Shades of Dishonesty
How do you feel when you know a crucial piece of information and are instructed not to relate it when speaking with another person?
If you knew one of your co-workers was going to be fired later in the day, how would you respond when he said, "Since it is a long weekend. I am tempted to leave a little early today."?
I know it is not my place to say anything. I understand that he has done everything to put himself into this situation. Nevertheless, I still feel that when I speak with him my words are words are tainted with shades of dishonesty.
7 Comments:
Hi SJ,
There are lots of Jewish ethical issues here, and your presentation of your dilemma seems incomplete to me.
Perhaps the main consideration here would be what is to be gained from your informing him? If the boss' mind is made up, perhaps it's best left for the boss to tell him himself. And perhaps he'd be embarrassed to know that other workers knew about it even before he did.
This is only one aspect of something that may be very complex. It's good to share this, but I would recommend consulting with a Rav to get his advice on your specific situation.
Hope this helped! Gmar Chasima Tova!
Yitz: You are correct. My posting (written on Friday) was intentionally incomplete - simply as a way to put down my feelings on that day. Today the co-worker is no longer working in my office. Nothing I could have said would have changed anything. Thank you nevertheless for your advice.
Gmar Chasima Tova to you too!
Yes, these situations are sticky, and it all really depends on the specific situation.
I remember once being in a similar situation - I told my boss, "why did I have to know this?" The rest of the day I avoided the individual (who was about to be laid-off) to the best of my ability... :-(
But, if it would have been possible to save his job, I would have told him about it as sensatively as possible.
Yes, these situations are sticky, and it all really depends on the specific situation.
I remember once being in a similar situation - I told my boss, "why did I have to know this?" The rest of the day I avoided the individual (who was about to be laid-off) to the best of my ability... :-(
But, if it would have been possible to save his job, I would have told him about it as sensatively as possible.
Chabakuk Elisha: My initial instinct was to try to avoid him all day. This was difficult since he sat in a neighboring cube.
Eventually, he got the call late on Friday afternoon telling him that it was his last day. He came over to my cube to sit down and talk and I just sat there and listened.
I had a boss who was always nagging me to keep an eye on another employee whom she thought was stealing (a task WAY outside of my job description). She was asking me to do this really obvious stuff like take equipment out of her office so she wouldn't "take it home". What my boss didn't realize was that I really liked and respected the accused person. It was super awkward. I just refused to do what she said. But I felt terrible knowing that her boss was telling people such awful stuff.
Such a difficult situation. I wonder what halacha says about this...
Post a Comment
<< Home