Will I get fired for this?

terra_ferma

I had a call on Friday from a director querying a mobile phone number - I had no idea what he was talking about. He mentioned that this particular mobile number belonged to an ex-employee and it had called me about 15 times last month from from the middle-east. Again, I had no idea. The conversation ended and about 5 minutes later, I realised something -
............
I have not used this work mobile since the personal number was updated in the Global Address Book in Outlook. Now the records will clearly show that my original number stopped producing call charges when it was replaced. They will also show that the charges were low as they were the previous year UNTIL my brother went away - Feb to March, which is when they shot up to....wait for it - £2000.00!!!! (£700 of which were Facebook/Mobile web).

If I was investigating it would concern me that this matter was brought to your attention by the company itself, and that you had not noticed that the phone had disappeared since February.
As this sounds like a large international company, I would occur to me that maybe the employee thought it would not get noticed......

I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just let you know how it may be percieved by your employer.

However from a different point of view I personally don't hide my work equipment from my close family, but that's because I know I can trust them 100%, but you say your brother is a bit of a chav.

sho_me_da_money

terra_ferma wrote: »

If I was investigating it would concern me that this matter was brought to your attention by the company itself, and that you had not noticed that the phone had disappeared since February.
As this sounds like a large international company, I would occur to me that maybe the employee thought it would not get noticed......

I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just let you know how it may be percieved by your employer.

However from a different point of view I personally don't hide my work equipment from my close family, but that's because I know I can trust them 100%, but you say your brother is a bit of a chav.

I trust my family including my brother 100%. The reason im resorting to name calling is because he has !!!!!! me off so much that I have to relate him to low life scum.

Also with regards to the phone missing. I have not had a need to use it, since my personal mobile was widely distributed in Outlook as my primary source of contact (around the same time this all went down). The records should/will show a zero usuage charge for the period after he came back. And if the records show more calls upon his return, they will all be his numbers - I can guarantee that.

Im not upset with anyones response. In fact I am appreciative of the help, advice and support of everyone who has contributed to the thread. I will go into this informal meeting, explain the situation and state that "I am ultimately responsible for the phone and am therefore willing to do whatever it takes to make this right". Hopefully they can understand I exercised reasonable measures and would find it harsh to put me at blame for my bro's actions.

On top of that, I have done everything in my power to try and help the company understand this mess as soon as it was brought to my attention. I was able to do this within 15 minutes of receiving the call. In addition, I had no quarms alerting my line manager, which hopefully shows that I treated this with the utmost importance and had the companies best interest at heart.

I love the company and the job and I want to remain here even though I know I could get more elsewhere. I just love what I do and the people I work with.

grey_lady

So are you going to go in with your cheque book and pay for it? along with promising to make sure that it doesnt happen again?

Because if you don't chances are they'll get rid of you. If you do, it depends on how well you've done recently. I couldnt see what you're on a final written warning for, but if you can prove how well you've been doing recently they might overlook it... if you pay them back, otherwise i cant see why they would keep you on.

LilacPixie

How can you trust your brother 100% after he has stolen a mobile phone entrusted to you?? Did you never have a need to open your brief case since Feb??

sho_me_da_money

grey_lady wrote: »

So are you going to go in with your cheque book and pay for it? along with promising to make sure that it doesnt happen again?

Because if you don't chances are they'll get rid of you. If you do, it depends on how well you've done recently. I couldnt see what you're on a final written warning for, but if you can prove how well you've been doing recently they might overlook it... if you pay them back, otherwise i cant see why they would keep you on.

I will pay them but I do not have the money to do so immediately. I could make arrangements to get it paid by Friday. To try and beg for £2000 from someone cant be done overnight. Ill do whatever it takes to save myself if possible.

The only thing I would do willfullly is offer to be dismissed rather than seeing my bro to prison IF it got to that. Work is work. Family is family.

People make mistakes in life and you have to live and learn from them. My brother made a very dumb and costly mistake and I am sure he has learnt his lesson.

sho_me_da_money

LilacPixie wrote: »

How can you trust your brother 100% after he has stolen a mobile phone entrusted to you?? Did you never have a need to open your brief case since Feb??

Family is family - we give and take and we all make mistakes. He is young and dumb for doing it and now realises the ramifications of this. What more can I do - kill him?

I will be less foolish in future.

lucylucky

Why did your brother steal your phone in the first place?

What has he offered to do in terms of repayment?
Has he possessions he can sell to raise the money.

If you are on a final warning I personally fear for the worst.

Rockporkchop

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

People make mistakes in life and you have to live and learn from them. My brother made a very dumb and costly mistake and I am sure he has learnt his lesson.

You are too forgiving. He didn't make a "mistake", he intentionally stole your phone and racked up a huge bill, putting your career in jeopardy.

How has he learnt his lesson? He'll only do that after he pays you back every penny of the two grand, plus all the interest you incur.

LilacPixie

If I was your employer or you were one of the staff I had then family is family just would not cut it as an excuse.

YOU were given a mobile phone for business usage.
YOU chose to use your personal phone instead for ease
YOU put the phone in a case and didn't check on it for weeks possibly months
YOU allowed the combo of the case to be known to your family

I really feel you are on a sticky wicket. FWW and now this. I would have you out the door.

I agree we all make mistakes. A mistake would be picking up your mobile to call a mate because he had no credit.

Unlocking a locked briefcase, removing a mobile phone, locating and taking the charger ( presuming he did to charge phone while abroad) Switching on mobile phone then calling/surfing for an extended period of time is not a mistake, it is blatently dishonest

sabretoothtigger

Seems a bit unfair how these phones are given with unlimited credit facility. Its alot like money lending. Give people enough rope and situations like this occur, to the profit of the mobile company no doubt