Was I wrong? Should I have done this? Ethical Question

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I work at a hotel. One of my co-workers has an aunt that works with Human Services. The aunt called my co-worker and told her about a girl and her boyfriend (both about seventeen) that had recently been kicked out of their homes. They were living on the street. The aunt asked my co-worker if she would give the girl a job and a free room until the girl and boyfriend could get back on their feet and get an apartment. My co-worker agreed, and gave the girl the room, and a job as a housekeeper.

Friday, the boyfriend calls me, and says that the girl’s grandmother had died, and that the girl could not work until Sunday because she needed to go to the funeral. I expressed sympathy, and called my manager to report this. She did return to work on Sunday.

Monday (today) I was reading the paper, and saw that the girl had actually spent the weekend in jail for stealing cigarettes from the local grocery store. No dead grandmother. She had listed the hotel and room number as her address. Shocked and a bit outraged at the lie, I took the paper in with me to work, and showed it to the manager. He was furious. That she had lied to all of us, firstly, and secondly that she had used the address of the hotel as her own, giving the hotel a bad reputation.

He called the girl and her boyfriend into the office. He fired the girl, and told them that they have until tomorrow morning, and then must leave the property.

I feel guilty. Very guilty. On one hand, they’re down on their luck, and I feel very sorry for them. On the other, the girl IS a thief and a liar. I honestly didn’t think he would fire her, or kick the two of them out. I thought he ought to know, however, that she hadn’t been honest about the dead grandmother, and thought he might just lecture her about the incident. He says, however, that he doesn’t want a theif working for him because she will be in guests’ rooms, and that is simply too much of a liability, and secondly, he feels that she took advantage of his pity.

What do you guys think? Should I have just kept my big mouth shut, or was I right to tell him?

2

Tough break. But I think what you did was right, and I think what happened after that is between the manager and the girl. And, truthfully, I think HE also did the right thing – if she can’t be trusted, she should not be allowed in guest’s rooms, etc.

Meanwhile, are there any shelters, or other agencies that might be able to help her out? Try calling United Way, or the Red Cross for suggestions. And I wish you (and her as well) the best.

3

Lissa- Situations like that are always a downer. I think a lot of folks who are ‘good folks’ (I include myself here) and want to do the right thing are always wary of giving someone else a tough break, knowing that their lives will be rougher as a result.

I’m not going to go into the whole “but she deserved it” thing – even if it’s true I don’t think it’s the core issue. The core issue is, yes, you did do the right thing. Manager had a right to know and be informed if one of the employees is a criminal, even a petty one. Manager is right – she should NOT be in a position where she could steal if she is a known thief, the hotel suffered as a result of her decisions, and so on.

Think how bad you might feel if she had continued in her current position, and done something reprehensible like steal from a hotel guest. In that scenario, you’d likely feel just as bad that you hadn’t done something earlier to report her.

Bottom line: you did the right thing. And sometimes doing the right thing sucks. But it’s still the right thing.

4

I was in a somewhat similar situation. Not that the trouble the co-worker was causing was bad for the business publicly, but it was bad for the employee morale which in turn was bad for business.
This was a resturant, and every weekend she had a different excuse for not comming in. My problem is that she was telling me what she was really doing.
I eventually ended up telling management what was going on, and she was suspended and I felt bad. For her because she really did need the money, and for the fellow employees who had to pick up the slack.

Like I said I realise this is not quite the same, but I did what I felt was right, and so did you.
It’s going to suck for her in future years if she doesn’t change her ways. If you are anything like me you would hope that this will help her realise she needs to grow up and face the world.
And hopefully you are unlike me in the fact that the people I come across never seem to change.

I have one friend that is a total slacker, and you try the tough love thing on him, but he always finds a way to land on his feet. He never learns to take any type of responsibility for his actions. They always take care of themselves.

Alright, I am done rambling!

I guess I am saying I would have done the same thing, and you shouldn’t feel bad about the decision. Showing bad feelings for her situation just shows that you have compassion, and that is not a bad thing unless you let it go to far and people walk all over you.
(I have a bad habit of that, but I’m trying!)

{{{{{{Lissa}}}}}}}}}

5

Me too.

Ya done good. Stealing cigarettes from a store is much harder than stealing from an absent guest when you are alone and unobserved. She did your hotel a great service by being arrested.

6

I have to agree here. Is exactly what I would have said if I had beat drpepper to this thread.
Good call Dr P.
Osip

7

You did just fine Lissa. If the girl didn’t have the wits to use her new job to earn the money to buy her smokes, she wouldn’t have had the brains to keep her hands off of the guests’ property.

From the sound of it, you too work at this hotel. If so, you also had an ethical obligation to bring a potential conflict of interest to your employer’s attention.

Do not feel bad, if you had not mentioned it quite possibly someone else would have seen it in the newspaper and brought it to the manager’s notice anyway.

8

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Osip *
**

Yes, indeed.

If anything I’m a little less sympathetic toward the girl because of the nasty situation her actions put your co-worker in. He/she must be feeling like chopped cat food about now.

Sounds like the girl is in a tough spot but you did the right thing and so did your boss. Not to sound judgmental, but if the girl will resort to penny-ante stuff like boosting cigarettes if given the opportunity she sure isn’t a likely person to trust around other peoples’ unattended valuables. But even worse, IMO, is the way she betrayed your co-worker’s good deed. Not nice; not nice at all.

In case I do sound too judgmental, I’ve never had anything stolen from a hotel room. Those folks might earn crappy wages but every one so far in my experience has been as honest as the day is long. Poor doesn’t mean anything but lack of money; it has nothing to do with lack of character.

That’s a separate issue, and that’s where this girl screwed up the worst.

Veb