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Old 31-12-2016, 16:11
victor mel
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Is it best to go to the manager and confess something happened or keep quiet and if questioned some time later deny you know anything?
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Old 31-12-2016, 16:29
bri160356
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Is it best to go to the manager and confess something happened or keep quiet and if questioned some time later deny you know anything?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv5fqunQ_4I&t=1m3s
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Old 31-12-2016, 16:30
We Want Woger
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Dearest Heart I've found that in every conceivable circumstance denial of everything is by far the best policy and should it become necessary you should deny you work there.
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Old 31-12-2016, 17:36
Granny McSmith
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Dearest Heart I've found that in every conceivable circumstance denial of everything is by far the best policy and should it become necessary you should deny you work there.
Agreed.

Practising an innocent face in the mirror can be time well spent.
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Old 31-12-2016, 18:33
ba_baracus
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Is it best to go to the manager and confess something happened or keep quiet and if questioned some time later deny you know anything?
Keep quiet and deny.

I once thought I was doing the right thing and confessed to a rookie error I had made, and the manager went down the disciplinary route for misconduct. I could easily have kept quiet and got away with it, and regret mentioning it at all.
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Old 31-12-2016, 18:41
Wee Tinkers
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Usually I'd say honesty is best policy but it depends on what you did and how reasonable your manager is. And how likely it is to come out. No point falling on your sword for nowt.
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Old 31-12-2016, 19:17
John_Adam1
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Depends entirely on the circumstances, people involved, etc.
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Old 31-12-2016, 19:41
mrsgrumpy49
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I would only confess if someone else was going to get the blame instead of me. In my first junior management post, I was out in the work minibus with a member off staff when he drove it into a flooded road. He was being macho and showing off that he could deal with a bit of water. Me I should have exerted my authority and said 'stop'! The water turned out to be quite deep and started coming up round our ankles. Anyhow we made it back and when the bus mysteriously had to go in for repairs a few days later, neither of us said anything.
It never came back to bite us but I had learnt my lesson. Months later I was the one, not my boss, who stood up to and sorted the ongoing issues with the young man.
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Old 31-12-2016, 22:36
victor mel
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Thanks for the advice. It's a matter of confidentiality that the junior staff shouldn't have known about. We were both at fault for various reasons. My dilemma keep quiet or speak to the manager. If I keep quiet it means denying anything happened. Trouble is the junior staff knows detailed stuff now he shouldn't so denying anything happened looks more fishy.
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Old 31-12-2016, 23:34
SaddlerSteve
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Thanks for the advice. It's a matter of confidentiality that the junior staff shouldn't have known about. We were both at fault for various reasons. My dilemma keep quiet or speak to the manager. If I keep quiet it means denying anything happened. Trouble is the junior staff knows detailed stuff now he shouldn't so denying anything happened looks more fishy.
I suppose it depends on if you trust the junior member to keep their gob shut. Because if they can't and your senior management finds out they know things they shouldn't they're going to want to know why. You risk the junior member revealing all to save their own skin and then it's going to look really bad on you that not only have you given our confidential information you've compounded this by trying to keep it secret.
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Old 01-01-2017, 08:30
Jennifer_F
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Thanks for the advice. It's a matter of confidentiality that the junior staff shouldn't have known about. We were both at fault for various reasons. My dilemma keep quiet or speak to the manager. If I keep quiet it means denying anything happened. Trouble is the junior staff knows detailed stuff now he shouldn't so denying anything happened looks more fishy.
I can see that it would be tempting to keep quiet, for obvious reasons, but I would come clean. If not, I would always be worried / concerned that something would come out at some point....I always say that you can only really trust yourself. Personally, I would mention it, then its been dealt with. If Senior Management find out now or later, it will reflect badly on you.
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Old 01-01-2017, 13:34
mrsgrumpy49
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It sounds as though this could get complicated. In which case it is probably better to face the music now. Plus this might keep nagging at you. You may even get a couple of brownie points for being honest.
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Old 01-01-2017, 15:12
scottie2121
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Thanks for the advice. It's a matter of confidentiality that the junior staff shouldn't have known about. We were both at fault for various reasons. My dilemma keep quiet or speak to the manager. If I keep quiet it means denying anything happened. Trouble is the junior staff knows detailed stuff now he shouldn't so denying anything happened looks more fishy.
I think it would probably be best to speak to your manager, explain what happened and accept responsibility. Don't blame the junior member of staff for your error. Then apologise and make it clear it won't happen again.


Or - bribe the junior member of staff to be silent.
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Old 01-01-2017, 18:07
mrsgrumpy49
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Or - bribe the junior member of staff to be silent.
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Old 01-01-2017, 20:58
myss
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I can see that it would be tempting to keep quiet, for obvious reasons, but I would come clean. If not, I would always be worried / concerned that something would come out at some point....I always say that you can only really trust yourself. Personally, I would mention it, then its been dealt with. If Senior Management find out now or later, it will reflect badly on you.
This for the reason in bold. OP unless you know you can trust this junior member up to the hilt, then you may be worried of the issue getting out somehow or be taken advantage of at a later stage by the junior member for keeping schtum.
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Old 02-01-2017, 09:42
grumpyscot
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I once made a major accounting boob. I went to my line manager and his boss and confessed, but advised that I'd been to our accounting division and got it all sorted out.

Result? Thanks for letting us know. I still got a bonus and, indeed, a promotion - purely for being honest, accepting my mistake, and taking the initiative to sort things out.

They admitted that if they'd found out, and I hadn't told them, I would probably have been demoted - certainly not PROmoted..
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Old 02-01-2017, 23:40
victor mel
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Well I had supervision today and spoke about what happened. We shall see what will happen. Though I was told not to worry, it will be fine.
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Old 04-01-2017, 17:31
Laurel1ne
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As a Senior Manager I'd like to think that if something did go wrong that we could have prevented then the staff involved were confident enough in the management to report it without too much risk of reprisal (unless they were doing something that really was something they weren't supposed to do)

We do try and drum into everyone that mistakes are learning opportunities and we're not going to learn anything if everyone gets disciplined for every error

But if something occurs and we find out later then if it's serious enough I will be assigning people to an investigatory task force to find out who knew what and when and I have a talent for finding out when people are obfuscating

So in short, how serious is the problem ? how likely is it to be discovered and how much confidence do you have in your Management
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Old 04-01-2017, 19:58
welwynrose
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I'd put my hands up to it I recently had to admit to making a very large error on our quarterly vat return but seeing as it was the first time in 18 years I'd made such a mistake and I dealt with the problem quickly and the resulting vat inspection the boss was fine about it
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