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Should I Have Kept My Nose Out of It?
I work in an office where I see employees abuse the time they take off, say, for lunch. Instead of taking one hour, they take two, and falsify their time sheet. I felt it was my responsibility to say something, so I brought this to my boss’ attention, and he spoke with the employee in question and his supervisor. I was not asked to attend the “meeting”. After they met, the boss told me everything was ok, that the employee I “busted” would report to HIS supervisor (they cover each other if needed, by the way). I was given the cold shoulder by the employee for about three weeks, then things got back to normal. Per our company’s policy, it is against the rules to falsify our time sheet, plus a “whistle blower” shall not be reprimanded… I really was fighting with myself over this, even thought of quitting, BUT we have rules to follow. Was I wrong to tell on him? How can I be a responsible person if I had not said anything?
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account executive
I’m tempted to say:
You might have complained to your boss because inwardly, you’d have liked nothing more than to do the same. When we know do what is right, it matters little what others do. The fact that you were taking the allotted time for your lunch wasn’t contingent on the behavior of your co-workers. You probably felt left out of the mix and sought to equalize things by, as you said—blowing the whistle––It’s a form of “covert aggression.”
Don’t get me wrong . . . I’m a firm believer that stealing time, is just as bad as stealing pencils, paper and anything that doesn’t belong to you.
I would feel different if your story was about having knowledge that a child was being abused or that you had overheard a conversation about a robbery that was going to take place, at a later date.
R J williams | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Concerned...
I absolutely believe you did the right thing!!! I also believe you probably had a conscience about it and thought hard before you chose your route. I applaud you. I have a 19 and a 14 year old. I strolled into Applebee’s one evening to find several of my boys’ friends drinking at the bar. Yes, alcohol. These kids were obviously not old enough and I don’t know if they had fake ID’s or not. But I am considered the “cool mom” in town. Regardless of how “cool” I am, I questioned myself over what the right thing was to do, but it was an obvious answer. Had someone not spoken up, one of these kids or more could easily have been killed because they were driving, or they may have killed someone else, maybe one of my kids. I couldn’t have that. While these situations are different, they are both wrong. No two ways about it. I did warn them to quit what they were doing first, but the following weekend it was the same. And there were pictures on MySpace to prove it. Follow your moralities, if everyone did, this would be a better country. And most places of business would be more profitable and maybe our country wouldn’t be in such bad shape.
And if anyone feels that this was “whistle blowing” Sorry, my kids and those drinking are still alive… enough said.
L.A.G | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Look at the fix the US is in
This is laughable! We either have morals or we don’t. Morals aren’t in some places but not in others (in the family but NOT at AIG). We wish politicians and company executives had high American morals, but it starts with us! If each one of us would practice a high moral standard, others would be less prone to abuse.
Take divorce for example. If the American public had never begun accepting divorce, we wouldn’t see the exorbitant divorce rate we have today. When we open our lives to cheating, or accepting cheating as a daily standard, we are BEGGING for more.
I hold myself, and others, to a high moral standard. If you are going to cheat, lie, steal, commit adultery, you’d better keep it hidden from me. If everyone in the US lived by that standard, we wouldn’t be seeing the AIG cheats, the lying politicians, or the trading with countries like China, because we would find such things unacceptable and deal with it. As it is now, ANYTHING is okay. What is not? Clinton cheating on his wife? Bush claiming to be a Christian? Obama saying “no lobbyists in my administration”?
James Rogers | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Well...
Someone said it was a sticky issue, and I agree. However, it’s really not your responsibility to do this, and it should have been left to management to address this. I can’t say I would do the same thing, and I probably would be one of the guys skipping out, so that should probably be known. But yeah, your heart was in the right place, but it’s not your job, and these guys probably feel pretty screwed over. They dodged management, only to get busted by a whistle blower. That’d suck if it happened to me.
Tony | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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You did not do the right thing
You should not have interfered. It also seems that you were put out by the fact you were not asked to attend the meeting between that employee and their supervisor. Perhaps you don’t have enough to keep you busy that you have somehow made it your job to be hall monitor? There is a difference between a whistle blower and a tattle tale, and it seems you are the latter. Consider your own duties first and ask yourself if a situation really concerns you before doing something like that.
CJR | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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You should talk to the individual first.
Not the boss. Give the person a chance to change his behavior first. The only reasons to do it the way you did would be a) you’re afraid, b) you enjoy getting people in trouble. Neither is a good reason. A stand up person would be direct.
Ace Hamilton | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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EXCUSE ME
If I’m not mistaken, this employee habitually cheated the company of his productivity. He obviously made a choice EVERY TIME he stayed away from his work place longer than the allotted time. He had plenty of opportunities to “do the right thing”. He’s not unhappy that he did the wrong thing; he’s unhappy he got caught and is being penalized.
Alex White | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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YEAH -- right
So, it’s okay to steal from your boss if you think you should be paid more? Get real. People steal because they are thieves, not because they need to do so.
A. White | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Think ahead
It’s really a management decision just how well an employee is performing at work. If they decide to turn a blind eye to this behavior by either ignoring it or choosing not to better track employee comings and goings, it’s their decision. Telling management that you feel there are some employees abusing their timesheet without identifying the culprits, leaves it up to management to decide whether to take a closer look. Perhaps as long as the work is getting done, they don’t care.
I put myself in the position to tell someone else’s secret, someone higher up than me. I was told I would have anonymity. I thought I was allowing the owners of the business to save face rather than a client asking them about it and them being unaware. The fact was readily available over the internet, I hadn’t even googled this person hoping to come up with dirt, I was just curious about them. This person found out I was the source of the information and decided I was an evil person who had been out to get them. This person made my work-life miserable. This had been the job I had most enjoyed coming to work in the morning with over 20 years in the work force. I ruined that for myself. I didn’t think about the possible future consequences to my actions.
K. St. John | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Mes
“Management is doing things right: leadership is doing the right thing.” Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005)
What are we missing in the world?
mark Swanson | 11 months, 2 weeks ago
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