I have a hard time understanding why people don’t like writing negative employe reviews or firing people. You have the chance to give someone non-emotional feedback to better themselves and if they take it personally they have a bad way of approaching things and you should probably go ahead and turn that negative review into a a dismissal. Once I adopted “hire slow fire quick” approach to employees, and let them know my approach during the interview process, my productivity, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction have all increased. 

My belief is that if an employee can’t meet the expectations that were given to them, in writing, read to them and discussed during the interview process then they are stealing from me. Especially if I took time to train and coach them. 

If you tried to help this person and they didn’t take advantage of the help you offered then they are the ones who should feel bad, not you.  It’s not your responsibility to fix people. 

 This is some good perspective. I think this would be easier for me to apply in a small business where the impact of an employee was actually felt but in a large company where you don't personally feel stolen from the impacts are so much less tangible.

As you said at the end of the day people need to take responsibility for their own actions, attituded and abilities.