to emphasise something missed - you said the employee using the old machine asked for an upgrade?
make sure you have it in writing. from them, in a full clear email, what they want and exactly why they want it. They need to be verbose enough to cover every point. (it’s okay to secretly help them, but do NOT have your fingerprints on it).
Then, reply and forward that email to your boss, with your professional opinion of their request and their reasons for it.
Include cost for proceeding, and what the costs will be for doing nothing.
Acknowledge that this matter has been spoken in person, an apologise for the informal tact; that this email is intending to follow proper procedure, which you will continue to do in the future.
Ask to confirm their response so you can officially deal with the matter one way or another.
The main thing to add, to clarify: you are the middle man. Don’t make it look like you are the one wanting to do this. The employee is. You are wanting to do your job, which is dealing with problems that are brought to you.
These seems more like a tactic you’d use at a big corporation since everyone has a boss above them. At a small clinic like this, it’s probably fruitless as the stubborn owner isn’t going to stop being stubborn over an email and documentation.
read the OP. There’s owners above the boss. The owner isn’t stubborn, the boss is. They are different people.
If his boss is wasting money/putting their business at risk, they will care.
regardless, the entire point of this has nothing to do with bosses, and more of disentangling OP from this mess. It looks like it’s his pet project, when it should be the other employee’s request / issue.
That’s the whole point. It’s not about a paper trail (though that helps). It’s not even about convincing his boss about this. It’s him dealing with a problem below him and covering his ass. If his boss says no, great! He’s done all he can.
So far, he hasn’t done the first step, which is get shit in writing.
to emphasise something missed - you said the employee using the old machine asked for an upgrade?
make sure you have it in writing. from them, in a full clear email, what they want and exactly why they want it. They need to be verbose enough to cover every point. (it’s okay to secretly help them, but do NOT have your fingerprints on it).
Then, reply and forward that email to your boss, with your professional opinion of their request and their reasons for it.
Include cost for proceeding, and what the costs will be for doing nothing.
Acknowledge that this matter has been spoken in person, an apologise for the informal tact; that this email is intending to follow proper procedure, which you will continue to do in the future.
Ask to confirm their response so you can officially deal with the matter one way or another.
The main thing to add, to clarify: you are the middle man. Don’t make it look like you are the one wanting to do this. The employee is. You are wanting to do your job, which is dealing with problems that are brought to you.
These seems more like a tactic you’d use at a big corporation since everyone has a boss above them. At a small clinic like this, it’s probably fruitless as the stubborn owner isn’t going to stop being stubborn over an email and documentation.
read the OP. There’s owners above the boss. The owner isn’t stubborn, the boss is. They are different people.
If his boss is wasting money/putting their business at risk, they will care.
regardless, the entire point of this has nothing to do with bosses, and more of disentangling OP from this mess. It looks like it’s his pet project, when it should be the other employee’s request / issue.
That’s the whole point. It’s not about a paper trail (though that helps). It’s not even about convincing his boss about this. It’s him dealing with a problem below him and covering his ass. If his boss says no, great! He’s done all he can.
So far, he hasn’t done the first step, which is get shit in writing.