Should I fire this guy because he bought his degree from the internet?

Z
Posted By
ZergZergLOL
Jan 16, 2006
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372
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Hey guys, I posted this on another board and the verdict I got was to fire him. Since I’ve been lurking here for a while I thought I’d post it here for some more advice.

A couple years ago I hired a guy named Thomas as a senior tech for a small data center I run in California. He always seemed like a pretty competent worker. Thomas had great personal skills, came into work on-time, and pretty much completed projects better than any of the other techs in our facility. He seemed like a pretty intelligent guy, actually. On occasion I’ve even had dinner with his wife and young daughter who’s going through chemo. I generally consider Thomas a friend.

The other day I invited him to my house to hang out and have a few drinks. At one point in the evening we were shooting the shit and talking about the worst things we’ve ever done in our lives. I regaled him with a tale about how I stole expensive clothes from department stores as a teenager and he told me about how he once sent explicit pictures of his cheating ex-girlfriend sodomizing a toothbrush to her parents. I laughed and passed him another drink.

I guess he was getting a little too tipsy because a little later he related a story about how he got his college degree in philosophy. We don’t require college degrees, but we generally hire and give greater pay to candidates with the degree over the candidate without one. Thomas said that he bought it off the internet for $450 from some website called "The Transnational Council" for something something. He wrote the domain http://www.tcge.org on a napkin and said that he had listed the degree he got through them on the resume he sent my secretary two years ago. I’ve heard this website discussed on some other message boards before. Apparently they represent universities who grant degrees based on previous college credits, work history, and military/life experience. Now I don’t know what to do. Company policy is to terminate people who lie on their resumes, but he doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy. The website he got his degree from looks like what they’re doing is pretty unethical since there’s no coursework involved. But I guess the degree is technically legal. Should I fire him because he bought his degree from the internet instead of attending a regular university?

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I’ll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

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N
nomail
Jan 16, 2006
wrote:

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I’ll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

I would fire you for posting spam in this group. Your real intentions are to advertise this website, otherwise you wouldn’t have known it so well and posted the full URL.


Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/
JG
John Grossbohlin
Jan 16, 2006
wrote in message
Hey guys, I posted this on another board and the verdict I got was to fire him. Since I’ve been lurking here for a while I thought I’d post it here for some more advice.

I guess he was getting a little too tipsy because a little later he related a story about how he got his college degree in philosophy. We don’t require college degrees, but we generally hire and give greater pay to candidates with the degree over the candidate without one. Thomas said that he bought it off the internet for $450 from some website called "The Transnational Council" for something something. He wrote the domain http://www.tcge.org on a napkin and said that he had listed the degree he got through them on the resume he sent my secretary two years ago. I’ve heard this website discussed on some other message boards before. Apparently they represent universities who grant degrees based on previous college credits, work history, and military/life experience. Now I don’t know what to do. Company policy is to terminate people who lie on their resumes, but he doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy. The website he got his degree from looks like what they’re doing is pretty unethical since there’s no coursework involved. But I guess the degree is technically legal. Should I fire him because he bought his degree from the internet instead of attending a regular university?

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I’ll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

Unless you limit the "degrees" you accept to the those issued by institutions accredited by the traditional accredation organizations, and mention this upfront in the application process, I don’t see where the guy violated company policy. The policy as written is flawed in that it is incomplete…

You would also be doing the company a disserve to fire a competent employee–though that never stopped management before! ;~)

John
HL
Harry Limey
Jan 16, 2006
"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!
TE
Trace Elliot
Jan 17, 2006
Johan W. Elzenga wrote:
wrote:

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I’ll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

I would fire you for posting spam in this group. Your real intentions are to advertise this website, otherwise you wouldn’t have known it so well and posted the full URL.
10 punten voor johan 🙂
JG
John Grossbohlin
Jan 17, 2006
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in message
"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Oh well, one cannot know all the spammers personally!

The topic caught my attention as it showed up shortly after I had a similar discussion with academic and business associates…

John
N
NowhereMan
Jan 17, 2006
wrote in message
Hey guys, I posted this on another board

It’s an advert for the poster’s own company. Me thinks Guido is gonna visit this perp and break his legs. Real Soon Now.
HL
Harry Limey
Jan 17, 2006
"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:19Xyf.719
Oh well, one cannot know all the spammers personally!

The topic caught my attention as it showed up shortly after I had a similar discussion with academic and business associates…
John
You are right there John, and after all those sort of posts are designed to be credible, sorry for the overdone irony!!

Harry
K
Kingdom
Jan 17, 2006
wrote in news:1137446399.006387.33240
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Hey guys, I posted this on another board and the verdict I got was to fire him. Since I’ve been lurking here for a while I thought I’d post it here for some more advice.

A couple years ago I hired a guy named Thomas as a senior tech for a small data center I run in California. He always seemed like a pretty competent worker. Thomas had great personal skills, came into work on-time, and pretty much completed projects better than any of the other techs in our facility. He seemed like a pretty intelligent guy, actually. On occasion I’ve even had dinner with his wife and young daughter who’s going through chemo. I generally consider Thomas a friend.

The other day I invited him to my house to hang out and have a few drinks. At one point in the evening we were shooting the shit and talking about the worst things we’ve ever done in our lives. I regaled him with a tale about how I stole expensive clothes from department stores as a teenager and he told me about how he once sent explicit pictures of his cheating ex-girlfriend sodomizing a
toothbrush
to her parents. I laughed and passed him another drink.

I guess he was getting a little too tipsy because a little later he related a story about how he got his college degree in philosophy. We don’t require college degrees, but we generally hire and give greater pay to candidates with the degree over the candidate without one. Thomas said that he bought it off the internet for $450 from some website called "The Transnational Council" for something something. He wrote the domain http://www.tcge.org on a napkin and said that he had listed the degree he got through them on the resume he sent my secretary two years ago. I’ve heard this website discussed on some other message boards before. Apparently they represent universities
who
grant degrees based on previous college credits, work history, and military/life experience. Now I don’t know what to do. Company policy is to terminate people who lie on their resumes, but he doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy. The website he got his degree from looks like what they’re doing is pretty unethical since there’s no coursework involved. But I guess the degree is technically legal. Should I fire him because he bought his degree from the internet instead of
attending
a regular university?

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I’ll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

He’s a good worker, great personal skills, he’s on time, completed projects better than any of the other techs in our facility. He seemed like a pretty intelligent guy.

Ok he was too stupid to keep that story for himself.

You now know the guys a little loosed mothed and little low in ethical morality but could you get a better worker? will it cause you any inconvieneince or incur costs to replace him.

Ok if the guy were pretending to be a doctor I’d fire him but as a tech and a competent tech too, nah! I’d let it ride. It’s probably not even a crime.


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
K
Kingdom
Jan 17, 2006
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cc22d0$0$1477$:

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
message news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
AM
Andrew Morton
Jan 17, 2006
Kingdom wrote:
Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!

Was that a genuine 404 response or was it to hide the fact it was trying to load malware onto your computer?

Andrew
HL
Harry Limey
Jan 17, 2006
"Kingdom" wrote in message
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cc22d0$0$1477$:

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
message news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

Kingdom

I have always thought of you as quite a sensible fellow, and here you are showing how misconceived my perceptions were!!
K
KatWoman
Jan 17, 2006
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in message
"Kingdom" wrote in message
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cc22d0$0$1477$:

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
message news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

Kingdom

I have always thought of you as quite a sensible fellow, and here you are showing how misconceived my perceptions were!!
I believed it was real too, almost gave a serious reply. I thought Kingdom was female?
K
Kingdom
Jan 19, 2006
"Andrew Morton" wrote in
news::

Kingdom wrote:
Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!

Was that a genuine 404 response or was it to hide the fact it was trying to load malware onto your computer?

Andrew

Nothing at all installed or detected and my security is very good.


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
K
Kingdom
Jan 19, 2006
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cd24f1$0$1463$:

"Kingdom" wrote in message
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cc22d0$0$1477$:

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
message news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

Kingdom

I have always thought of you as quite a sensible fellow, and here you are showing how misconceived my perceptions were!!

Hee hee, worst fears confimed ;7)


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
K
Kingdom
Jan 19, 2006
"KatWoman" wrote in
news:v6ezf.178$:

"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in message
"Kingdom" wrote in message
"Harry Limey" <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote in news:43cc22d0$0$1477$:

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
message news:LZUyf.8336

You have just replied seriously to someone who has spammed over 10 other newsgroups with the same spurious story designed to get you to visit and read a website, you also posted the spam message itself with the link intact! and ironically you have ‘nospam’ as part of your email address! Well done!!

Don’t think so, I tried to visit the page and it through up a 404 not found!


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

Kingdom

I have always thought of you as quite a sensible fellow, and here you are showing how misconceived my perceptions were!!
I believed it was real too, almost gave a serious reply. I thought Kingdom was female?

Must be my feminine side showing through but no I’m all male.


Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

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