Ruining a man's life for the sake (or lack) of a conscience
Today was a very peculiar day at work and it went a little something like this:
Shortly after I punch in and start working photo, these two girls show up about 16 years old. Apparently this was the third time they'd come to pick up their photos (which weren't ready yet due to massive backup). I ring them up and a few seconds later they come back to tell me that they ordered singles, not doubles. No big deal, but since they already paid, I have to get a manager to refund them.
Now, the manager on shift, just about everyone hates. He's rude, obnoxious, likes to embarass employees in front of customers, berates customers (which, in an odd way, is what gets me the most because the majority of the people ARE nice and do have honest questions/problems) and is a general asshat. So he's blatantly ignoring my pages for assistance and the girl and I start griping and when she asks me if he was the particular manager I needed to talk to, her friend perks up and says "That guy is such a perv!" (more on that in a bit).
So FINALLY she walks up to him, tries to explain the situation again (apparently there was a first encounter of some sort before I arrived, probably regarding her pictures not being ready on time), and he blows her off after a few curt words. Finally he comes over and all he tells me is "Just rescan the envelope".... without giving her the refund. By this point we're all agitated and I rescan it as singles, give her the difference out of my drawer, and just tell her "Here, look, take both sets on me". Of course this is a crass violation of Loss Prevention but by this point, my very being there is pretty much a violation of loss prevention. So she thanks me and leaves....
About fifteen minutes later a woman comes up to photo, asks for my name (which I give her in full) and at first I ask if this was about the double pics but she says no and just asks to speak to a manager, so I page the guy and she explodes on him, asking what a fifty-something year old man is doing hitting on a sixteen year old girl. Apparently he'd passed a comment asking if "he could have a set of pictures" amongst other things to the kid.
Now, because of that very statement, things get kind of messy because I gave the girl both sets. They're not in the wasted prints bin. If loss prevention comes looking for them (which they will, as I'll explain), they're not there. Guess who the first suspected person in possession is going to be?
So he's really shook up about this, in the most literal sense of the word, as I was barely able to take some papers out of his hands they were rattling so much.
So he leaves eventually and the woman comes in AGAIN, this time with the fuzz. They ask for the manager and I'm kind of just in a state of shock and it takes me a few minutes to page the other manager who just took over the shift. They all go into the office and this is what happened (as I found out):
Cop: Do you have his address?
Manager: Uhm.. you can check his paystubs..
*opens safe, cop gets address from paystubs. Cop calls his house*
Cop: Where do you live?
*hangs up phone, cop & mom get in cop car & leave*
The rest is now a complete mystery to me. I was a little worried about my own involvement at first, until I realized a few things:
This particular manager has already told me a story about some high school girl "fabricating" an attempted **** story to her principal involing him.
I find out from a close friend/employee that he was in jail for knocking out his wife who allegedly attacked him with a knife.
He's also made doubles of pictures before that involved couples.. well, yeah. I mean, just enjoying them while they're printing out is one thing but making copies is.. well, yeah.
Even if the girl denies possessing the pictures, I kind of feel like it's not so much worse as option B) no doubt if they were left at work they would have been snatched up by loss prevention and either hidden or destroyed, clearing him and leaving him to continue this kind of behaviour in the future. Score one for billion dollar conglomerates. They'll always score but.. a kick in the shin doesn't hurt.
Yes, his life might be knocked on it's side but from my first-hand experience with him, he's not an innocent man being wrongly accused of anything. At the same time, however, I feel this selfish sense of vindication in the ruin of a man who is, by all points, my arch-nemesis.
I guess the whole thing is the fact that I got involved, which I haven't done in a long time and I'm not really sure where the Hell it's going to take me from here.
EDIT: After all that, I leave out the most important dilemma (hell, it's 2:30am):
Absolve him, explain that I gave the girl the pictures against policy & persecute myself or deny everything, get a slap on the wrist and let the weight fall on him.
Today was a very peculiar day at work and it went a little something like this:
Shortly after I punch in and start working photo, these two girls show up about 16 years old. Apparently this was the third time they'd come to pick up their photos (which weren't ready yet due to massive backup). I ring them up and a few seconds later they come back to tell me that they ordered singles, not doubles. No big deal, but since they already paid, I have to get a manager to refund them.
Now, the manager on shift, just about everyone hates. He's rude, obnoxious, likes to embarass employees in front of customers, berates customers (which, in an odd way, is what gets me the most because the majority of the people ARE nice and do have honest questions/problems) and is a general asshat. So he's blatantly ignoring my pages for assistance and the girl and I start griping and when she asks me if he was the particular manager I needed to talk to, her friend perks up and says "That guy is such a perv!" (more on that in a bit).
So FINALLY she walks up to him, tries to explain the situation again (apparently there was a first encounter of some sort before I arrived, probably regarding her pictures not being ready on time), and he blows her off after a few curt words. Finally he comes over and all he tells me is "Just rescan the envelope".... without giving her the refund. By this point we're all agitated and I rescan it as singles, give her the difference out of my drawer, and just tell her "Here, look, take both sets on me". Of course this is a crass violation of Loss Prevention but by this point, my very being there is pretty much a violation of loss prevention. So she thanks me and leaves....
About fifteen minutes later a woman comes up to photo, asks for my name (which I give her in full) and at first I ask if this was about the double pics but she says no and just asks to speak to a manager, so I page the guy and she explodes on him, asking what a fifty-something year old man is doing hitting on a sixteen year old girl. Apparently he'd passed a comment asking if "he could have a set of pictures" amongst other things to the kid.
Now, because of that very statement, things get kind of messy because I gave the girl both sets. They're not in the wasted prints bin. If loss prevention comes looking for them (which they will, as I'll explain), they're not there. Guess who the first suspected person in possession is going to be?
So he's really shook up about this, in the most literal sense of the word, as I was barely able to take some papers out of his hands they were rattling so much.
So he leaves eventually and the woman comes in AGAIN, this time with the fuzz. They ask for the manager and I'm kind of just in a state of shock and it takes me a few minutes to page the other manager who just took over the shift. They all go into the office and this is what happened (as I found out):
Cop: Do you have his address?
Manager: Uhm.. you can check his paystubs..
*opens safe, cop gets address from paystubs. Cop calls his house*
Cop: Where do you live?
*hangs up phone, cop & mom get in cop car & leave*
The rest is now a complete mystery to me. I was a little worried about my own involvement at first, until I realized a few things:
This particular manager has already told me a story about some high school girl "fabricating" an attempted **** story to her principal involing him.
I find out from a close friend/employee that he was in jail for knocking out his wife who allegedly attacked him with a knife.
He's also made doubles of pictures before that involved couples.. well, yeah. I mean, just enjoying them while they're printing out is one thing but making copies is.. well, yeah.
Even if the girl denies possessing the pictures, I kind of feel like it's not so much worse as option B) no doubt if they were left at work they would have been snatched up by loss prevention and either hidden or destroyed, clearing him and leaving him to continue this kind of behaviour in the future. Score one for billion dollar conglomerates. They'll always score but.. a kick in the shin doesn't hurt.
Yes, his life might be knocked on it's side but from my first-hand experience with him, he's not an innocent man being wrongly accused of anything. At the same time, however, I feel this selfish sense of vindication in the ruin of a man who is, by all points, my arch-nemesis.
I guess the whole thing is the fact that I got involved, which I haven't done in a long time and I'm not really sure where the Hell it's going to take me from here.
EDIT: After all that, I leave out the most important dilemma (hell, it's 2:30am):
Absolve him, explain that I gave the girl the pictures against policy & persecute myself or deny everything, get a slap on the wrist and let the weight fall on him.
)
