Take Care of Yourself First
For the first few years of operating my business my philosophy was to take care of my employees first, no matter what.
I can tell you now – that’s not the way I think anymore.
In October of 2003 I received a phone call from a local casino asking if I had given permission for a payroll check to be cashed by their casino cage. (Yes, employees in Vegas take paychecks to the casinos and cash them rather than sending them to a bank account. Not sure I have truly ever understood some people’s reasoning for doing this. Of course, I completely understand why the casino will do it.)
The call was from the security department. I told them I had not given permission and was wondering what caused them to call. They said someone had just cashed a check for $3,700. The cashier made a mistake and didn’t look up the account to see if I had given permission for cashing checks at their casino so they called to see if the check was real.
I realized quickly that it was a bogus check and decided to drive down to the casino and find out if I could get any information about who did this. In the research, I discovered the check was a counterfeit check and made out to someone that doesn’t work for me. Obviously I was concerned.
When I arrived in the security room of the casino there were three executive managers of the casino there to show me video footage of the “crime”. It was amazing, they had video footage of the individual walking up to the casino cage, signing the check at the cage and every step on their way out the door and into the parking lot. (quick lesson – don’t ever try stealing anything from a Vegas casino, your odds of getting away with it – slim to known).
I recognized the person in the video right away. She was an employee of the company for the last two years. What really surprised me was that I would have considered her my top employee at the time. She was dedicated, great work ethic, loved her job and put in extra hours whenever we needed it.
Long story short, after some research on her background (which we didn’t do at the time of hiring – lesson learned there) she had been previously convicted for mail fraud and producing counterfeit checks and cashing them at local establishments. She had been out of jail for 2 years and 3 months.
The person was someone I trusted, someone that we even gave access to secure information in our company. When she needed an advance on her paycheck because money was tight during December I gave her the advance. When she needed advice on managing her personal credit, I took the time to sit down with her after work and guided her in the right direction. When she needed a raise because her expenses increased – we gave her the raise.
I was always so fearful of losing such a quality employee I wanted to do whatever I could for her. In fact, when she received a raise three times, the company had not increased its profitability, so her raise came directly out of my own pocket. I took home less in order to increase her pay and let her take home more.
Even with putting this employee first, when it came down to a situation where she needed money she didn’t have, she took money from me. She committed a crime against my business in order to put more money in her pocket, in spite of what I had done for her in the past two years.
I realized then that everyone looks out for themselves first, and those that don’t get taken advantage of. You may think I’m just being cynical, but as a business owner I’ve had to learn this lesson more than once. Any time I didn’t put the company and myself first when making a decision I put the company and myself at risk.
Since that moment, I ask myself when making a decision for the company:
“Will this cause the company to lose money? Will it cause the company undue risk? Will it cause me to lose money and am I okay with the loss if it does?”
A good friend of mine taught me a business should set their priorities as: The Company, The Shareholders, The Employees. I realize this is very different than how a lot of consultants, teachers and business owners think. However, I have found that it doesn’t mean you treat employees poorly, only that you realize there would be no employees if it weren’t for the company and its shareholders.
Crowd Funding Book by David Gass
3 comments
Dear David,
I learned the hard way.I now always bond any person who has access to my checks or billing process.I also have the provider of service and reciever of service sign the documents under oath.This way i have been able to avoid a whole bunch of problems.
This is one of the best articles I have read all year. I had not looked at this situation in this light before. Thank you for sharing.
Dear Mr. Gass:
Your comment hits home. Recently as a new landlord, the tenants ran into a problem making the rent payments. I let them pay me late. First, in order to have some time to fix their vehicles, next a medical emergency, then later when one lost their job because of a work injury. In the meantime, I was left with non payment of rent for over six months while I covered the mortgages and on-going expenses of maintaining the property. Ultimately, I had to evict them and have yet to receive payment for the past due rent. Would I do it again? Probably not. I learned like you that people will do what is in their best interest despite the goodwill of others who attempt to help to their detriment. As I embark in starting my new company, I will be using your services and hard-earned experience to step over the cow patties which are left to keep us from succeeding.