just about  JM for making all these incredibly useful hacks! 

That is not recommended.  Your lips would either be ripped, or shrivel up and fall off.

He probably smells anyway.     kidding!


Ok.  updating my request.  I looked through all those threads about the OFB hacks as mentioned above (thank you!), but alas, have decided that JM is a control freak and I am not.       Admit it JM, you just want to redo the whole game!

Again I wish to request a hack to make those stupid twitty employees just do their freakin jobs, and not otherwise interact with the customers.  An employee wouldn't last five minutes on a real life job if they behaved that way.

*Disclaimer*  I haven't played with those businesse hacks installed yet, so they may work ok.   They are going to change many aspects of the game that I have no problem with and perhaps not really fix what is bugging me, so I kinda have my doubts.

Also, just found this thread http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=2086.0  It gave a description of hacks, thanks nenechell!  It doesn't look like any of the available hacks make the employees stop being so ditzy.   

[ZiggyDoodle]

Have you tried the motivational speech?  I've used it a couple times on one of my NPC employees and it generally gets her back to work. 

What does drive me up the wall is when I have one of my playable Sims visit a business owned by another playable Sim (in my case, the flower shop which makes major bucks selling snapdragons).  The owner and employees act like they are from outer space while completely ignoring customers and pissing them off.

[J. M. Pescado]

Employees by default are totally dysfunctional. Once they stop working, it's impossible to get them back to work because they won't address whatever made them stop and you have no idea what it is.

[Po]

Usually I don't feel guilty for being a demanding snot.  Now is not one of those times.  But anyway.


Played the twitty employee business lot again.  Still as twitty as ever.  The only reason the cashier is still alive is because the game will probably spawn another twit just like her.  Thought about throwing the game away, but then decided if I pester you genius hackers enough, someone might make a workable hack just to make me go away.   

New info:  I can click on the cash register whenever I want and "assign cashier".  Twitty Employee will march over to the cash register, stand there for 30 seconds real time, and then wander off.   Repeat ad nausum.

If a customer is waiting to be checked out, even if Twitty Employee is currently manning the register, Twitty Employee will stare at him for 30 seconds real time, and then wander off.  Business loses stars.  Shopping bags on the floor. 

There is no way to "assign restock", "take break", or most importantly "you're fired bitch, now leave this place forever and don't come back"  to said Twitty Employee.  My sim can only "shoo" Twitty Employee temporarily.

I haven't found any way to adjust Twitty Employee's pay scale.  Oh, and I was afraid to kill Twitty Employee on lot without firing her ditzy butt first, because as screwed as the game appears to be, I figured I'd just wind up paying the ghost of Twitty Employee indefinately.

I once again gave Twitty Employee anything and everything to improve her mood (if that was the problem), and let her have at it for as long as she wanted, but she never did anything other than "joke, annoy, chat, hit so-and-so with water balloon, etc".

Twitty Employee also went around looking at stuff to buy, with that sales bar above her head.

I suppose I could install all those no-chat, no-fight, no-this-no-that hacks, but they apparently apply to everyone on the lot, and if everyone acted like a robot things would get kinda boring really quickly.


Sorry for the novel, thanks for reading.   

[Cyberdodo]

Hm, it's starting to sound to me like a case of corruption, either in that employee or in that lot.  Maybe try running a different business lot, just to see if you get employee problems as bad there?

[Po]

Hm, it's starting to sound to me like a case of corruption, either in that employee or in that lot.  Maybe try running a different business lot, just to see if you get employee problems as bad there?

Good question, thank you.  I'll check.

[Po]

Blah.  This game is depressing.  I really want to play the business side of the game, and it's so not cooperating.   After thinking about Cyberdodo's comment I inferred that to mean I should do a reinstall, and that is statistically less likely than me binning the game into the nearest sewer. 

But that can't happen because PETS are coming!  I know you all just love pets!   

Twitty Employee Behavior of one sort or another happens on all lots, all the time.  I did a reinstall three months ago after a reformat, and really don't see the point of doing it again.  I guess Twitty Employee happened in the beginning as well, which is why I only played the game briefly.

Please, please, please, is there a wacky hacky in the works?

[J. M. Pescado]

BUSINESS RUNS YOU.

USE IT. Seriously. It does exactly what you want out of it. There is otherwise simply no way to keep an employee on task. Business Runs You does what you are looking for. This *IS* the hack you need. Now quit whining and get it. Or I will rip your lips off.

[witch]

JM I still get the odd employee wandering around looking lost, I also have food, coffee, flamingoes, seats etc available for npc staff. I am used by BUSINESS USES YOU.

I haven't tried motivational speech, I'll give that a go. I saw further up the thread you said that this happens sometimes and there's no way of knowing what is blocking the employee. Could it be personality or something? I had one npc, I sacked her from one job and when I employed her on another business lot, she acted the same way, completely dopey.

One thing I love about this mod is that employees will go and do a restock or serve a customer or work the till if required, even when they're assigned to different tasks. One thing that irritates me about this mod is when the employees are whipped away to sort out their needs when their needs are not so very low - particularly an hour or two before closing - and this can't be cancelled.

[J. M. Pescado]

JM I still get the odd employee wandering around looking lost, I also have food, coffee, flamingoes, seats etc available for npc staff. I am used by BUSINESS USES YOU.

In what way is he wandering around "lost"? Some employees, as part of their jobs, have "Deadtime", during which they just pace around waiting for someone to act upon. Sales staff are like this, as are servers or janitors: If they don't have a task they need to perform, they just kinda amble about shuffling their feet. Other possible causes include social failure. Since there is no effective way to gain Social, if the sim doesn't know anyone to AutoYak to, or no phone is placed, there is no obvious way to gain Social. The system thus relies on "incidental" gains due to performing sales actions and drinking coffee with other employees. Some tasks can be persevered at in spite of this, others have their bailout checks first, so will not even perform a single loop. Cashiers are particularly problematic in this regard.

I haven't tried motivational speech, I'll give that a go. I saw further up the thread you said that this happens sometimes and there's no way of knowing what is blocking the employee. Could it be personality or something? I had one npc, I sacked her from one job and when I employed her on another business lot, she acted the same way, completely dopey.

Lazy sims, due to their inability to transit from place to place, are restricted in their secondary task selections. So if you assign them to a primary task, rather than trying to travel 3 hours to a possible secondary task, they'll just hover about if that task is idle. Like in real life, lazy people do not make very industrious workers!

One thing I love about this mod is that employees will go and do a restock or serve a customer or work the till if required, even when they're assigned to different tasks. One thing that irritates me about this mod is when the employees are whipped away to sort out their needs when their needs are not so very low - particularly an hour or two before closing - and this can't be cancelled.

Needs are often aggressively maintained for "Stationkeeping" jobs because if allowed to get REALLY low, the worker will be unable to work and will require lengthy refuelling. Thus, you'll notice certain staff will take more frequent breaks during periods of downtime.

As for not being able to cancel them, try "Call Over", which should queuestomp them. If they're in the middle of a task when dismissed, they tend to have to finish that task before they realize they can leave.

[witch]

Other possible causes include social failure. Since there is no effective way to gain Social, if the sim doesn't know anyone to AutoYak to, or no phone is placed...

Social failure is a real possibility. So if I place a phone, an employee will use it if they know sims to call? Does motivational speech fulfill social? Trouble is, if I make the sim selectable to have a look at their stats, they forget they are at work, even if I make them unselectable again. In fact to give sims badges with the badge juicer, I usually invite all the employees over without opening the business, get them all sorted for uniforms, pay and badges, then call them back the next day to start running the business. (I don't give them all gold badges BTW, just bronze for the really irritating ones like cashier and sales).
Thanks for the info about lazy sims, I'll check that out too, the lot where this last happened was a large furniture store so it's quite on the cards that the sim just literally couldn't be bothered doing anything.

Needs are often aggressively maintained for "Stationkeeping" jobs because if allowed to get REALLY low, the worker will be unable to work and will require lengthy refuelling. Thus, you'll notice certain staff will take more frequent breaks during periods of downtime.

The problem is all their needs go down roughly at the same time, even with a staff of four, there might be three taking a break at the same time. I must have a look and see if I could call in individual staff, like on shifts. I'll keep an eye on downtime, see what's happening.

As for not being able to cancel them, try "Call Over", which should queuestomp them.

Cheers, I will.

[cwykes]

Try putting some snapdragons next to the till - that keeps all the motives of the cashier up apart from energy.  When they hit red forget "take a break" - their energy is low and you need to send them home unless it's an elder in which case it might just be the bladder motive - that seems to fall faster than the snapdragons can restore it.

I haven't had problems with employees since the early days of OFB when I missed updating a few old hacks.  Since I got them all up to date, things have gone much better.  I was missing management options and other things.

If this is Ramirez store, someone posted that it was a really buggy lot.  I didn't have any particular trouble with it, but other people had flying out of stock signs and other problems.

If the sim has never ever operated the till, but only wandered about instead, I'd suspect some other Sim is already cashier and this sim is blocked.  I have tried to assign a sim to be cashier when mine was already cashier themselves and I think the result was like your description.

[J. M. Pescado]

If you don't have enough cashier stations, the secondary cashiers obviously cannot man their posts.

[witch]

@cwykes Yeah my staff do tend to go into the red, that's when they all take breaks together and drink endless coffees - I guess sims just can't work long shifts without me cheating. I have had snapdragons in some stores, usually near customers, I'll try one near the till, thanks. No BTW, it's not the Ramirez store.

I also don't have two cashiers assigned, though it's always a hassle when one goes on break and I want to assign another. Usually I make the selectable sims 'ring up these customers'.

With Business Uses You I could actually have two tills and two cashiers once the business is up a couple of levels, the sims will do alternate tasks as needed anyway.

JM did you say there was something dodgy about the gnohmon's flamingoes? Was it constant polling or something? Maybe I could just put the lowest one of those in to keep the energy up a bit.

[J. M. Pescado]

It doesn't hurt to install two tills outright, during the construction time of the business, since having a backup cash register never hurts, and you may as well plan ahead for it anyway. Without BRY, employees are basically completely useless since it's nearly impossible to keep them running, as they won't take useful breaks and quickly stop working.

[kacidama]

It doesn't hurt to install two tills outright, during the construction time of the business, since having a backup cash register never hurts

Except that stupid customers queue at the unmanned till