Author: DOuG pRATt

On my aforementioned business trip to England, I was an experienced UK driver. My first time in England I drove from Gatwick to the Midlands while feeling very jet-lagged behind the wheel on the “wrong” side of an Austin. I narrowly avoided having an accident on a roundabout, but somehow I adjusted and arrived safely at my destination. By the time of that later trip, being stuck on the M25 motorway felt the same to me as Route 128 traffic did outside of Boston.

It was the first trip to England for my very lovely traveling companion, so I rented the car and did almost all of the driving. She wanted to give it a try, and we had fun with her practicing around the village, near the inn where we were staying.

Several years earlier, Ted had returned from his site visit to Canada. He submitted his expense report and worked on his site report. Ted’s car rental was for at least several hundred dollars, I don’t remember the amount, but the contract/receipt didn’t look quite right for Canada. My little internal warning bell began to ring again. Given the circumstances of Ted’s probation, I didn’t question him. Rather, I dutifully completed my review of Ted’s expense report and forwarded it to Accounting, with a note questioning the car rental receipt.

Some days later, Accounting called me. I was told they had an expense report from someone else for that same week. They called her and she explained that, as the senior employee, she had rented the car and did all of the driving, with Ted as a passenger. The rental agency was contacted, and the serial number on Ted’s agreement was traced to their counter at Logan Airport. Ted’s receipt was an inside job, being both genuine and fraudulent.

The news hit me hard. That was it for Ted. He had attempted to defraud the company, and in turn the customer. I didn’t know exactly how he got hold of an official, properly printed receipt, but Ted had to be fired immediately. I went to my boss’ office, closed the door, and explained the situation. He called the administrator who had provided us with the probation form that Ted signed, and we waited for him to come over and advise me on the termination process.

PART II: Lo and Behold, Ted got back on track right away. As far as I could tell, his private life was no longer interfering with his work. Yay! What a relief. I would have been very reluctant to terminate Ted’s employment on the basis of the hours he kept. I am a night owl myself, and not a natural early riser.

As I mentioned in an earlier installment, members of my group rarely traveled with another employee. We’d finish an installation and move on to another. With e-mail not yet being an option, further contact with customers was limited to the phone and, later, an occasional fax. We’d jump between airlines, depending on the destination, making it difficult to accumulate redeemable frequent flyer miles.

This contrasted with the consultants who followed us, who would return to a site again and again. They were able to build relationships with customers while collecting frequent flyer miles they were allowed to keep, rather than turning over to the company.

Ted went on a site visit to do software installation in Canada. I made many trips to Canada myself, and two years ago I wrote about one of them. (A passport wasn’t yet needed to cross the Canadian border.)

Bonners Ferry ’88

On one of my business trips to England, a group of consultants I was supposed to meet at the Logan international terminal turned out to be one woman. She was a gorgeous, very smart and capable professional, with an engaging personality. Although I assure you nothing happened, I have rarely enjoyed the casual company of a woman as much as I did with her that week.

When Ted left for Canada, I didn’t know that he was traveling with a woman who was a consultant in another group. Based on my week in England, along with that alleged pass a woman made at another woman, I might have been understanding (retroactively) if Ted’s resulting trouble was what you’re thinking. I promise you it came from an entirely different direction.