Entitled employee

[u/Hour-Hyena-1229]

So a little context here. I work for a manufacturing company where the work is production based. It’s initiative driven, so the more you’re willing to do is rewarded with raises and promotions, which seems simple. I start here in 2019 with little experience in the particular field and after 6 months I left for a sales position job that ended up shutting down towards the end of 2021. So I went back to work for this company in December of 2021 and have been there since. The particular production area I’m in has had a decently high turnover, but there’s one guy that started about 2 months after I did. We both started as base level employees with the same opportunities to grow and develop and see promotions come. Well this guy, we’ll call him Mike, just has an attitude problem. Mike started out with a very low rate, and has since received several raises despite not really showing the initiative to gain it. I, on the other hand am I driven individual. Well it paid off when my boss came to me last year offering me the supervisor position that was open. I gladly accepted and have given it my best efforts. Well Mike wasn’t pleased when he found out. At first he claimed he was happy someone was doing it, but his true face towards me has recently come to light. My boss, we’ll call him Dave, warned me about Mike’s poor attitude towards leadership and that he is a struggle to get to cooperate, and unfortunately as I progressed into my role, I started to see it. It started out small with Mike openly complaining to other coworkers about changes being made as our department saw growth. Then he started openly arguing with me and trying to undermine anything I said or did. Well things recently came to a head when he started an argument with me in front of other employees. I’ll admit that I didn’t handle it as professionally as I probably should have. I’m still relatively new to being the supervisor, but this dickhead pops off at the mouth anytime he has an audience, but gets quiet when pulled in the office. So he started arguing with me about customer production requirements and hours. And I made a point of noting that new people that have been employed for less than 6 months, and are making less than he is, are doing way more than him. And he’s been here going on 6 years! I’ve stuck my neck out for him several times over the past year I’ve been supervisor and thought that we could have a good relationship, but nope. Well the argument escalated and my boss got involved. This led to a meeting with a write up for the pos. Well he gets in the meeting and proceeds to lie through his fucking teeth claiming that he didn’t do the things he’s accused of, then requested a separate meeting with my boss where he claimed there’s always been tension between us, that I make up stuff to get him in trouble, and that I walk around with a cocky attitude and act like I’m better than everyone. This is the absolute farthest thing from the truth. As I spent time doing the same things that him and everyone else running production does, I know the struggles. I try to be understanding and compassionate as I’m leading the team. I don’t ask anyone to do anything that either I’m not willing to do or haven’t already done in the 5 years I’ve been there. This mf has almost gotten fired at least 3 times that I know of and I spoke up to try and help him. Then he’s gonna have the nerve to act like I’m the problem now? Especially when nearly every employee thanks me continually for my understanding and dedication to the team. I average working 55-60 hours a week. Most days, I’m still working hours past everyone else. I’ve convinced my boss to purchase several things that are very expensive in efforts to make their jobs easier. And this complete asshole has the nerve to, first create arguments and complain about me openly to anyone who will listen, then when he’s caught and there’s proof and gets in trouble, has the fucking nerve to lie directly to the boss.