No, I won't write you a liar letter

Two weeks ago I got a call from an employee. He said he had purchased tickets for a sporting event, and now he was unable to attend. He asked if HR would write a letter stating he had to work so he could get a refund for the tickets from insurance. I told him I'd never been asked that before, but I would check with the HR Director and let him know. I got the date of the event and the name of his supervisor before we ended the call.

I asked the HR Director if I could write a generic letter along the lines of "To Whom It May Concern, M. Ployee is scheduled to work on XYZ date" and have her sign it once I confirmed the employee's schedule with his supervisor. She said that would be fine.

I called the supervisor and asked "Is M.Ployee scheduled to work on XYZ date?" He checked and said he was not. Hmm, that's interesting. I called the employee back and said "You said you needed the letter for XYZ date correct?" He said yes. I said "I just talked to your supervisor, and you aren't scheduled to work that day." And that's when the conversation got blog-worthy. His response- "I know, but I need you to write a letter that says I am so I can get my money back." I told him "I can't write that letter because would be a lie." I was floored. I'm not sure if he thought I was an idiot who'd write the letter without checking with his supervisor, or if he thought I was ethically challenged like him and would write it even when I found out it wasn't the truth. Either way, he went away disappointed.

I told the HR Director and one of my HR colleagues about this situation. Both were incredulous. What's even crazier is that I am one of two recruiters for my organization. So the odds are at least 50-50 that I'll be a part of any interviews he has in future for positions within the company. I will definitely bring up this situation any time he's being interviewed as a reason not to award him the position.

Great quote about procrastination

When I came across the following quote, I was struck by how true it is:

"... the price of procrastination can be concealed for a long time; but covering up the problems is likely to make the eventual cost of dealing with them even worse." Gillian Tett, Saving the Rising Sun

While the author is referring to a specific set of circumstances in the book, I find it is applicable to life in general.

Because (my supervisor) is the only one who calls me

Last week I was part of project to help our union staff sign into our new performance appraisal system. One of the steps was for them to sign into their work e-mail, then click on the activation link. Some of our union staff who are in charge of crews have company-provided work phones, and the process for them is really simple. Thus, we asked all the employees with work phones to bring the phones with them when it was time to sign in.

When one of them came in without it, we asked him where it was. He said "I never carry it. I don't like having to carry two phones." (We are government, and employees aren't allowed to use personal devices for company business.) We then asked "How do people get ahold of you when you are in the field?" His answer was priceless- "(Supervisor) is the only one who calls me." Members of his crew were in the room, and they cracked up along with the rest of us. He did clarify that his supervisor gets in contact with him via his personal cell phone, but this situation was just too funny (and frustrating at the same time since the company pays for this phone.). When I told my supervisor the story, she said "that needs to go on your blog". I concurred.