Ethics in the workplace

Last weekend we had an in-house competition to guess how much money we'd make over the weekend (being the first of the July sale), with the person guessing to the closest pound getting a £20 voucher for their troubles. As it turned out, the winner was the assistant manager, who declined the prize, reasonably enough.

Fast forward to this morning's staff meeting, at which the voucher was to be awarded, the only problem being that the winner hadn't showed up (he was out last night with a close friend and former colleague who's returning to the States tomorrow), which the manager said - in a strangely light tone - was reason enough for him to forfeit his right to the prize as well. As the boss left to check whose guess was next closest, I sat wondering if anyone besides me disagreed: given the circumstances, I thought it perfectly understandable that the winner should be feeling under the weather and, in the manager's place, wouldn't have held it against him.

It turned out my guess was the next closest. I almost made a scene (an attempt which was interrupted by a round of applause), then thought better of it, doubting there was much to be gained by making a fuss. Managers can be strange people ...

The rightful winner did eventually show up (albeit a tad late) so I told him he could have the voucher. As I explained, I'd already got everything I wanted in the sale and didn't regard the prize as mine anyway, particularly in the light of the manager's tenuous reasoning.

On a slightly lighter note, I was very amused this morning when the decision to open fifteen minutes before the competition down the road (whose summer sale started today) turned out to be a waste of time. Despite being open an hour and a quarter earlier than usual, we didn't make a penny from it.