“Who’s Working Today?”

When Forgetting One Day Off Blows Up Your Whole Day

By Dave Fairburn, Co-Founder of CrewHero and North Point Outdoors

Let’s be honest — you forgot Tim was off today.

He texted you four weeks ago.

You responded like a good boss:

“Enjoy the day off, man — you earned it.”

And you meant it. Tim’s a grinder. Reliable. First to show up, last to leave. He deserves the day.

Fast forward to today.

You wake up early, run through the mental checklist.

Tim’s supposed to wrap up that hydroseed job. You’re meeting the customer this afternoon for a final walkthrough and — more importantly — a final payment.

That payment?

It was going to be payroll.

Except...

Tim’s not here.

You stare at the crew list. Panic flickers.

You call Melissa.

She reminds you — gently — that the time-off slip is on her desk. The little half-sheet he filled out and dropped in the mail slot. That was your system.

Maybe it’s also written on the whiteboard in the shop — top corner, in dying red marker, barely legible through the smudges.

Real helpful at 9 p.m. last night when you were at your kitchen table finishing estimates, prepping the schedule, and wondering if you were on top of things.

Now you’re not mad at Tim.

You’re mad at you.

And you should be.

Because Here’s the Reality

That final walkthrough is toast.

That final check? Delayed.

That payroll plan? Smashed.

Now you’re:

• Rescheduling three estimates

• Texting five people

• Re-learning how to run a hydroseeder

• Wondering where the hell Tim keeps the extra hose

And you’re doing it all while the crew is standing around waiting for answers — again.

This Is Real Life

This isn’t a theory.

This isn’t some “process breakdown” post-mortem.

This is your actual day falling apart — because of one slip of paper.

One tiny gap in visibility.

One forgotten day off.

One person whose absence shifted the whole puzzle out of alignment.

The Brain Can't Hold It All

It’s not your fault entirely.

Running a company means hundreds of micro-decisions, reminders, check-ins, and calendar swaps every single day.

But when that information lives:

• On slips of paper on someone’s desk

• On a smudged whiteboard in a breakroom

• In your memory from four weeks ago

…it might as well not exist.

You need that visibility. Your whole team does.

CrewHero Fixed That for Us

Now, time off lives inside the system.

Not in someone’s head. Not in a drawer. Not on a ghost-marker whiteboard.

Managers see it when they plan.

Dispatch sees it when they assign.

Frontline workers see it in their app — before the day even starts.

So today, if Tim were out?

You’d know it before coffee.

You’d reschedule the job yesterday.

You’d assign someone else, or hold the walkthrough until he’s back.

You’d still get that final check.

You’d still run payroll.

And no one would be standing around wondering what went wrong.

Final Thought

You’re not the problem.

The system is.

You can’t carry it all in your head.

You can’t rely on memory, post-its, and dry erase markers.

You need clarity. You need visibility.

You need a system built for real life.

CrewHero gave us that.

And now?

I don’t forget who’s working today.

And I sure as hell don’t forget who I’m counting on.

— Dave Fairburn

CrewHero Co-Founder

North Point Outdoors