[gameprogrammer] Management lesson

I just learned a telecommuter management lesson the hard way. Here's the story for those who care to learn from my mistake. It cost me a few thousand dollars and hopefully this story will save others from making the same mistake. 

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I hired a guy about a month and a half ago. I was really unsure about his abilities but decided to just give him a chance.
The first week everything is good. I give him a 1 day task - it takes him 3 days, but he's junior and the work quality was good.
Second task, which should have been a 2-3 day task, takes two weeks. I notice he isn't online very often anymore.
Third task, he estimates at 6 hours. Over the course of the next 9 days I notice he's not online at all most days, and when he is online it's only for a few hours. I can never seem to get hold of him. Whenever I do see him and ask him about the task, it's always "Almost done, I'll check it in tomorrow."
Finally I get fed up and send two increasingly agitated emails. He comes online. We talk about his productivity, and he estimates greater than a week left, without being able to promise it will be that fast.
That day, for the first time in a month, he's online and working, and asking me questions about which key to press to run the game, and how to merge in source control... At the end of the day I force him to check-in. It reflects an hour's work at best.
So I fire him and tell him if he wants his last check he needs to finish that task first. 

The response: "It will be done tomorrow".

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