I had to rat on someone for the first time ever

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ESP47

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Am I dumb for feeling bad about this?

I work for the government and I haven't even been there a year yet. There is an engineer there who was really nice and welcoming to me when I got there. He's from somewhere in the middle east so sometimes he has communication problems but its not that bad. Well after a while I started noticing that he doesn't really do the kind of work the other engineers do. He does stuff that basically an analyst or even a secretary would do. I mean I could do his job with a weeks worth of training. Just about anyone off the street could as well.

Now this guy gets paid about $85k a year. After a while I started noticing that he kept asking me to order cd's for the office. So I'd order them and then they'd be gone rather quickly and I'd have to order more, including cd jewel cases and even these special envelopes to send in the mail. I assumed he was doing some kind of software thing for work. I mean I was new so I had no idea. Turns out he's just burning cd's at work for himself. He literally sits there for about 4 hours of the day and makes mix tapes.

Then I noticed that he has no idea what he's doing with his work. People that are supposed to double check what he does are coming to me and asking me if I could just fix the typos and errors he has in his work. I told them no and I started to realize that the people that were there before me would just fix his errors and cover up for him. I told them I'm not going to be doing his work when he makes 3x more than I do.

Then he comes to me one day with a piece of paper with two lines on it that he wrote. It was an email he wanted to send to some company about buying a stereo. It seriously made almost no sense and he spent about 15 minutes writing it out. I was like dude do you not even know how to write english? He said he was just joking and it was an email he got from a friend. I was just thinking wow, how do you get a job as an engineer, making $85k a year and you don't even know how to write or do anything more than basic math?

Finally the straw that broke the camels back was when I saw that he doesn't hardly ever use his leave when he takes time off. In the last 2 months he has about 115 hours that are unaccounted for. Basically he goes on vacation for a week and only puts in for 8 hours of vacation. The rest is just money that he's basically stealing. He's stolen about $3k from the tax payers over the last couple months by not using his leave.

Now I'm not the kind of guy that goes and tells on people but this is just ridiculous. This guy has somehow had a free ride his entire life. He's basically stealing from the tax payers by just being employed by the state. Doesn't matter if he's not using his vacation time or not, he is getting paid a lot of money for mininum wage type work. I went and told my boss, without naming names, about the whole not using the leave thing. He wanted a name but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I can't stand rats in the workplace. I gave him enough info to where I think he'll figure it out. My girlfriend asked me if I felt a lot better now that I told him about it....to be honest, I feel really bad now and I'm not sure why.
 
I wouldnt worry about it, sounds like this guy has given him self enough rope to hang him ten times over, it will catch up with him eventually
 
caferacerx said:
I wouldnt worry about it, sounds like this guy has given him self enough rope to hang him ten times over, it will catch up with him eventually
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I'd like to think so, but when you get a government job, you've got it made. My wife, a federal employee, comments almost nobody ever gets fired or even demoted. They just get overlooked for bonuses and promotions. They've got it made.
 
I tried typing a response to this three times, but every response I come off sounding like a racist. I have seen your situation many times and it is very sad that this is what we have become. The truth is that if they have to cut an engineers job where you work, it will most likely be a white guy to avoid allegations of discrimination.
 
rats are bad but losing your job for a cover up is much worse i had to give a name or else id get canned and i wanted my job but i didnt wanna give names but i did and i didnt get fired but everyone else pissed me off enough to where i got in a fight and got fired anyway
 
macho781988 said:
rats are bad but losing your job for a cover up is much worse i had to give a name or else id get canned and i wanted my job but i didnt wanna give names but i did and i didnt get fired but everyone else pissed me off enough to where i got in a fight and got fired anyway
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I'm in a similar situation at my job. There is money theft going on that I know of. The problem the girl doing it is one of my boss' favorites. So my boss won't do anything and HR won't do anything about a problem in my department because the thief's mommy works upstairs. So I'm basically stuck because I see the people she is ripping off (she skims tips) and know there is nothing that can be done. In the end I would get fired for causing waves.
 
I don't see that as being a rat or ratting someone out. In my book you would be a rat if you where stealing with him then at the first sign of trouble told on him to save your own ***. Now that's ratting on someone. Other people should have noticed all his B.S. long before you did and said something. No one like that should ever get a good government job like that, let alone a job period.
 
I don't know based on what you said it seems like its probably not your job to be evaluating others performance. As a business owner I really don't like the it's not my job mentality or the he/she makes more money they can do it mentality. I just expect my employees to their job and do it to the best of their ability.

However as tax payers, I guess both you and I have a right and a duty to question the actions of goverment employees and officials. I applaud your efforts to protect the tax payers money from theft. If the engineer in question is in fact only doing his job and your suspicions are wrong there is nothing for him to fear. So my thoughts are if your going to get involved you should have given all the information including the name.
 
You've done the right thing. You have a good sense of whats right. Right is still right and wrong is always wrong. Congrats!
 
so how much paid time did you waste keeping track of this other guy? sounds to me that you were stealing time also.
 
MY HATS OFF TO YOU!!!
I too am a goverment employee and in order to have piece at your workplace you must do something... There's probaly lots of other people want to do the right thing but don't have the GONADS to do it.. I hear it all the time the bitching and whining about other employees but these whiners don't do a thing to change it... Takes courage and sounds like you got it. I'm Behind you !!!!
 
You did the right thing, If someone knew that you knew about this you might have gotten dragged down with him when he eventually implodes.
 
my hat is off to you.if more people would do things like this to the deadbeats in the gov.this country would be better of ..SOooo heres to ya:thumleft::thumleft::thumleft:
 
Sad truth is that if anything at all happens, it will be the engineer getting a promotion to another dept and you will be lucky to still be there a year from now.
 
Ya did the right thing, I could say more but would come off as being racist. Good for you, cover yer *** though!
 
There's one or several in every workplace. You did the right thing by bringing it to your boss' attention. Now, it is up to your boss to figure out who the person is and deal with them. That's part of his/her job. Should you get any "crap" from these people...go higher-up and don't let anyone ever make you feel you did anything wrong. Right is right & wrong is wrong! You shouldn't feel bad about it. Just know your facts and cover your ***! YOU did good Hollywood!

p.s.
I agree with WIKD71RICK: "If it was the other way around you can bet you and your name would be given in a minute"
 
I have a sneaky approach when I come across BS like this going on at work. I would find ways to lead their mistake trials back to the bad employee. Let him swallow in his own BS. Their would not be a single person I would tell in doing so. Everyone that lives a lie leaves trails, there easy to find. Reap what you sow!
 
Now if we could only do the same with Odumbo....:eek:fftheai:


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