can a person be too honest

[sideshow]

Where I use to work, we had an installer, he was doing an install at a residence. The lady was real religious, had bibles and crosses everywhere. The installer finished the job, and the lady asked about getting another few windows done, the installer told her it would be 50.00 a window , she asked him if he could do better, he said he couldn't, that was the set price. Then he told her 50.00 cash he would do the three windows. She agreed and all was good. Then three weeks later the born again christian lady came to our company to pay the extra 100.00, because she didn't feel right about it. Then of course the installer lost his job.

[Curtis Baillie]

Unfortunately thieves abound in all type of businesses.

[Silva Consultants]

It used to be common practice for alarm technicians to do "side jobs" for customers at night and on the weekends. As most technicians had take-home trucks, they would most often use take their company truck to the private alarm installation job that they were doing on the side. While the technician would most often buy the major system components (control panel, etc.), they would think nothing of using their employer's tools and supplies (contact switches, wire, fasteners, etc.) to perform their private installation.

Many alarm companies instituted policies banning "side jobs" and/or stopped letting their technicians take their trucks home for this reason. But I suspect that the practice is still going on in one form or another.

[SecTrainer]

It used to be common practice for alarm technicians to do "side jobs" for customers at night and on the weekends. As most technicians had take-home trucks, they would most often use take their company truck to the private alarm installation job that they were doing on the side. While the technician would most often buy the major system components (control panel, etc.), they would think nothing of using their employer's tools and supplies (contact switches, wire, fasteners, etc.) to perform their private installation.

Many alarm companies instituted policies banning "side jobs" and/or stopped letting their technicians take their trucks home for this reason. But I suspect that the practice is still going on in one form or another.

Yup. I knew a guy had his own business and ran it side-by-side with his "real" job. Carried a magnetic sign he slipped over the company decal. Got away with it for several years until he was sitting in a coffee shop with his boss and one of his "side" customers came up and started talking to him about something he wanted done. Whoops!

Oh, did I mention that the supervision at his "real" job was somewhat lax?

[Mr. Security]

Contractors who accept cash to avoid taxes is a widespread problem here. It also allows them to underbid the honest person who must include the tax when determining a fair fee for his service. I'm glad the installer got canned.

Do you realize how much money could be saved if everyone was honest? Think about it.

[darkenna]

Do you realize how much money could be saved if everyone was honest? Think about it.

I'd rather not. I'd probably be unemployed.

[Mr. Security]

I'd rather not. I'd probably be unemployed.

Security includes other functions such as fire control, crowd control, preventing water damage, safety inspections, first aid, etc. You could still be employed as one.

[mjw064]

Lots of cops work private security gigs in their PSA while on duty and in service in a PSA. Its nearly the same exact same thing ... and of course if you get caught, there will be hell to pay.

PSA = Patrol Service Area (think precinct or sector)

[HotelSecurity]

Security includes other functions such as fire control, crowd control, preventing water damage, safety inspections, first aid, etc. You could still be employed as one.

Mr. Security I think there are a lot on this forum that do not realize this. They claim not to be Want-a-bees but think that Private Securty is actually Private Policing.

[Curtis Baillie]

Security includes other functions such as fire control, crowd control, preventing water damage, safety inspections, first aid, etc. You could still be employed as one.Mr. Darkenna works in retail loss prevention.

[mjw064]

That lady was stupid. Stupid people should be illegal.

[Mr. Security]

Mr. Darkenna works in retail loss prevention.

No problem. "Clean up in isle 2 please" :D

[doulos Christou]

Mr. Security I think there are a lot on this forum that do not realize this. They claim not to be Want-a-bees but think that Private Securty is actually Private Policing.


Yep...you hit the nail...or seal...you pick, right on the head:rolleyes:

[darkenna]

Mr. Darkenna works in retail loss prevention.

Indeed... and most of my time these days is spent investigating intentional violations of policy and procedure. My guess is that if everyone was honest, my industry would be somewhere in the vicinity of 90% unemployed, with the last 10% being solely on the hunt of operational error.

They wouldn't keep us to clean the aisles... they already have people for that. :rolleyes:

[SecTrainer]

Mr. Security I think there are a lot on this forum that do not realize this. They claim not to be Want-a-bees but think that Private Securty is actually Private Policing.

Actually, when "policing" is properly understood, you'll find that security is exactly "private policing" in the private space, with precise parallels to many of the duties that are routinely performed by the government police in the public space, the majority of which have nothing to do with enforcing laws, incidentally. (the police spend less than 30% of their time enforcing laws).

This has nothing to do with what you think are "wanna-be's" or the "common" use of the word "police" by the lay public, which is inaccurate. Policing is also not necessarily related to "government authority". Policing refers to the specific activities of maintaining order, protecting life and property, assessing threats and investigating adverse incidents, whether it's done in the public or the private space, and whether it's done under government authority or the authority of the entity that controls the private space in question.

That's why you'll find that private security is referred to in many academic journal articles and scholarly books written by respected authors in the field of private security as exactly that - "private policing", such as this one: The Rebirth of Private Policing (http://www.amazon.com/Rebirth-Private-Policing-Johnston/dp/0415051924), which is a discussion of the shift in policing to the private space.

Here's an abstract of an academic thesis entitled The Evolving Status of Private Policing (http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/2/5/6/0/p25606_index.html).

And here's a law library article discussing public versus private policing (http://law.jrank.org/pages/1691/Police-Private-Police-Industrial-Security.html). This particular author specifically states in his opening sentence that he uses "private security" and "private police" interchangeably.

This was a very famous study prepared for the federal government: Private Police in the United States - two volumes.

Here's an article from the Institute of Economic Affairs entitled (it's a mouthful): Theft in the Market: An Economic Analysis of Costs and Incentives in Improving Prevention by Government and Private Police In Reducing Loss (http://www.amazon.com/Theft-Market-Incentives-Prevention-Government/dp/0255360606/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213065655&sr=1-9). You'll find books like The Law and Private Police by James Kakalik and Private Policing by Mark Button. In Jones & Newburn's Plural Policing: A Comparative Perspective, you'll find the definition of policing as any "organized form of order maintenance, peacekeeping, rule OR law enforcement, crime investigation and prevention..." (page 3), and the book goes on to examine the relationship of policing in the public and private space, which the authors call "plural policing". In fact, many private police are working in the public space, employed by government, and have worked in the quasi-public space for many years. The distinction, frankly, is blurring and will continue to do so.

I could list many more examples (the professional literature is bulging with such references), but you can Google the exact phrases "private police" and "private policing", and you'll begin to see what I'm talking about. What you'll discover is that the vast majority of the policing that is done in this country is done by the private police, popular misconceptions notwithstanding. Remember, most of the public think that electric power companies are "public utilities", too, when in fact most of them are private enterprises. Even the US Postal Service is now quasi-privatised but people still think it's a government agency. Don't get your definitions from the public.

[integrator97]

In the Navy, to police an area was to clean it up. Pick up the trash, cigarette butts and what have you.

If everyone was honest and there were no bad people, it would be worth it. I'd find something else to do. Too bad it won't ever happen. :(

[burley]

It's too bad most people don't realize that regardless of their attempts to cover a wrong it will always come back to haunt them; karmic laws are the real deal. I wish I learned this truth earlier in my life so my career and personal life could have evolved faster. Anyway, as soon as I grasped the concept my life greatly improved.

If you need proof of the aforementioned then carefully pay attention to someone in your work life that you know to be a crook of some sort i.e. liar, thief, etc. and wait to see the crap rain down on them at a later point. Unfortunately they won't attribute their vehicle accident/broken leg/missed promotion to their past actions until some time in the future when they "get" the big picture.

The lady that returned to the window store to pay for the extra windows just didn't want to accumulate karmic debt and in the meantime unknowingly became part of the installer's karmic debt.

Life is interesting if you pay attention.

[JB diligence]

It's too bad most people don't realize that regardless of their attempts to cover a wrong it will always come back to haunt them; karmic laws are the real deal. I wish I learned this truth earlier in my life so my career and personal life could have evolved faster. Anyway, as soon as I grasped the concept my life greatly improved.

If you need proof of the aforementioned then carefully pay attention to someone in your work life that you know to be a crook of some sort i.e. liar, thief, etc. and wait to see the crap rain down on them at a later point. Unfortunately they won't attribute their vehicle accident/broken leg/missed promotion to their past actions until some time in the future when they "get" the big picture.

The lady that returned to the window store to pay for the extra windows just didn't want to accumulate karmic debt and in the meantime unknowingly became part of the installer's karmic debt.

Life is interesting if you pay attention.

So true! The good old what goes around comes around cliche:)