16. SELLING YOUR PERSONAL MERCHANDISE BEHIND THE BOSS’ BACK IS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Of ‘The City Tycoon, the Conference Centre and a Secretary’s Hidden Lunches’

I dried my feet on the aging doormat that marked the entrance to Debra’s house.  It had been raining heavily despite the steaming hot temperatures that had victimized city dwellers during the past few days.  Being early March, such erratic downpours were not uncommon.

Sadly, the gloomy weather could only serve to accentuate the deep concern that I felt for my friend Debra, whose recent past had been tainted with a mosaic of misfortunes; the most recent one being her summary dismissal from her job as secretary for a well-known city tycoon.  In fact, Debra had called me late the night before, pleading that I come to her rescue. 

A few knocks; and the door opened to reveal my friend’s teary face.  No sooner had we settled down than she started narrating the circumstances that had led to her plight.

Apparently, a month prior to the fateful day, her boss Daudi had completed the Conference Centre that had been his dream since launching the ‘Events Management’ business.  The well-travelled executive had employed all his exposure and resources to put up a facility that would be a landmark in the region.  

Debra still remembered the day that the contractors finally handed over the multi-billion building to Daudi, during a dinner organized to mark the auspicious occasion.  The boss had used the function to proudly announce that the Centre had been designed to attract big shots globally; and that the Regional Commissioner had graciously agreed to officially open the facility in a few days’ time.

“As you know, the RC is a very busy man…; therefore, this is a golden opportunity for us…; each of us must work round the clock to make the event memorable”, Daudi had instructed.

Indeed the days that followed were just as the boss had intimated.  The office became as busy as a bee hive; to the point that some people were finding it hard to grab lunch which, as a rule, was supposed to be outside office premises.

But during such busy periods, employees no longer had to worry about lunch, for Debra’s secret food business would always ‘come in handy’. 

At this juncture, Debra went on to narrate how her sister-in-law Milia had approached Debra some months back, proposing that they operate a joint food business…, Milia to cook and Debra to sell.  Debra had been hesitant, since Daudi had ordered that those kinds of selling activities would never be tolerated within office premises.  But friends had encouraged the secretary.  “You could sell the food quietly; don’t worry, we shall buy…!” one had promised.  And, ‘buying they did’.   

However, things began turning sour the day that Milia called to report that she would not be able to deliver the lunches as she was unwell.  During the night that followed, Debra learnt that Milia had been diagnosed with Cholera.  This was when it struck Debra that she had never taken the trouble to inspect the environment in which Milia prepared her food.  “What if the lunch that we have been eating all these days was contaminated?” she thought in panic.

Her worry seemed to have been prophetic.  For a few days later, Debra and her office customers started complaining of stomach pains, diarrhea, nausea and fever.  The situation got so bad that a significant number of employees were taken ill, while others got admitted.  To make matters worse, Daudi was forced to postpone the opening ceremony, since a good proportion of his employees were sick.

The boss’ first suspicion was that an office attendant had maliciously poisoned the tea.  But when the attendant was taken to task, she disclosed that Debra had been stealthily selling lunches, suggesting that her food could have been the problem. 

Daudi was very upset to learn that his assumedly well-trusted secretary had been breaking rules behind his back.  And, the fact that the hidden lunches had caused the postponement of the ‘much-awaited-for’ event was inexcusable.  “We cannot afford to have unethical people working here”, he shouted, ordering that the Human Resources Manager sees to it that Debra is dismissed with immediate effect. 

As Debra concluded her story, she said pitifully, “Joy, I had told Milia that I was not allowed to sell the food, but she kept insisting…! Now I do not know what to do”.   

I comforted her that things will improve with time.  But as I bade her farewell, it was sad that I could not come up with quick solutions, given that jobs were not easy to find these days.  All I could think of was, “I wish she had not been blinded by the craving to earn a few extra illegal shillings”.  However, disclosing my thoughts would have only rubbed salt in my friend’s wound. 

On the way back home, I could not help but recall the many occasions that I had found vendors selling food in offices through ‘behind-the-management’s-back’ arrangements.  Worse still, no one seemed to have cared to inspect the suppliers’ premises for quality control. 

Organizations need to take deliberate steps to address such tendencies as failure to do so can be very costly to employees and the organization as a whole!  As one person warned, ‘Why should you trouble ‘TROUBLE’, before ‘TROUBLE’ troubles you?’