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Lying in order to get what you want at work may be effective in some situations, but it will eventually backfire and get you in trouble.
What would you do if one of the other department managers was upset with you because you didn’t let him break policy to get what he needed from your area, so he went to HR and lied about the situation?
That is what happened to the IT guy in this story, so when HR asked for his side of the story, he pulled out extensive proof showing that the other manager was lying, which got him fired.
This is a great example of why you always need to keep evidence and documentation of everything you do. You never know when you’ll need it. Read through the full story below and see if you love how it happened as much as I did.
You Need Scan Guns? Hold On, Let me Get You Fired First
So, this started earlier today when my Co-worker approached me after working on the floor, informing me of how “Kevin” approached him in regards to Scan Guns that he said he needs ready by today.
The manager sounds awful.
Scan guns that, for starters we do not have available, but I’ll explain that in a moment. First, let me tell you a little about Kevin so you know exactly what I’m dealing with here.
Kevin is this Company’s Plant Manager and he is, for a lack of a better term, “Abrasive.” If I can describe him better, he’s the type of manager who loves to micromanage his employees while demanding the most out of every and anyone when he feels that he needs something important done.
This is where our Situation Came in.
Ok, let’s see what happened.
Long story short, Kevin wanted the Omnii Scan Guns that mhipping mainly uses for inventory to be used by his employees to track pallets to ensure that they are accurate.
Sounds reasonable right? Well, I thought so too, even if he had that out the blue. Well, as I soon found out today, things soon escalated the way that they did, and while I wished things were handled better, I did things the best that I could do in the end so there aren’t any real regrets here.
What happened to these guns?
So, steering back to the situation, Kevin told my co-worker that the other two scan guns (because the company only had 3) were either broken or unaccountable.
That obviously didn’t sit well with either of us because now, to remedy that he wanted the Scan Guns we had on reserve for a special project to be used for his project.
Of course they need to find out what happened.
My Co-Worker recorded the Convo (which will be used later) and asked if I can step in to talk with him, so I did. Walking to the area Kevin was in, I can see that I wasn’t alone, not that it really mattered since my business was with him.
I addressed Kevin the situation with the Scan Guns and, Per our I.T. Policy, we must determine the status of the guns, why one is broken and why the other is missing? How broken is the gun? Why was there no better accountability made for our assets, etc…
The scan guns were under his care.
Kevin, in his own fashion, didn’t have an answer for me, but instead told me to “Go ask whoever had the guns and find out why.” I looked at him, dead in the eyes and asked him,
“Sir, Isn’t this your project? Shouldn’t you be held accountable since the equipment was under your care at the time?”
Kevin is not going to get his way.
Obviously, Kevin somehow took offense to that as he felt that I was being “Disrespectful” and that how dare I put him on the spot like that.
So, as always, in situations like this, I decided to call my boss and inform him of the situation and asked for his input. Putting my phone on speaker, my boss informed Kevin that he cannot accommodate what he wants simply because we do not have what he wants, nor can it be done same day.
Kevin then suggested the Scan Guns that we have reserved for that Special Project. My boss obviously told him no, as he will not be allocating assets for a project to fill his needs. Kevin tried to dispute this saying that he wanted this done today. My boss said, and I quote this happily:
There is a policy in place for a reason.
“Well if you had enough foresight to inform us of this project sooner, we would have been able to accommodate you better. Keep in mind that per our Policy: Should the plant have any and all projects that will involve I.T. Related assets and/or information, it must be coordinated with the I.T. Department prior to deployment to ensure a seamless transition. You didn’t and therefore you have to accept the consequences as someone in Management should.”
Keep in mind also that prior to calling my boss, I was also recording my convo with Kevin because reading this knows that CYA is absolutely essential. I then proceeded to resume recording, giving Kevin the illusion that I was hanging up with my boss (which I did, but he didn’t need to know all the deets lol).
It seems that Kevin is not going to let this go.
I then asked Kevin if there was anything else if he needed from me, to which he had a bit of a grump and told me that he found me to being very unreasonable, basically saying that I wasn’t doing my job properly and that if it were up to him, he would fire me on the spot for being so incompetent.
Sure Kevin, keep feeding me that delicious Info.
So, I went back to my office to see what I can wrap up on for the day when I got a call from my HR Manager to report to her office. Y’all already know where this is going, but we’re coming to the conclusion here so buckle up.
He came prepared.
So, I walk in there and sure enough, Kevin is there too with a smug look on his face. My HR Manager told me that Kevin informed her that he found my conduct with him to be very disrespectful and that I refused to accommodate him with what he needed or gave a valid excuse why.
Its no surprise here, but I was ready for this. Prior to even showing up, I had my Co-Worker email me the recording he had with Kevin since by that time, he had left work and went home.
The whole team is gathered together for this.
Along with my Recordings, I had what I needed, but I wanted to put the Cherry on top. So, after a quick text to my boss, he showed up with the most serious expression I’ve seen him in.
Keep in mind also that he was supposed to be starting his vacation and getting dragged in for Kevin’s BS did not sit well with him. So, after Kevin said his piece and I said mine, the HR Manager turned to me and said, “Do you have any evidence that dismisses Kevin’s accusations?”
Kevin was not expecting this, that’s for sure.
With the most professional looking smug look on my face, I told her that I did. So, I pulled out my phone and pulled up the two recordings that both my Co-Worker and I had with our Conversation with Kevin.
After listening to the Convos, Kevin’s expression went from Smug to as if he saw a ghost.
HR realized what was happening.
Without much to say, the HR Manager turned to Kevin and told him, “How can you even say such a thing to someone here? He has been one of our most dedicated workers here. Being in the Job that he’s in, he has alot on his plate to contend with. It is also a Policy that his Manager enforces that they do not keep surplus equipment if it is not meant to be utilized to its fullest extent, that is why we order through them to supply exactly what we need. Your conduct towards him does not merit any actual justification through your callous words and berating him in the manner that you took.”
Afterwards I stepped out with my boss while the HR Manager doles out what she felt was necessary to Kevin. Not long afterwards, he left her office without saying a word to either my boss or I.
Goodbye, Kevin.
Going back into her office, we were told that Kevin had already had a history of this sort of thing happening, but without any substantial evidence, they couldn’t can him.
We did, and it was more than enough along with the paper trail stacked against him to get his butt fired.
He did it to himself.
Again, this happened just today so I’m feeling a mix of anxiety, joy and some sadness for Kevin.
In some misguided way, I know he was just trying to do his job, but I just wished he could have handled things better.
While it is never fun when someone gets fired, in these cases where it is obviously their own fault, it can be satisfying.
Read on to see what the people in the comments had to say about this story.
Hopefully, Kevin will learn something from this.
The guy should have been more prepared.
This is the scary part of the story.
Always document everything.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who got back at slacking coworkers with fresh-baked treats.
This person thinks he did a good thing, though.
He came with the receipts and got the lying manager fired. This just goes to show that you always have to be prepared for when a coworker tries to throw you under the bus, but that isn’t always easy.
If he hadn’t recorded those conversations, the meeting would have gone much differently, though.