A couple of incidents

Over the last 3 weeks I’ve had a couple of incidents at work, which make me really wonder how the young so-called professional’s mind of today works…

First incident…

The human resource dept. got a reference check call from an independent agency that forwarded some papers produced by this young girl who used to work for us. HR forwarded them further to me because they saw a discrepancy. The young girl had, in an endeavor to get a higher paying job, after quitting our company, forged my signatures on a document that would have definitely got her a higher pay packet. HR reverted with facts, the independent agency made out their report, and the girl obviously did not get the job that she had forged for.

I asked HR to have her come and meet me, which she did, but maybe more because we said we’d take legal action. I did not intend legal action, but really did want to ask her what made her forge a document, and why did she consider it an “OK” thing to do. I expressed my disappointment to her in all my earnestness, literally begged her to not be dishonest in future, and truly believe I made a difference…

Topic closed, she’s on her own somewhere now, but I am really not sure if she will not do it again. Her tears and requests for forgiveness seemed genuine enough. And of course, I am a sucker for all this… I fall for it each time!! Question is… how do they get these ideas and what makes them do these type of things? I still wonder and marvel at this one!

Second incident….

This young lady working for us… just got a raise, good worker, seemed happy, satisfied with her job profile etc etc. I actually thought she could grow here, get to a senior position in times to come. She seemed like a good girl, I liked her and enjoyed working with here as well. She never came and talked of any problems, anything she was dissatisfied with etc.

Out of the blue HR gets a call from her saying she is out of town and needs a week off. She never came back. Her parents say she is working out of the city now and is settled there. I am told she is still in town working a 9 to 8 shift (a few hours more than with us) at another company in pretty much the same profile, but a few thousand grand more in pay.

The interesting bit is how she managed to convince her parents also to lie for her. Secondly, how she just dumped the job and went off, without a hand-over or any interest in the relieving documents that a company gives out. Thirdly, how comfortably the transition for her happened without an iota of guilt or sense of responsibility towards the company. Which means, the next company could be doled out the same treatment by next year, this time.

I am very curious to know how she would reach if she bumped into me outside of office. Would she avoid me, or blatantly come up and say hi?

Will she come back and beg for her documents when a much larger company offers her a job some day and she has nothing to show for her one year stint at RedAlkemi? (We’ve had one such case in the past)

What type of a report will an independent agency make out for her if they called us for a ref check?

Most of all, I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief. I really did think she was a good girl. Good as in “from the core” Good! Why would she screw up a perfectly decent relationship for a slightly higher pay packet? And even if she wanted to leave, she could have simply put in her papers and gone. Why like this??

Don’t these kids think of all this??? I am at a loss. What are parents teaching their kids, and how on earth are they bringing them up? Do they teach them how to integrate deceit and dishonesty into their everyday lives, or do these kids figure these things out all by themselves?