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"And yet, he was getting his work done on those days off, so no one fired him."

He may very well have been a poor worker, but it strikes me as odd how superficial our idea of a good worker is. Productivity being equal (at home or work), what does it matter if he seems to be having it easy? The illusion of looking busy still carries a lot of weight apparently.

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I admit I wasn't aware of the quality of his work or his actual productivity. I had heard from others that he was good but not special, and when he finally left we didn't feel like we lost a critical player.

The things that made us think he wasn't productive were: 1.) when he emailed the company saying he was sick and then show up at the company party later that day (more than once); 2.) his solicitation of others to watch non-work-related videos with him during business hours; 3.) his inability to face up to the fact he was soliciting others to watch non-work-related videos with him during business hours.

It matters if the psychological effect on other employees causes them to become less productive or increases the likelihood that they'll look for another job.

So it's this guys problem that others can't act like adults?

I think it's unreasonable to define 'acting like an adult' in a way that's likely to exclude 99% of humanity.

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