Yikes! I Caught My Coworker Stealing!

February 22nd, 2017 at 5:26 pm

You got it! You got the job! Hooray! The first day, you show up on time and it’s wonderful. The next day is even better. The following day is kind of rough, but it’s expected. The fourth day everything comes to a screeching halt. While walking into another room you see your coworkers stealing from the employer. No if, ands, or buts….they are stealing. They look at you and tell you to keep quiet or you will be the first to go. What the heck just happened? What do you do?

1. Do you go to the employer and tell them what you saw? I mean you are the new kid on the block. They could both turn on you and say it was you. They have been there for 5rys – nothing. Now, you come along and they are stealing? Will the employer believe someone who just started?

2. Do you keep quiet? Let them do what they do. Then, you are part of the problem. If they get caught they will say you knew about it also.

3. Do you quit? I mean who wants to work with a bunch of thieves?

4. Do you stand up to them and tell them what they are doing is wrong? That you will not say anything this time, but you will if you ever see it again. Will this create a hostile work environment?

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Your heart is pounding and now what joy you had is all gone. Maybe if you had waited 5 more seconds before walking into the room you would have missed everything.

Is there a “best answer”? Not sure. If you are in a desperate need for a job this makes it really hard. A lot of people can say just quit because it will get worse, but have you ever been 3 months behind on rent and bills are way overdue? Plus, you like the employer and enjoy what you do so far. Is it all about honesty and integrity? Tell, and hope the employer thanks you and sees you’re honest and trustworthy. If you lose the job after telling, you’re okay with it because you stood for what was right. Another job will come along and somehow the world will reward you for your honesty and hold off on the eviction. How about standing up to them? Let them know you are not a pushover and will not tolerate this. Will this be an eye opener for them and they will apologize and everything will be just fine? You can start writing dates and times just for your protection so later on you hope these notes will be your proof that you were not involved and wanted to make sure you had all your ducks in a row before approaching the employer. Ignoring it all will give you job security for a while, at least until the truth comes out….then what? Maybe the truth will never come out and you ignoring it keeps your nose clean and you just stay in your lane. You have to look out for yourself.

There are many answers and depending on who you are talking to, there will be many reasons why they made their decision. The truth of the matter is there is truth to all these different scenarios. There are risks in each situation. At the end of the day, you have to do what is right for you. Only you know what you can live with. Only you know about your personal circumstances. Whatever you choose, only you have to live with it.

Written by Justine Hall

Bio
Latest Posts

Glenn Greenhouse

President at Greenhouse Agcy, Ltd.

Glenn began in the “family business” more than 30 years ago, by coming to work for his Father, Martin Greenhouse. He often recounts how nervous he was, when at 19 years old his Father forced him to pick up the phone and speak with David Suskind. This was to be the first of dozens of phone calls and meetings to come for Glenn……with Celebrity Clientele. Glenn considers himself very fortunate to have spent his life working at a job he truly loves and as he puts it: “earn a comfortable living at the same time.”