I was only half kidding about finding the kid a wife. To me it seems you're describing a young fella with no major personal or financial obligations yet. He most likely goes out during the week on occasion with his buddies and stays out too late. IMHO, if he had a serious drug or alcohol problem he'd most likely be borrowing money from everyone and would be regularly broke long before payday. His grandmother would die once every other month and his debt collectors would be calling your office once a week looking for him. But, I don't think this is the case here.
In the past I had a standing rule for everyone which is if you don't call when you don't come in you must take the next day off too. Repeated tardiness gets you a week off, then two, and so on. Hopefully, he'll find a nice gal to set him straight before you have to resort to all this.
Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be with a good worker.
Andy
