When working at a
company, you sometimes have to help coworkers that are out sick. What happens
when a favor goes over the limit?
My friend, Ricki,
works as a supervisor in an automotive factory. After a few not so great jobs
after graduation, she was happy to land a career that she truly enjoyed. A few
months ago, her supervisor was out on sick leave. He called her at the office
and asked her for a small favor.
“Could you get my
cell phone out of my office and get a number for Beverly out of it.”
“Sure,” said
Ricki. “Where is it exactly?”
“It’s on my desk
in a cookie tin.”
At that moment,
she felt hesitant. Why would he not have his cell phone? Why would his phone be
hidden? Especially, since he’d been in the hospital for over a week.
“Okay,” she
reluctantly agreed.
She headed to his
office searching for the phantom phone. When she found it, it was in a cookie
tin, but in an open drawer in his desk. It was a cheap pay as you go flip
phone. Ricki opened the phone to find Beverly’s number. Inside she found only three
numbers, one of which was listed under “B”. Instantly, Ricki realized this was
her supervisor’s “cheat phone”. She was disgusted and insulted that he’d asked
her to assist in his dirty work. Ricki decided to call her mother, who is a
higher ranking supervisor in a different department on her cell phone.
“Don’t get roped
into that,” her mom warned.
Ricki placed the
phone back where she found it and went back to her office. When her supervisor
called back she told him she couldn’t find it. As it turned out her manager and
this woman had an ongoing affair for years. Beverly had even worked there years
before Ricki started. She’d been fired for something unrelated, but the affair
was common knowledge to employees who had seniority under their belt.
There’s nothing
wrong with helping a boss with a problem. When that problem crosses ethical
lines back away and let them solve it themselves. They’re the ones who created
it in the first place.
