Right But Wrong

I just experienced first-hand one of those thankfully rare times where doing the legal thing is morally wrong. It’s “right” but it’s “wrong.” And because of our powerful, growing, and oft-times menacing legal class, I was forced to do the wrong thing. To put it bluntly, my company would be sued if I did the right thing.

Let me tell you, it’s an ugly feeling.

No need to bore you with backstory; a few essential and anonymous details will suffice.

There’s this guy that works for us off-and-on. He has a talent of bringing money into the company. Thousands-of-dollars-a-week type talent. When I say that he works for us off-and-on, I mean that he’s been fired once or twice in the past for disappearing. Abandoning his position.

And the reason is, he’s a drug addict. A heavy and hard narcotic drug addict.

When he cleans himself up, he comes back, all contrite, and they give him another chance. Because of his talent. I admit he’s very good at what he does. He’s a great person, really nice and legitimately friendly, when he’s clean and sober.

But when he goes back to using drugs, he’s not so nice. Or friendly.

We let him go in January. Right before payday last, his wife came in to see me. I could see right away how stressed out she was. She burst into tears and asked me if I could direct deposit his final check. It was his big, month-end commission check. She needed the money for the mortgage and medical bills she is incurring. I know these bills to be a fact, and knew that she wasn’t scamming me. We both know what he will do with the money as soon as he picks up his live check.

I tell her I’ll see what I can do.

Five minutes later he calls me up and demands a live check. Like his drug-using personality, the phone call is ugly, and I try to be as professional as possible. Believe me, it takes a lot of effort.

I speak with management. Legally, we have to give him his check, live, per company policy. We can’t accede to his wife’s request, though we all want to. His name is on the check. His name is on the employment applications. His name is on the pay plans. He gets his money, a live check placed right into his trembling hands, and there’s not a thing we can do.

Drugs 1, sick wife 0.

It was truly a gross, dirty feeling I wrestled with all weekend.

Still do.