Claudia had a co-worker who called with an emergency and ended up clocking in for her. She kept doing it and eventually got fired. Now she’s bitter and is going to the boss to rat Claudia out, even though she was the one who asked the favor. Was Claudia wrong for clocking in for her in the first place? Should she go to the boss herself? Or is this co-worker just bad news all around?
Ayla Brown: And good morning, Claudia. I definitely want to help you out with this moral work dilemma between work and friends, your boss and you. What happened?
Claudia: Yeah, it’s not a great situation. Here’s the back story. I work at a warehouse. We clock in and out like normal. And about six weeks ago, I had a work friend. You know, we’re not really friends outside of work, but we’re cool at work, if that makes any sense.
Ayla Brown: It does.
Claudia: She called me one morning and she was like, Hey, I have an issue with my kid. I can’t make it to work today, but I don’t have any sick time or PTO. Can you clock me in and clock me out? And I said, Yeah, I got you. Don’t worry about it.
Ayla Brown: Okay. Wow. That’ a lot.
Claudia: I didn’t even think twice about it. I just knew she hadn’t ever done anything like that before. I knew it must have been serious. So I just did it. And then the next three Fridays, she didn’t show up for work. So she ended up getting fired. And she called me and was saying, Hey, I thought we had this arrangement. Now I’ve lost my job. Why didn’t you clock in and out and speak to me. So I said hey, that was a one time thing. I know I can’t be doing that.
Ayla Brown: Right. Then you’re putting your job on the line for clocking someone in and out that clearly wasn’t there. And you’re probably like, Hey, I get it. One time is one thing. You said you had a family emergency. I did it. I felt bad, but you know what? You didn’t feel bad about it. And now she thought it was an every Friday situation and she got fired. Okay. Keep going.
Claudia: So now she’s saying she’s mad because she lost her job and she’s threatening me because she’s saying that she’s going to go to the boss and tell him what I did the one time. And I’m just like, I did you a favor. Why are you going to turn it on me now? And now I have just like a complete moral dilemma. Do I tell my boss ahead of time, give them a heads up and say, Hey, I did this thing, it was one time. Or do I call her bluff and see if maybe she won’t tell him at all. And I can just kind of move on from this and not ever do it again, obviously.
Ayla Brown: Wow. This is good. Can I tell you, the moral dilemmas are the hardest dilemmas because what do you do? Because you haven’t lost your job and nor do you want to, But you’re like, do I just do the moral high ground thing and tell your boss that you were participating in this at one point? Or do you just let it go?
