ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > October > 22 > Entry
Ever stolen anything from your employer?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everyone sees employee theft differently. Some people believe that if they use company postage for personal mail they aren’t stealing. Others believe if they use company long distance phone lines to talk to their sick mom, they aren’t stealing.
Many believe that if they do freelance work on company hours, they aren’t stealing. Lot’s of people feel as if they use company computers (emails and internet) to look for another job, they aren’t stealing.
On the other hand, if you were in your own business and you were paying for the postage, long distance, and employees’ salaries, you might look at it differently. Because corporations are frequently owned by individuals who aren’t known personally, or even owned by the public at large if it is publicly-held, many feel that a company’s resources can be looked upon in an abstract way. People say to themselves, ‘everyone does it.’
Many times, individuals rationalize their behavior by reminding themselves that they put in an extreme number of hours so they deserve to spend a few minutes on the phone talking to family. Or maybe, because they travel for business and give up personal time with their family, who cares if you ‘pad your expenses with a few personal items.’
Wait and reconsider. If you get caught for doing something that you think is fine and the company considers ‘theft,’ you can scar your career for years to come. Taking what you believe you deserve that isn’t yours can result in being fired ‘for cause’ which is something that you will have to explain to every future employer on applications and in interviews repeatedly.
Companies and recruiters won’t tell you they aren’t going to hire you because you were fired, but it happens every day.
Think of it this way. What if your babysitter turned in a receipt for a movie you didn’t approve? What if your landscaper made a long distance phone call on your dime? What if a general contractor working in your house, took stamps off your kitchen table to mail his bills?
Would you think these people had stolen from you in some way, no matter how small? When you take what isn’t yours, trust is broken. When trust is gone, relationships fail, professionally or otherwise.
Comments
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By Blow Me
October 22, 2007 12:07 PM | Link to this
Of course why not they can afford it. They have the best pens and stamps…Wow we have a stamping machine and I get ALL of my stamps there…Sharpies too. It’s the great american way…Why not? You think you boss doesn’t do it I steal time too all the time. *IF YOU ARE ON THIS BLOG YOU STEAL TOO,……YOU ARE STEALING TIME! * Ya d@mn heathens!!!
By cara
October 22, 2007 12:21 PM | Link to this
Wow, this article makes me feel as though I should be paying for the air I breathe while at work. Well, I guess that I’ve technically stolen something but what about the company stealing from me? I didn’t sign-up to work at home after 6pm everynight but I do. I feel robbed when my yearly review only nets met an extra 2%. Oh and what about the lunches that I end up working through or the days that I come in at 6am when the boss shows up at 10am. What about when I have to clean up after people in the breakroom or make coffee when the last nitwit takes the last cup?
I think we’re all being robbed! The comanpies and the employees.
By Jonny
October 22, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this
The one about a contractor taking stamps off a kitchen counter made the point to me. It cracks me up when I hear people I work with complain about their contractor being lazy or being too slow, etc, yet these are the people that do this while chatting up people on the company dime, these are the people that consistently come in 15 minutes late, snag the pens, the paper, the scotch tape, the list goes on. It figures that people that put the highest standards on those they employ would be the ones that bend the very same rules to the breaking point every single “working” day.
By Shannon, M.Div.
October 22, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this
Fascinating. I really appreciated Cara’s perspective on this article. To my eyes—and no, I do not take office supplies from my job, which does not require me to travel—this “BlogBreak” offers a very pro-business, anti-employee perspective. While there’s some truth to what Gayle has written, Cara is absolutely correct that a lot of modern jobs include expectations which aren’t stated outright. Gayle’s penultimate sentence goes both ways: when you take what isn’t yours, trust is broken. Many white collar jobs today (including, for instance, public schoolteaching) take what isn’t theirs. For instance, every public schoolteacher of my acquaintance spends personal money on classroom items. Almost every computer programmer I know is expected to spend more than 40 hours a week on her/his job AND train on upcoming languages outside of the job.
I find it facile to talk about minor office supply theft and not about the degrading and slavish expectations in many offices today.
By not a theif
October 22, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
‘Everyone does it’ is a lame excuse. Just because someone else is a thief doesn’t give anyone else the right to be too. Theft is theft - it is that simple. Surfing the net during lunchtime is ok - it is no different than taking your lunch somewhere else.
By Ima Nidiot
October 22, 2007 12:51 PM | Link to this
There’s a weird unwritten rule (and double standard) in every IT shop I’ve ever worked over the past 30+ years. The rule is that you NEVER falsify time, take anything new, pad expense reports, take money or office supplies. That will get you fired, pronto.
BUT, surplus computer parts, items needing minor repairs, cables, and vendor demo equipment, was pretty much expected to be ‘misappropriated’. Larger companies actually have to pay people to haul away old computer gear, and most vendors really do not care if they get their demo gear back. Therefore, in the past, I have seen managers, supervisors, and workers loading up on surplus or demo computer parts, cables, and peripherals, and the managers and supervisors encourage their employees to do the same. Vendors are more than happy to supply IT folks with items like printers or networking gear for ‘long term home evaluation’ purposes…..typically not a brand-new item, or something of great value (that would be a bribe), but slightly worn demo models would always find their way from the hardware manufacturer’s old-demo-pool to the home-office of the IT workers. * Is it stealing?, heck yeah..* but that’s what I’ve seen in the IT area……that blurry yet distinct line between ‘stealing’ and ‘long term home evaluation and testing’.
By Blow Me
October 22, 2007 1:03 PM | Link to this
not a theif Please get out of here! You are stealing companies time now! I am sure everyone in their lifetime has walked out with a companies pen. Something that minuet is STEALING. As Cara stated, YOUR company steals from you everyday..Get a damn grip!!
By Aggitated
October 22, 2007 1:31 PM | Link to this
I never stole the first thing until the day my manager, who btw straight up lies through his teeth, told me I would work from 9-6, only take a 1/2 hr lunch but write in 1 hour due to company policy, or else face drastic consequences. After that I decided if he could steal bits of my life away, I can certainly help myself to an occasional roll of tape without guilt.
By Tray
October 22, 2007 1:33 PM | Link to this
It’s an ‘honor among theives’ code. You steal from work, work steals from you. Ever been given more work than you can handle? Have to skip lunches to do that work, and work late? Ever been told you can’t take a scheduled vacation because a huge issue came up? Those are times that work steals from the people. The way I’ve been treated in some of my older jobs, I could sue the hell out of them if i could afford a lawyer. Companies have so much money they can throw into a legal case, though, that once you won your suit, you’d give all of your $$ to your lawyer and still come out with nothing!! Therefore, we’re dependent on eachother. Me to them for cheap supplies, them to me for cheap labor…that’s how it’ll alwyas be.
Be grateful that we’re not in work environments in some other countries that make less, and have no 8 hour day and overtime rules!
By Peachy
October 22, 2007 2:05 PM | Link to this
This blog makes me think of “Office Space”…
Bob: So Peter, I see you’ve been missing work alot lately… Peter: I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing work…
LOL :)
Anyhoo, in my line of work (financial services) stealing usually lands you in prison. I am a manager and a big part of my job is loss prevention, so even though I encourage my employees to accurately report their time and not use company resources for personal use, I am sure theft probably happens. I have to pick my battles though; I try to strike a delicate balance between following the rules but allowing for errors in judgement….
And now, I’ll “get back to work”…. hahaha
By KJ
October 22, 2007 2:19 PM | Link to this
At a previous position, I was lied to about the raise I was promised for 2 years, while my stinky Eurotrash boss staffed the department with his stinky Eurotrash buddies, and paid them ridiculous contract rates. As you can imagine, I had zero qualms about liberating various office items.
By Becky
October 22, 2007 2:59 PM | Link to this
I use the company postage machine, ship packages from work ..The boss knows all about it. It’s not a big deal at my office if we don’t abuse it..I mail out maybe 2-3 letters a month & usually ship out 2-3 packages a year (Christmas time). But like others have said, I do things for the company while not at work, so it usually evens out…
By Jenna
October 22, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this
I don’t steal office suppies, surf the Internet a bunch at work (I’m off today), or make personal calls on my work phone. Why? The supplies are kept under lock and key and are hard to come by even when you need them for work use, my Internet usage is monitored, and my company has a VOiP phone system that allows the higher ups to record and/or listen in on your calls.
The vibe I’m getting from most of the posters here, and I agree with them, is that the employee gets more “stolen” from them then they steal from their employer. Extra hours without pay or even a thnak you, promotions/raises promised that never materialize, essentailly forcing you to work during your “time off” (lunches, after hours, etc), the list goes on. Employers, here’s a tip; treat your employess with respect and then you won’t have to worry about where that box of Sharpies went.
By jesse
October 22, 2007 3:27 PM | Link to this
YES!
By Hunni
October 22, 2007 4:48 PM | Link to this
Ok you got me!
By Drew Down
October 22, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
I work at a big manufacturing company in Atlanta. They are an antiquated company run by the “good’ol boy” mentality that still rears its ignorant head every time I turn around. Our supplies are under lock and key. Our medicine shop (i.e. - asprin, band-aids, alka-seltzer..) is also guarded very closely. Meanwhile, some of the long time employees use their time at work to steal the product we produce right from under their noses. Since we are in the aluminum business, some of them have taken it on themselves to steal entire rolls of raw metal, only to cash it in for beer money on the weekends. When one of them was spotted by a manager doing the exact same thing, they both ignored each other. I say…”Get it when and where you can!” They love to preach about how holier than thou they all are, but the truth is, they are human like the rest of us. They lie, steal, cheat, hire illegals, falsify documents, and use the company credit card for personal expenses. What’s more, the entire company knows that the “office manager” there, has been “stealing” time for more than 30 years. What’s more…she is married and has been cheating on her husband with the boss of manufacturing since she was hired, 30 years ago! My thought is simple, if you are gonna steal, make it worthwhile, a pen, a stapler….don’t steal the companies time, cheat with the boss, if all you are going to get is a position with no credibility. She is a glorified secretary for crying out loud. And she has cottage cheese fat cellulite from the rooter to the tooter… YUCK!!!!!!!
By Stacey
October 22, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
I don’t consciously take a box of pens or a ream of paper, nor do use the postage meter for my personal mail (I do have access to it). I do use the internet while on the clock, I have made an emergency long distance call or two over the years and if I realize that I the pen in my wallet belongs to the company…oh well. As others have pointed out, rarely a week passes when I’m not running errands for my boss during lunch or dropping that all important package off at the UPS Store on my way home. It comes out in the wash, as far as I’m concerned.
By Ima Nidiot
October 23, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this
To Drew Down:
“rooter to the tooter cellulite”???? … that’s a really really nasty image that we all wish you kept to yourself, thank you very much.
My high regard for aluminum will never be the same….