My Crappy Week!

[Michael Alexander]

On Thursday morning I got called to the back of the shop, outside the backdoor, was a taxi, two employee's , three private security guards and two my my co managers.... in the boot of the taxi was 2 boxes of fat and a bag of russians with about 20 smoked eisbeins...... the two workers had been stealing, the taxi driver had been called to come and pick up the goods, the value, about N$800   .......   

We had only enough proof to convict one of the workers though...... a warning for the 2nd.... I was surprised at the culprit, a really old chap, who I had liked, always friendly, greeted a lot, almost retirement time for him...Heck! I even gave this chap my old shoes, as we both have massive broad feet...... and now he screws me..... the afrikaaners say, "Die makkste hond byt die seerste!" (spelling)

Anyhow, the private security guard chief informed me that there are a number of other suspects committing theft in the store they are watching and mentioned some names, at one name I still stated , I don;t believe it....

another employee, a good chap who had witnessed the apprehension of the meat thief, still snickered and grinned and said to us on passing, Ja! He has been stealing many times before....... I was angry, how does this culture work amongst the nation, it turns out the majority of the workers, honest folk they may be, all know who the criminal elements are in the store, know their modus operandi and do nothing about it, don't talk about it, just watch it go on, month after month...... a culture thing apparant, I thing that certain peole reckon is inbred into previously disadvantaged people, due to being oppressed by the white colonial nations.......

I was furious, the store is in debt at the moment, due to the recession, i could not understand how the workforce could stand by and let these elements drive us deeper into debt and not realise that if things did not improve, they would ll be out of a job in 12 months.....

On Friday morning it got worse, really worse.,..... The security guard who had got the suspect the day before...... well Ihad thanked and rewarded him on thursday, told him to keep an eye out on people, the ones that they(his boss),  themselves had just told me about an hour earlier..... well this unprofessional numbskull went off to the employees in the shop and told them that I had said that Mr A and Mr B are thiefs and had been stealing, so now I had the entire union in my office for almost four hours on friday morning demanding to know why I had called this guy a thief, (which I had not), the guy was in a state, his good name had now been dragged through the mud...... on the monitor in the background, I watched the real thiefs standing around the shop floor, chewing their fingers, looking very nervous indeed, but now they knew something was up....... and have now gone to ground for a few days till the heat dies down..... that bloody security guard did A good job, but then blew the good work with his talking........

So my end of week sucked and I still have a shop full of thiefs,

I just shake my head in disbelief that all the other employees know who these individuals are .... but just stand around watching them conduct their business.,.,,, In a way I wish for the old days, then at least I could just eject the bad apples from the shop without having to follow procedures, this is a case where the rights of the workers protect the thiefs.....

JUST MY 2 Friggin cents,.,,,,,,

[Bertie Horak]

I will think twice before I trust any of those employees who knew about the theft but didn't do the right thing, even if it was an anonymous note or phone call.  In my books they were probably ready to be sucked into the "culprit's circle" - therefor I would be very wary of them in future.
Still, very sad to be screwed by the same people who gets a salary for working there.  Chopping off the same hand that feeds them.... 

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Stephen has this problem at the factory as well. It takes on various forms from outright stealing the wood for themselves to selling it to their "customers" through the back fence. As soon as he comes back from where ever there is always a whistle or a cough or they even break into song as a warning to the guys at the back. At the begining of the year they were caught doing this by a passing security van and guess what ..yes.. the main oke behind it was surprise surprise the old chap, most diligent worker, the one that was always on time also the one that was most liked. Ok so his gone the rest lay low for a while and start up again. You know this is happening but can only do something if you actualy catch them in the act. Cannot fire a factory of workers for whistling. Even if you could the next bunch in would probably start up the same thing. So yes this seems to be the norm now days .....a staff of thieves.

[Nada Ulbrich (Rall)(RIP)]

I have found that it is in their culture to not get involved unless they are directly affected.  Be careful of your informants and security.

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Very True Nada.

[Michael Alexander]

..... and for this we live in AFRICA...................

[Adriaan Van Rooyen]

Hi Dianne,try a simple vcr and covert camera,believe me it works wonders, me i would rather go for the old days medicine    the bastardo.......

[Michael Alexander]

So Namib Smokeries operate out of the Abattoir,.......well a section of the place..... they employ four workers.... and one manager..... On wednesday all hell broke lose, turns out that three of their workers were stealing entire carcasses........ off to jail they went.......

This theft thing is an issue, At Spar we have now employed a night guard to watch out place, at least I sleep better now....

Sigh! What a mess it's gonna be when proclamation happens..... I miss the days when CDM had two security vehicles driving around town during the night......

I also wonder if a vote was put out to the entire Omund populace on wether they wanted the town to be open, what the result would be......

I , myself do not support Proclamation....... I feel the concept of a "locked up" Oranjemund is in actual fact a drawcard for tourism in the future, how many towns do you know with such strict access control...... Pity some politicians cannot see this......

Just my 2 cents

[Alfred Boehme]

No Mike they must I vote you first Major of O/mund and you will get the GM's house 202 rooster