The Lure of Easy Money Doesn't Pay

Have you ever had to deal with a high potential employee who was using company resources as a side hustle for extra income?
 
I was once confronted with such a scenario, and I pray that you never will be.
 
Setting up greeting card departments with new display fixtures and new products is common in the social expression industry and trust is imperative that replaced fixtures and product would be handled appropriately, according to the corporate policies.
 
Following a call from our corporate headquarters about a retail customer in our area, a customer no one in our company, including us had ever heard of, my regional operations manager and I visited the retailer to learn how we could resolve his issue.
 
It was during this meeting   that we learned that the retailer was not an account of ours, and that he was buying fixtures and products for cash from our local representative.
 
Following some research, we learned that the district manager, his assistant, and the field representative were colluding to earn extra cash by setting up fictitious customers and supplying them with display fixtures and product from other stores directly for cash.
 
We terminated three high potential members of our team because the opportunity to derive ill gotten revenue led them to what they believed to be “easy” cash, ultimately costing them their careers and future opportunities with our company.  
 
What a waste!
 
Thinking about this incident, I am reminded that Sol says, “Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.” ~ Proverbs 10:2
 
Maintain your integrity at all costs and when you do, you will make it a great day and keep being awesome.