Got A Whistle to Blow?

                                            
It may not be as easy as you think.

 
There is a situation in my job that has been ongoing for quite a long time.  Two people on my "team" are  breaking the rules.   Not picayune little rules...big rules.   Their actions are against all the guidelines in the company.   Actually I think their actions are, or at least should be, against the moral and ethical codes of most mature human beings. 

Basically, these two culprits  have figured out a way to get paid for goofing off.   They hang out in the break room or in the lobby or God only knows where, and they do this all while they are "on the clock".   I'm not saying that they do this for a few minutes here and there.   They do it for 30 minutes to an hour at a time....sometimes longer...and they usually do it every day.   In short, they are getting paid several hours a week for nothing at all.   They get away with it because they are always careful to do it when our team lead is on a lunch break or has left for the day.   These two goldbricks know that the other team leads will not check up on them and they know that upper management won't be aware of it either.    So they get away with it completely. 

Their absolute contempt for management, for  the company, and for their fellow workers has reached mammoth proportions.  Their arrogance and sense of entitlement know no bounds..  Furthermore, their actions have become so blatant that their co- workers have begun to notice .   The people who have noticed the actions of these two slackers are envious and are beginning to look for ways to do the same thing.   In short, these goof offs are beginning to destroy the discipline and morale of the company.

I have been upset by this, but have kept quiet because I haven't wanted to be a snitch, a tattletale, or a rat fink.    Who wants those labels attached to them?   Not me!  However, our society has become so twisted and amoral, that the people who break the rules are the "rock stars" and the people who speak out against them are the villains and targets of disdain.  It's insane!

Yet, because I am a product of our amoral society,  I felt  like I would be the one who is wrong if I didn't "protect" the wrongdoers.   So I continued to keep quiet until my silence started to scream in my ears.   I couldn't take it anymore. 

Today, I finally said something about it to my team lead.  She thanked me profusely and was glad that I had told her.   I felt relieved that I had come to a decision and acted on it.  It felt good to finally stand up for what I believe in.    But it wasn't easy.  Whistle blowing is hard, gut wrenching and definitely not popular.   So why do it?   Because it's the right thing to do.  To do otherwise is to become a co-creator of the madness that characterizes our society.