Kasambaho Issues

In our business, it’s not surprising to catch kasambaho stealing spare parts or supplies. Our people are generally dedicated and trustworthy but once in a while, although rarely, there would be some issues regarding temptation to make some extra bucks.

This only happens if there’s a new guy who’s bad influence. But most of the time, employees involved did not think that what they’re doing is tantamount to stealing. They think they found something lying around inside our building, therefore, it’s finder take all.

I was absent for more than a month. My first day at work greeted me with kasambaho issues. A good guy borrowed wheel tires from another car to replace his. Borrowed meant not asking for prior permission.
First offense, no intention to steal, I asked the HR to slap a two day suspension.

We get our share of customers who want to save money by asking our people where they can buy cheaper spare parts. Customers don’t realize that this is unethical and an instigation of corruption and graft.

When a customer does this, he is actually asking our own employees to cheat the company who pays for their salaries. Customer is indirectly asking our employees to connive with him to get spare parts either from outside or inside. Either way, this is considered a mortal sin in our kind of business. We very well recognize and understand that customers want to save money, but to connive with our people, this is foul. When the employee is caught, he would lose his job, kawawa naman.

What we charge is the fair price for the work we provide. Our people can help customers save on maintenance costs with the proper care and understanding of their vehicles.

Second day of work, we suspended another kasambaho who admitted into offering a client a cheaper spare parts without resibo daw. We didn’t find that particular spare parts. Either someone had stolen in, kept it. We didn’t know. I was ready to fire the guy but changed my mind and instead suspended him for 30 days. He profusely apologized and was remorseful.

Third day of work, I got so mad at one of the managers. I lost my patience and raised my voice. Meron pa akong hang-over from America kaya sabi ko “You’re giving me all this fucking excuses”.
Maliit na bagay lang naman pero nasagad ako sa kanya. I bought a fire proof filing cabinet with security vault for important documents.
It was delivered three months ago. I saw it outside their office. His excuse was mabaho daw yung paint. Baka daw sila sumakit ang ulo.
I advised him to put charcoal inside the drawers. I also reminded him to transfer their files para hindi nakakalat. I explained to him what that extra filing cabinet was for. “yes mam, aayusin namin”.
After two weeks, the cabinet was still there, so I reminded him because their files were in disarray. “Yes mam, ayusin namin”.

I went around our facility 3 days after I came back and found this same cabinet in the same spot, outside their office. Three drawers were full of folders. The top part was empty, with charcoal, and ajar.

The files are exposed to tampering, loss, etc.
I called the manager, meron pa rin daw kasing amoy. When I opened it, I didn’t smell anything. I told him, hindi ka naman papasok sa loob ng cabinet. Tatlong buwan na yan ang sinasabi mo.
I got mad because the files were exposed bec the drawers were not locked. He kept on saying “wala namang gagalaw nyan dito, hindi naman nila maibebenta yan”. I was so disappointed. Pwedeng merong makati ang kamay na paglaruan ang files, guluhin, pagpalit-palitin ang folders. mabasa ng tubig, o kunin at itapaon. There are lots of people in our office. One could never be sure. I was already emphasizing to him how important those files are, paulit ulit sya na wala naman daw gagalaw nun, hindi naman daw importante yun. I told him if these files are not important, then we should throw them away.
Aba ulit na naman, paprang hindi naririnig ang sinasabi ko. I lost my temper. I raised my voice and for the very first time in my whole life, I used the F work in my sentence. That’s what I get for living in America for a few weeks. I should have stuck to the French instead. Kwasong.