Read Your Local Paper

The size of my office staff continues to dwindle. Today, a long-term temp (since last October) from an agency did not come in again and the agency called to say it was a family emergency and she would be out all week. I informed them it would be unnecessary and unwelcome to have her back.

I had been alerted through a call from another staff member a few minutes earlier, telling me that the temp was seen on the local television news last night. The reason she was on the news is that her trial for felony theft (embezzling $70K+ using a credit card supplied by a former employer, our local school district) was beginning. Hmm. The employment agency takes great pride in 'screening' their people. Thie person's arrest by the FBI took place about a month before she came on with us. I do believe in the notion of innocent until proven guilty, but the evidence I'd learned after checking (and before the agency called) makes me very uneasy having someone in the office with access to credit card information and other financial data belonging to our clients.

If I had been a rabid reader of the Dallas Morning News, I would have known about this long ago. There's another reason to take time to read your local paper every day.