The way I see it-Friday

By: Curtis Morton
The way I see it, the biblical instructions as ordained by God himself in the 10 commandments are still very relevant today and if adhered to, we will have a more CIVIL society; less stress and unspeakable joy.
Today I focus on number 8: Thou shalt not STEAL.
It was just Thursday night of this week, I was at Best Buy Supermarket and I was in the process of cashing, I could not help overhearing an interesting conversation, between two gentlemen who were in the line behind me.
Well, put it this way—they were not talking softly—I could not help but hearing-okay!
They were talking about business and entrepreneurship etc. and one was giving some advice to the other and making some suggestions to help him improve his business.
One such suggestion was for him to ensure that his business was open on holidays.
His line of thought was that people needed that particular service on holidays too and on such days, the business was usually closed.
The young business man’s response was instructive.
He said that he is willing to open on holidays but he was in search of TRUSTWORTHY EMPLOYEES.
When asked about the current staff, he stated that in the recent past several of them had made their exit from the business.
Not that they were fired but when he was forced to ask certain pertinent questions, they could not respond and lots of money was unaccounted for and they inevitably walked off the job.
He also pointed out that in his business, he was an easy target because, most of the transactions are done in cash and so he has to look out for the bold faced robbers and he has security in place but the hardest ROBBERS to track would be those clerks on the inside, whose eyes light up when they are counting lots of cash and cannot seem to be able to resist the temptation of placing their hands into the cookie jar.
Well I newa!
It is a sad state of affairs that we are in, when employers cannot trust their various clerks and cashiers in the various businesses across the island.
Whenever, you see a long serving cashier at any of the established supermarkets or other business places, you have to applaud them, because they have obviously passed the test.
Too many times you go to an establishment and you realize that there is a new cashier in place. It now raises a red flag.
It reminds me of my days as Manager at the Social Security office in Charlestown.
I had occasion to interact with a certain employer who was way behind in his payments and court procedures were pending
I went to speak to the employer personally because somehow, I felt that based on his track record, there must be some logical explanation for his delinquency.
Trust me, he was not very happy when I told him that he was owing for several months.
‘Not possible!’ he shouted. ‘I pay every single month that God sends!’
I told him that the records reflect differently.
I left him as mad as a hatter but he promised to do some investigation.
One day later he called me to a meeting.
He was apologetic and explained that he had made a startling discovery:
He was in a habit of writing up a cheque and handing it to his trusted clerk, for her to write in the name of the Director of Social Security and place in the correct amounts, once she had completed all of the necessary tabulations.
Unfortunately he discovered that his young clerk who was not yet even twenty at the time, had been writing the cheques to herself!
Well I newa!
One local Lawyer once told me that right here in Nevis, Lawyers are dealing with a lot of cases that people have tried to settle out of court, where a lot of individuals (mainly nice faced looking young ladies), are paying back money through the law firms, owed to their former employers.
Then, because these cases are not brought to court and into the public domain, the individual simply moves on to another job and the new employer does not know that he/she has just hired a professional pilferer.
So I make a clarion call this week.
Dear reader, whether you work at a supermarket; a bank, a government office; a private firm—LEAVE THE PEOPLE MONEY ALONE!
There is another type of theft that has happened too. It is called BORROWING.
The persons uses his employer’s money, maybe with the sincere intention of putting it back before it is discovered missing and the money never gets back to its rightful place.
So do not BORROW money belonging to people, without their knowledge.
So, if you are in a habit of pilfering—STOP IT and seek some way to reimburse the victim/s and seek God’s forgiveness and live happily ever after…
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?