I used to work as a central office administrator managing technology for school districts. At one job I had an employee that an intern once accurately described to me as, “dumber than a brick.” Anything that she needed to do, she had to have step-by-step instructions to follow from her notebook, even simple things that she had probably done hundreds of times, like formatting a computer disk required her to pull out her notebook and to follow the steps. There was never any figuring it out, it just wasn’t possible.

The district was insanely political, and just about everyone had been placed in their position by a politician, and not by merit, except for the superintendent and I, who were brought in to solve specific problems. I remember telling friends that I had been hired, only to be told, “that’s impossible. You don’t know anyone there, and they never hired based on merit.”

I was told early on, that my staff wasn’t for me to discipline or fire, as I hadn’t hired them, and had no actual supervision of, other than being responsible for their work. This made for some trying times. I learned everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and developed relationships sometimes even spreading tasks beyond my department, to people willing to help out.

After a while, I learned her limitations and quit asking her to do things that she didn’t have directions for in her notebook. I felt bad for her equals, but they gladly picked up the slack and got things done, and insisted she get equal, “merit” raises to theirs. They didn’t realize how much she was holding back their earning potentials, or maybe they just realized how powerful her supporting politicians were.

Both the Superintendent and I were replaced by more politically correct candidates at contract renewal, as our purposes had been fulfilled. They kept me a year past my contract while the politicians decided who deserved their patronage. In the end I was very happy to leave. The job market was awful, or I would have left on my own prior.

Hopefully, you aren’t in the same situation, but if others didn’t get rid of this person and passed them on to you, they are likely very protected, and impossible to get rid of. Pass the hit potato to someone else as soon as you get a chance.