You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore...

It is quite surprising what some people are willing to do to earn some brownie points.

Recently I was asked to cheat on some submission data so that we could earn points for qualifying for an award. There is no monetary gain but the award sounds good.

Basically I was asked to state that some training exercise had been conducted by a certain date but it so happened that that was not going to be possible.

So I was requested to state that the training had been done and I was requested to conduct the specific training within one week after the deadline had passed.

I declined to comply and the other person tried very hard to get me to cheat. Only after I firmly stated that I was not going to do the deed did the other person relent.

The incident did leave a somewhat sour taste but I guess many have to grapple
with incidents where thousands of ringgit are involved.

In the past I have dealt with contractors working on large projects but in those days, we only accepted infrequent entertainment of insignificant value. The only money I ever took was from an elderly contractor of long-standing experience with the company. It was a Chinese New Year ang pow of about RM500 after I checked with colleagues that it was the usual practice.

I believe the basic test is whether you are able to ensure that work standards are not compromised when you accept such gifts. These should definitely not be of significant value and also not a regular habit.

Care to share with us what type of gifts you have received in your work?