In my experience I have had 2 cases of it in my own company, both by people I trusted. We were voted in the top 5 greatest places to work in Silicon Valley a few times and our salaries were the very top in our industry (pre-Glassdoor, our “anonymous salary survey” of the industry caused 2 competitors to call me and complain!). It wasn’t because they weren’t getting fair pay. It was greed.
The “Facelift” Embezzler
I had known her for years and she came to me after a bitter divorce. She’d lost her little agency and wanted to join my larger one. Talented and Trustworthy (I thought) I brought her in to run all the outside jobs with contractors like printers. She wanted to use her industry contacts to get us a better rate. The first few contracts were significantly less and I passed the savings on to our clients (good value builds trust and loyalty).
“Just the fact, m’am.”
I didn’t check after that as the business was growing. She started dressing nicer, got a new car and a $6,000 bicycle.
(Pintrest model)
I remarked, “Well, we must be paying you too much, haha!” And she responded, “I got a good divorce settlement!”
What’s up with your face?
After a few days of sick leave, she came to the office with a Really puffy face. I told her, ‘ you need to go home, whatever flu you’re have don’t give it to everyone.’ That’s when she confided about the facelift. I said it looks painful why not just get better. She said she had a ton of work, I said “It’ll be here when you return. She kept asking about a fax on a job and I said I’d keep an eye out for it.
The early bird catches the crook
The next morning I open the office as usual. It was my custom to come in early make the coffee And get a jump on the day.
This day there were 2 faxes in the tray, both with the same job number and detail except the bottom line. There was a $10,000 difference! I got my coffee and called the company to find out what had gone wrong.
“I told her it wouldn’t work!”
Luckily, the owner answered the phone, an early bird like me.
“Hey, Bob, it’s Roger Sanford,” I said pleasantly, “I was wondering if you could explain these two identical invoices. There seems to be a $10,000 discrepancy…”
“I told her it wouldn’t work!” he sounded so distraught, “I am so sorry Roger.”
I had no clue what he was talking about!
”She said to send her both and after we got paid on the higher one to send her the difference…”
He went on to spill his guts about the double billing, the payoff, the number of times they did it. I was in shock.
“But I had to…”
She returned a few days later. I had already packed up everything she had. I told my partners. They said, “She was your hire you deal with it!”
She showed up late, and I was sitting at her desk, the two invoices next to each other. She accessed the scene and decided to go on the attack.
“What do you know?” She asked.
“Enough.” I replied. “You are fired without severance. Your vesting is canceled. You will not get a reference. I want a list of every account you overcharged before you go. I need to make this right with our customers. If you fail to do that or if I find it’s not complete in our full audit, I will press charges. Understand?”
“No, I don’t. You seem really upset. I’m sure we can figure something..”
“DON’T!” I slammed my palm down on the desk, “After all we did to bring you in, help you, trust you and you did THIS!”
Tears running down her face, she said, “You don’t understand. I am single. I needed that facelift! I can’t get a man at my age…”
I was incredulous. My last words to my “friend“ was, “I want that list. Your stuffs All packed.”
We made good on the accounting error to our clients but it cost us our bonuses. She got remarried. That poor guy.
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