Web Porn at Work
Al Smetana is the founding president of a medium-sized, Midwestern manufacturing firm, Rayburn Unlimited. He’s proud if the way his company has grown, culture committed to honesty, integrity, and the intrinsic value of each individual. But now those values are being put to the test.
It began when Al learned that an employee had tapped into the company’s computer system and figured out how to read people’s email and to learn what Web sites they visited. Determining who the culprit was wasn’t difficult. When confronted about it, the employee admitted what he had done. Al immediately terminated his employment. But as he left, the employee said angrily, “Just ask Lindley about his computer usage,” referring to Craig Lindley, associate vice president for human resources and an old friend of Al’s. Although Al didn’t trust the discharged employee, he was disturbed by his comment and reluctant to let it go. So he called Craig Lindley into his office and asked him about it.
After a few minutes of gentle questioning, Craig started weeping. When he recovered himself, he explained that for the past year or so he had been hooked on pornography on the Web, and at the office sometimes spent an hour or so a day looking at it. Al asked him whether his wife knew. Craig said she didn’t. He was too ashamed of his habit to talk to her or anybody about it. Al then told him to take the rest of the day off, to think the matter over, and to return to Al’s office the next morning. When Craig left, Al stood and looked out the window, silently asking himself what he should do.
