Ethical Situations

[gbaughma]

A message in a thread by willif made me think of some of my ethical dilemmas. I'll share a couple of stories with you.

* I was once asked to "zoom in" a video tape of an incident, so it looked like there were no witnesses. When I balked, the boss back-pedaled and said that I misunderstood; just blur the faces of the other witnesses.

* A company told me to put out a RFP for a new server. I put together about a dozen RFPs, but then was informed by my boss that I would include "xyz" company in the bids. I said "But xyz company is owned by one of the associate board members!" I was then given a directive to do it. I included the bid to xyz company, and when the bids came in, the board member looked through the bids, saying stuff like "I can match that. I can beat that one..." I got up and walked out of the meeting. My boss followed me out and asked why I walked out of the meeting. I responded "Either he leaves, so we can do this fairly, or we invite *every* vendor who sent in a proposal to the meeting, so they have the same opportunity. This is a conflict of interest, and I will *not* be a part of it." I was, within a few days, let go of that job, without warning or reason given.

Any other stories to share?



Just my 2¢
-Cole's Law: Shredded cabbage

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[flapeyre]

I have had, in the past, users who insist that I fix some data under the table, as it were, in violation of company policy. When this happens, I'll reply with a polite refusal to do so (cc: to my supervisor and the user's supervisor).

It hasn't happened twice with the same user.

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[wlemery]

I was once asked to help set up a false IT center. The company I worked for was courting McDonald's on a national level, and needed to look larger and busier than they really were. The end result was a room full of people and tubes connected to nothing, with a bunch of women hammering away at the key boards.

 

[GwydionM]

20 years ago, I was working freelance. On one of my jobs, I was asked to pretend to be a full-time employee for a job they were doing for another company. This company was pretending to be much bigger than it was - the office was set up to look like someone's reception area.

That was the sort of thing that put me off freelancing.

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK

 

[kmcferrin]

I'm sure that these cases are the exception rather than the rule, but I'm surprised that things like that actually happen. Any big company that's concerned that a smaller shop isn't going to rely on a tour of the lobby/facility to determine if your company can handle the work. They usually check references along with a "who's who" of IT companies in your area, business directories, etc. And when they find out that you were trying to pull a fast one on them they'll usually drop you like a hot potato.

I've got to ask, has any of those schemes actually worked?

 

[traingamer]

I'd done a couple of very short-term php gigs (2-3 days each) as a subcontractor for a small development company. The owner called me up and asked me to join him in a sales pitch to an engineering firm that wanted to port some applications to the web. The owner waxed poetic about the number of projects that "we'd worked on together" (while I was feeling increasingly less comfortable about his embellishments).

He didn't hear back from them. I didn't give it much thought until about 2 months later when I got a direct call from the engineering firm asking me if I would take the project myself.

I turned them down as I believed it would have been unethical for me to take it. (Felt like good karma though)

Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[wlemery]

Yes, these scams work, and no, people and companies don't always check references.

 

[rphips]

About 2 months ago we hired a guy from another company (he is suppose to be a gueinus or something) anyway - to make a long story short - before he finally said goddbye to his other company - he brought me the laptop he had been using and demanded I take all the files and data from the laptop because the laywers for the other company wanted it back. I just looked at him and explain that the laptop did not belong to my company thus I cannot (and will not) copy, delete, or remove any file, folder, or data from the laptop. and if he need something he needs to contact the other company. And then told him he need to remove the laptop from company property. He was upset but I got the last laugh - he was fired do to his business ethics

 

[wahnula]

he is suppose to be a genius or something

...not much of a genius if he can't figure out how to copy files! You did the right thing.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[harebrain]

He was upset but I got the last laugh - he was fired do to his business ethics

And isn't it always the case that genius goes unappreciated?

 

[strongm]

However, just because you are unappreciated it does not mean you are a genius ... ;-)

 

[GLComputing]

"And then told him he need to remove the laptop from company property. He was upset but I got the last laugh - he was fired do to his business ethics"

Personal files or business files?

I remember about 10+ years ago, working as a reseller of product from a VERY LARGE software vendor, hearing about the senior tech guy getting the can... I found out that it was because the individual concerned had a heroin drug habbit and sold his company laptop to a pawn shop to cover his supply one weekend. The Sales Manager had the task of buying it back on the monday morning... snd this wasn't the only drug related incident I heard of at the same office. If the company was not so large, and we hadn't invested so much in their products, I probably would have dropped their products.

Or, from a friend:
-----
A moron asked me for a quote on a new PC before christmas (this in itself is unusual here, people just tend to ring up now and order one), I asked him whats it for and turned out he has game freak kids.....so I quoted on an appropriate system.

Didnt hear back..oh well, you cant win them all.

He called today, asking for my help...he got a bottom of the range Acer at harvey normans....AMD Sempron, 512 meg shared with video etc and no video card slot.

Wanted to know how to run a thing called "Unreal tournamanet 3" which I looked up and it needs almost a Steppenwolf cluster to run it.

I sarcastically told him to buy his kids a mini-bike and a pony cos it would be cheaper than getting his new pc to run the game.
-----

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[rphips]

GLComputing

Don't ya just love people who ask but never listen.