One of my co-workers just bragged about "switching stickers" at the grocery store

[KurtNYC]

"It's okay. They're corporate." They wanted organic avocados but didn't want to pay $4 each so they put the conventional sticker on and paid $1.50.

This is a person who has had financial responsibility within our company and they are just offering up that they change the supermarkets prices for them when they feel like it. They have no shame and just offered up this tidbit at a company function. When another co-worker voiced reservations, they offered the "they're corporate" thing.

My question: How likely is it that this person will steal or embezzle from our company? (we aren't "corporate" but I really think that has nothing to do with this. They would have a different reason to steal from us (we are non-profit).

[onehandle]

1. Very. nt

[Iggo]

11. ^^^ This. (n/t)

[ohiosmith]

2. I'll likely get flack for this,...but I'd fire their thieving ass on the spot.

Wouldn't trust them with company assets for a second more.

[pipi_k]

3. No flack from me...

Not bad enough he basically stole those things, but he didn't even have shame enough to keep it quiet.

Seemed almost proud of it, in fact.

Yep. Sounds like a person like this could justify stealing from just about anyone.

And I would fire him too.

[KurtNYC]

4. don't think we can fire them for stealing from another company on their own time

but I take this as a very bad sign. This is a person who gets reimbursed for items they buy for us...ugh.

[ohiosmith]

12. Don't know about the OP's organization, but all that I have worked for had language in the Employee

Handbook that allowed for dismissal for any illegal act or action that could reflect negatively on the company.

[harmonicon]

34. Take a look at their contract, I guess.

I know that at my current job, I can be fired for any reason at any time - I'm hourly though.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. No flack from me either. Someone who will cheat in one situation will likely cheat in another.

[Initech]

19. Yup. My parents' business was embezzled several years ago.

After hearing many stories from my mom about what they went through with that - the signs are there. A crook is a crook is a crook. Someone who's that dishonest isn't to be trusted with anything.

[Chan790]

31. Not from me...

as a development officer of an NPO, I'd fire them immediately too. I'd consider it dereliction of my duty if I did not.

[Angry Dragon]

6. but Willard says corporations are people, my friend

[yawnmaster]

29. If that were true then this would be even worse. eom

[Kablooie]

7. I do that too.

Or at least I did when I was about 12.
There was a submarine model I saved up for but when I got to the store I found the price was more than I thought so I switched tags.
I still remember and feel guilty.

Later I found the store had priced a microscope 0.99 instead of $9.99 I bought it at 0.99
Didn't feel guilty about that one.

[HopeHoops]

8. Good fucking grief. That's beyond disgusting. The word "turd" comes to mind.

[Denninmi]

9. I concurr, that's called shoplifting.

Watch them carefully if they handle funds.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. People like that shouldn't even have a career. They have proven they lack morals and

ethics. Wouldn't want them in my company.

[Grey]

13. Albert Einstein said....

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

I, firmly, believe this to be true.

[mrmpa]

14. The Director of a non-profit in our area........

was just arrested for embezzling $9,000. There have been a few others also, within the past year.

[KurtNYC]

15. the Volunteer Resources Coordinator at a very large and famous non-profit

used to brag about how she could get people to work for nothing. She was manipulative and secure in it. She stole toys that were donate for underprivileged children. She would take her friends into the donations room (only 3 people had keys) about 2 weeks before Christmas and let them have "shopping sprees." It is like a kind of kleptomania.

[ohiosmith]

17. With all due respect, it has nothing to do with kleptomania. It has to do with being a scumbag.

[HappyMe]

16. OMG! Stealing is fucking stealing.

The amount does not matter.

I wouldn't trust this person with a penny.

[AnneD]

18. Very likely.....

morals is what you do when no one is watching. This is a person with no moral compass.

[Initech]

20. Extremely likely. See my post #19.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

21. Depending on your relationship with this person

you might want to say, 'you know, that still doesn't make it right and if soandso (maybe the big boss?) hears about that they may think less of you' and let it go at that..........

[jobycom]

22. It's a certainty. Stealing isn't about who you steal from, it's a mindset.

If she has no trouble cheating a corporation out of a few bucks, then she will have no problem cheating her boss out of a few. She's entitled to it. The company doesn't pay her enough. No one was using that stuff, anyway. Excuses come easy, because at the base she's a thief.

So the only question is how much is she stealing from the company.

[ohiosmith]

23. You couldn't be more right. I can't count the number of times in my career I heard exactly those

justifications for stealing from the company or its clients. In many cases the perps were making serious dollars.

[Ikonoklast]

24. They admitted to being a thief. They then bragged about the theft.

A thief will steal if given opportunity, and it won't matter from whom they steal.

[BlueJazz]

25. He/She has self-image problems. He/She even wanted friendship at the cost of crime stories.

[KurtNYC]

35. possibly. If so, they totally misjudged the audience.

[mykpart]

26. I probably shouldn't quote scripture in a non-religious thread, but

Luke 16:10 says, "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."

[Tom Ripley]

27. When I was a teen,I used to do that with albums at department stores...

and always make sure that I had a cashier who was too old to know that a Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, etc... record should cost more than $1.49.

And I still feel rotten about my "cleverness" and dishonesty.

[fbguy_144]

28. a real piece of work that guy is

[yawnmaster]

30. thief. theft. eom

[laralovespink]

32. Whoa!

My first thought about this was 'so what?'

After reading everyone else's posts I have two things I'd like to point out.

The idea that stealing is stealing no matter what amount etc. is a little silly. Would you say killing is killing no matter what? I guess no more fly swatting for me! What's wrong is wrong is an idea that works in second grade and never there after. What if your family was starving? What if you are old and forgot to pay? What if you are desperately in need of organic avocados? I think this person was in the wrong, but saying all crimes of theft are equal and once a thief always a thief is severly under simplifying the issue. They should lose their job? They are the scum of the earth now? A little overkill for me.

Secondly, there is always an excuse, but only if the person wants there to be one. What if this person loves their job and truely has the companies future at heart? Then I would say the company has no need to fear. Many people think of corporations as huge entities that will never miss the $2.50/lb of avocados. They have insurance that covers that anyway right? Not really a reason to steal, but it's a way different scenerio from the non-profit.

I would encourage you to judge the act by the person and not the person by that insolated act.

P.S. Forget about firing them. It's their word against yours.

[KurtNYC]

36. I started this thread because I thought 'maybe I am overreacting'

I am not a psychic, etc. but I am going with my gut and with the majority on this one.

Personally I hate people who change a deal they have entered into. If one thinks a store's prices are too high -- shop elsewhere. Your employer doesn't pay you enough -- ask for a raise or look for another job. No one gets to unilaterally change the rules to suit themselves.

btw, they said this in front of me AND 2 other employees. A background check may be in order.

[harmonicon]

33. Oh, yeah, that person would have no fucking problem stealing from a company they work for.

Someone who can justify that act can much more easily justify an act of theft related to their job. "It's not really stealing since..."

I bought avocados today. I thought about getting organic avocados, but the non-organic ones were cheaper, so I bought those instead. It's sort of like when I'm at work and someone buys something, I charge them what it costs instead of charging them less and pocketing the difference.

[4_TN_TITANS]

37. That violates my company's Code of Ethics...n/t