A while back, my bride was awarded a “five-year plaque” at work—and she was miffed. Public recognition for five years of work is supposed to be a good thing. Causing angst wasn’t the intention.
The goal of the award was to make her feel appreciated, to give her a reason to feel good about her job and the company she worked for.
Sadly, it had the opposite effect. You see, it was given to her after eleven years of employment. It was a recognition that was six years too late. Even more tragic, none of her co-workers realized the error.
I encouraged her to get the error corrected. My reasoning was that if for any future reason her employment tenure needed to be verified, it would be good for them to have accurate information.
This discrepancy between reality and their computer database gives me pause. It is often claimed that many people lie on their resumes and job applications.
While I am sure that there are plenty of grand embellishments and outright fabrications that are advanced during employment procurement efforts, I wonder how many of these alleged lies are in actuality errant corporate records.
If she were to put on a job application or credit application that she had been employed for eleven years, but the company would only confirm five, who would be believed?
Would she even be consulted or made aware of a discrepancy?
I fear not. I suspect her application would be summarily rejected and she would never know the reason why.
Anyway, after a bit, if digging, we found her first W2 from eleven years ago. She showed it to human resources and with a couple of key clicks, the error was fixed.
I wonder when she’ll get her ten-year plaque.
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Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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