A resignation and a lie
7:45 AM - the door bell rings. I was getting ready to go up to school and wondered who could it be this early in the morning. A man was standing outside with his face covered and just for a brief moment I hesitated wondering if it was a good idea to open the door, it was too late I was standing outside.
It was B, a dishwasher in the kitchen with bandages on his face. He folded his hands and told me as to how his neighbour had been harassing him and threatening him and his family. He started touching my feet imploring me to do something about it. I was a little shaken and disturbed and asked him to come see me in the office at 9:00 AM. He assured me that he would be there by 10:00 AM.
This left me thinking about what is going on here and also wondering as to how I could get to know the whole story. In the six months that I have been around I have learned that you cannot act on the basis of one persons point of view no matter how heart wrenching their story might be.
Come 9:30 AM and the security officer informs me that B’s wife and daughter are at the school gate wanting to meet with me. I ask them in, they come in and the wife starts crying and saying that her husband is a liar and is a drunk and doesn’t take care of the family. All he does is accuse the neighbours unnecessarily because they are related to her.
What?? Hmmmm … so I don’t really have to go to the neighbours to find out what’s going on, it seems that this guy is quite the character.
B’s wife and daughter say that everyone in the neighbourhood are afraid of him because he inflicts wounds on his body and then accuses them of having beaten him up and having his injuries checked out at the hospital as well.
Well, this is clearly a domestic matter and I do not want to get involved as a school administrator. One thing emerges that for the safety and security of the campus it is best that B vacates the house and finds something outside in the bazaar.
10:00 AM B arrives and I tell him that he is a liar and has wasted my time and no longer has my sympathies. Once again he says that his wife and daughter are liars, and so are the neighbours and so are the other staff members living around him. I tell him he needs to vacate his house and that I do not want him on campus.
He returns half an hour later and gives me his resignation. “I’d rather not work here at all” Fine, I forward his resignation to HR.
We have way too many employees anyway and this is way too easy and trouble free for me and I am not going to pass up on this opportunity.
At the back of my mind I am thinking of his family and wondering what they will do, its a tough situation because on the one hand I am happy to see him go and then on the other I know his wife and children will be out on the streets.
B leaves my office without looking back and I go over to the HR office and ask them to accept the resignation ….
