Justin Thompson was excited He really enjoyed his job at the

Justin Thompson was excited. He really enjoyed his job at the Kingston\'s department store downtown. This location housed Kingston\'s first store and still had many of its original features. As he rode the subway into the city center, Justin thought about the money he would earn this summer and the great car he hoped to buy before school started. He was lucky to have secured this type of job, since many of his friends were working early or late hours at fast-food chains or out in the summer heat. The management team at Kingston\'s had initiated a program with his high school counselors, hoping to attract top high school seniors into retail management throughout their college career and beyond. Justin was a strong student from a single-parent background, and his counselor was highly complimentary of his work ethic and prospects for professional employment. Tustin\'s first week was consumed with various training sessions. There were eight students in the special high school program. They watched a company video that discussed Kingston\'s history, ethics policy, current operations, and customer service philosophy. They met with staff from Human Resources to fill out paperwork. They learned how to scan merchandise and operate the computer software and cash register. They toured the store\'s three levels and visited with each department manager. Justin was especially excited about working in the electronics department, but he was assigned to men\'s clothing. Justin worked alongside several employees during the first few weeks on the store floor. He watched the experienced employees approach customers, help them, and ring up the sale. He noticed that some employees took personal telephone calls and that others did not clean up the dressing rooms or restock items very quickly. On slower days, he eventually worked alone in the department. Several times when he came to work in the afternoon, he had to clean up the mess left behind by the morning shift. When he spoke to various colleagues about it in the break room, they told him it was best to keep quiet. After all, he was a high school student earning money for a car, not a \"real employee\" with kids to feed and bills to pay. Justin assumed that retail work was much like team projects in school—not everyone pulled their weight but it was hard to be the tattletale. One Saturday morning was extremely busy, as Kingston\'s was running a big sale. People were swarming to the sales racks, and Justin was amazed at how fast the time was passing. In the late afternoon, several friends of one of his coworkers dropped by the men\'s section. Before long, their hands were filled with merchandise. The crowd was starting to wane, so Justin took a few minutes to clean up the dressing room. When he came out of the dressing room, his coworker was ringing up the friends\' merchandise. Justin saw two ties go into the bag, but only one was scanned into the system. He saw an extra discount provided on an expensive shirt. Justin was shocked to see that not every item was scanned and that improper discounts were applied, and his mind was racing. Should he stop his coworker? Should he \"take a break\" and get security? Was there another alternative?

What would you do?

Solution

Justin has got 3 options in front of him -

1.) To remain silent and don\'t let anyone know about it.

2.) To tell the co-worker that he has noticed his wrond actions and to warn him that next time if he repeats the same then it will get reported to senior management

3.) He can directly approach senior management and let them decidde what needs to be done.

If I were at the Justin\'s place I would have narrated the incident in front of management without blaming the co-worker directly but saying that it may have happened by-mistake.

This would save the co-worker\'s job at the same time management will be also happy with Justin.