Agreed.
Here's the rest of the story:
The reason I had to hire someone new was that my previous helper of almost 2 years left to go work with family in a union.

I had short notice and put an ad out. Believe it or not he was the best of the bunch, especially when he was supposed to have 3 years experience.
The only thing he was doing circles around was the toilet bowl.
Yes I should have fired him 2 weeks ago when he wanted the raise but I had a project to get done and at least he was an extra set of hands plus I always try to give someone the benefit of the doubt and see if he could step it up. Up to that point he was mostly just running wires so even though I was right, I didn't want to jump the gun. Mainly because I didn't want to put another ad out and be disgusted by who I saw, and I wanted to get at least one more project wrapped up.

I've got projects booked for the next 4 weeks or so and nothing I can't handle alone, even though I don't want to. I have no big projects on the horizon for the winter so i'll see how things shake out and think about getting someone in the spring.