Personal experience and individual perspectives

Personal Experience

I am the owner of a construction company and it was within my business that my personal experience occurred. My construction company is small, but successful. I have a few dedicated employees who I can depend on to get the jobs done and done well and I have dedicated suppliers that sell quality equipment and materials that I need to run my company. As with all companies, there have been many financial ups and downs.

One time, when the company was suffering some financial set backs, an employee from one of my pipe suppliers pulled me aside and offered to sell me some materials that he had stolen from his company over the course of the last few months. This was a surprise for me because I had worked with this particular employee at the pipe supplier on several prior occasions and he did not seem to be a dishonest person who would steal from his own employer. He had over $10,000 worth of various materials and merchandise and he offered to sell it all to me for a mere $2,000.

I have been good friends with the owners of the pipe supply company and due to my friendships and my personal feelings of guilt and betrayal; I told this employee that I was not interested in purchasing the stolen goods. He became very upset that I refused his offer. Because I am an honest person, I went to tell the owners of the company about what had happened with their employee. They were very shocked and sadden that a trusted employee that had worked for them for a long time could do such an act. They had no choice but to call the police and report the stolen merchandise and materials. The police arrested the employee and recovered all of the stolen goods. Unfortunately, a few days later, I received several death threats in my voicemail box, which I also reported to the police. This ended up being a substantial ethical dilemma with a drastic outcome.