Introduction
Consider these
excerpts from the following
article in The Detroit Free
Press, June 24, 2005:
Janis Fernworn,
45, was the treasurer for her
church. Over several years,
she embezzled at least $700,000.
She appeared to have no history
of alcohol, drug, or gambling
addictions. She is married,
has five children—two
of them adopted—and lives
in a wealthy suburb.
"I am
horrified at what I did to my
church. I pray they will someday
forgive me for these repugnant
crimes." Mrs. Fernworn
and her husband had been members
of the church for 23 years and
her husband had served on the
church's board.
According to
prosecutors, Fernworn wrote
checks to herself from church
funds. She tried to hide this
in various ways but was eventually
discovered.
Fernworn said
her embezzlement began when
she and her husband were three
months behind in paying their
home mortgage. "I still
remember the first time I wrote
a check to myself that wasn't
legitimate," she said.
"My hands shook so badly,
I was almost unable to manage
the writing. I felt that I had
exhausted all other possibilities.
I don't know when it was that
the embezzlement switched from
easing the true need to needing
the ease, but it didn't take
long before the hole was so
big that I couldn't face making
it better."
Fernworn swore
that she kept the embezzlement
from her husband, who has not
been charged.
The judge found
it hard to believe he didn't
know. "How could anyone
live under the same roof and
have $700,000 of tax-free income
and not have clue Number 1 that
something strange was going
on?"
The church
pastor asked the judge to send
her to prison not out of revenge
but saying "it is a price
she must pay."
Because she
had no prior offenses, her sentencing
guidelines called for no more
than 9 months in jail. The judge
exceeded that and sent her to
prison for 5-10 years.
This kind of
story happens every day across
the nation…
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If you felt the judge in this
case didn’t give Janis
Fernworn enough prison time,
this book may not be for you.
If you felt: what’s the
big deal?—this book also
may not be for you. Or, maybe,
after reading this book, you
will see things differently.
If you are able, or are willing,
to see the tragedy for everyone—for
Mrs. Fernworn, her husband,
her kids, the church members,
and the community—and
new ways of reducing theft,
then this book is talking to
you.
We’ve
all heard similar stories of
the person fired from his or
her job for embezzling some
“ungodly” amount
of money or stealing goods and
product. Sure, there are greedy
folks, plain thieves, and career
criminals in our work force.
But mostly, employee theft tends
to happen a little at a time.
Someone’s vulnerable--there’s
a financial or emotional stressor,
a conflict at work--and a line
is crossed. Next thing you know,
a star employee is hauled away
in handcuffs. We scratch our
heads, wondering: What were
they thinking? They didn’t
actually think they could get
away with that? The answer usually
is: They weren’t thinking.
They got hooked. Employee theft
can become addictive!
There are
plenty of books out there which
quote facts, statistics, cursory
reasons why people steal from
work, and what can be done to
reduce or prevent it. They may
certainly be of value if that
is primarily what the reader
is looking for. Most are written
by “experts” in
the security and loss prevention
fields--the typical readers
are store and business owners
and fellow security and loss
prevention folks.
This book is
not about excusing employee
theft. But it is a different
kind of book. My intention is
to make this topic relevant,
provocative, and urgent for
everyone!
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Now, answer this question:
Have you ever
committed employee theft? Yes
or No?
How would you
define employee theft? Is it
only the blatant embezzlement
and/or stealing of valuable
assets from work? Is it a matter
of degrees?
Be honest,
have you ever done any of the
following without the expressed
permission from an employer?
- Fudged your time card?
- Padded an expense account
or report?
- Made personal phone calls
on company time?
- Used company postage?
- Used office supplies for
personal use?
- Took office items home?
- Borrowed funds for personal
use?
- Made personal copies on
the copier?
- Failed to report accounting/payment
errors in your favor?
- Used the company car for
personal business?
- Ran errands on company time?
Chances are,
you are in the 75% or more of
all employees who have stolen
from work.
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What did one loss prevention
worker say to another loss prevention
worker?
The following
was taken from an actual e-mail
conversation:
One says: “No
disrespect, but when we interview
people who have been caught
stealing—isn’t finding
out why they did it one of the
most important reasons? By learning
how people think, can’t
that help us both with better
loss prevention strategies as
well as recognizing if jail
or some kind of education, diversion,
or treatment programs might
help reduce theft?”
The other says:
“Internal theft or external
theft, I don’t care “WHY!”
We have taken a lot of time
and effort to enact loss prevention
policies and procedures. When
those are intentionally circumvented
and it’s time for me to
sit people down and interview
them about their actions—why
they stole is my least concern
if it is a concern at all. I’m
concerned with facts! I am not
a cold-hearted automaton. I
treat everybody with the utmost
respect! But I don’t care
why you stole. I’m just
damn glad I caught you! (“you”
meaning “bad guy.”)
You provide me with job security
and because you and people like
you exist, I get to come back
to work tomorrow. My priority
is to learn more about prevention
and detection techniques. I
don’t wish to waste my
time getting all squishy about
the plights of individuals.
Anyone who steals is a criminal”
It’s
not “either/or”--
it’s “both/and.”
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Imagine facing a problem like
cancer or war. Indeed, we do
so almost every day. We certainly
need to take action to confront
and arrest the effects of a
disease or conflict in progress,
hopefully learning more advanced
and effective techniques each
day. Likewise, it seems to me
we must also adopt a comprehensive
approach if we hope to make
a lasting difference. If we
know more about why cancers
take root and why wars begin,
wouldn’t that be valuable,
too? We constantly research
genetics and lifestyle choices
to learn more about how diseases
occur. We study war history
to prevent history from repeating
itself. Indeed, we educate about
“aftercare” treatment
with diseases to best insure
they don’t return; we
speak much of what is needed—and,
hopefully, take measured steps--to
“keep the peace”
long after the fighting has
stopped.
Even in our
“war on drugs”—to
the degree it has been effective—we’ve
taken at least a two-prong approach:
tough enforcement and penalties
along with more education and
treatment. Some argue there’s
not enough energy to do both.
Others say doing both sends
mixed messages. And others are
thinking “outside the
box” about causes and
solutions.
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Imagine you are someone who
steals from work. You come to
work each day with butterflies
in your stomach, on edge, looking
over your shoulder, wondering
if today may be the day your
are discovered. Every time your
name is called, or the boss
asks you a question, your gut
tightens. Is this any way to
live? Part of you wants to come
clean, spill the beans, and
stop the madness—but there’s
something that seems to stop
you. Was this the life you chose?
Imagine you
are a store or business owner
and you are so busy you don’t
have the time to check every
thing out. You do your best—in
your mind—to treat your
employees well and you think
you can trust the people you
employ but you can’t.
It’s heart-breaking.
Imagine you
are a loss prevention worker
and going to work each day is
like coming into a war zone.
You can’t let your guard
down—you’ve been
surprised and shocked before.
You have become jaded and cynical.
You long for the day when work
is easier but you crave the
challenge, too: you get a high
from catching people who steal.
When shall
we experience our “crash
moment” where each of
our lives intersects and we
feel each others’ struggles
in a new way?
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Most companies just fire any
employee who steals. I’m
not saying acts of theft should
go unpunished. But if nearly
two thirds of employees are
stealing on some level, we can’t
just fire everyone. Companies
risk losing people who may not
be easily replaced. They also
risk losing a human touch. Also,
an employee fired for theft
will likely go to another company
and steal due to the increasing
reluctance of all companies
to offer any prior work references,
good or bad. We’re living
in an age where we “pass
the buck”--“it’s
not my problem anymore.”
But we all live in the same
world.
My hope is with more open open-minded
conversation and more resources
available, we shall see a transformation
in the awareness of how we view
theft behaviors. Then, and only
then, will we be able to develop
true loss prevention strategies
and attain a more honest society
and world.
Beliefs
...
I
believe we develop beliefs throughout
our lives which become our truths.
Over the years of exploring
my beliefs as well as those
of thousands of shoplifters-in
person, by e-mail, letter, and
phone--I have found a string
of commonly held beliefs:
- Life is unfair
-
The world
is an unsafe place
-
Nobody
will be there to take care
of me
-
Nobody’s
really honest
-
’m entitled
to something extra for my
suffering
-
Nice people
finish last
-
There’s
not going to be enough money
to live
-
t’s a ‘dog-eat-dog
world’ out there
-
No matter
how hard I try, things never
work out
-
t’s not
worth my speaking up about
anything
These beliefs fuel shoplifting
and stealing. Most people are
unconscious of their thoughts
or they may be prone to “stinking
thinking.” All behavior--whether
freely chosen or stemming from
an addictive-compulsive mind
set-originates from our thoughts,
beliefs, and values. Strong
feelings bolster this foundation
and, eventually, we act out
habitually or with hell-bent
righteousness.
I know a woman whose father
shoplifted. “He used to tell
us: ‘It’s there for the taking.’”
What beliefs would you guess
are behind that statement? Would
it help to know her father was
a war veteran who felt less
than heroic, was discontent
with his own life choices, and
felt powerless, passionless,
resentful?
How about the well-to-do woman
who has been arrested twice
for shoplifting dolls twice
in the last year since her child
died?
This book is a call to action-not
about making excuses! We’ve
lost our compass. We need to
look at ourselves in a new way.
We point the finger at the world,
everybody else. Or we point
our finger at ourselves.
“Thou shalt not steal” is more
than a commandment. It is a
prerequisite to a life that
works: for each of us and all
of us, individually and collectively.
With most addictions, we focus
on dishonesty as a by-product
of the addictive lifestyle.
Here, we go to the core: we
explore dishonesty-in the form
of shoplifting and stealing-
as the primary manifestation
of unresolved issues and erroneous,
destructive beliefs.
This book is like no other.
Hopefully, there is something
here for everybody: shoplifter,
family or friend, therapist,
judge, probation officer, attorney,
police officer, store or business
owner, minister, or student
of human behavior. I ask you
to take your new insights and
apply them to make a difference
in the world. |
