When rogue supervisors double-deal

I find it fascinating when rogue landscape supervisors double-deal. Mainly because I personally would have a hard time pulling something like this off. Double-dealing occurs when a supervisor or crew leader goes off-site to conduct personal business instead of working on site. What a dream. The boss pays you for labour you don’t do while you service your own private clients on company time. This is every degenerate’s dream.

I ran into this scheme twice. One was a mild case while the other was totally outrageous.

Side-job double-deal

This happened early on in my landscaping career. I was the new rabbit on site looking for experience and training.  I would take my tasks and complete them to the best of my ability. But when we were done our supervisor was nowhere to be found. Bummer. So we stayed busy and waited.

We found out the real deal only several months later. As it turned out, our supervisor left us on site and drove a few blocks over to work on a private gig. No way! A great double-deal. The supervisor gets his regular salary and profits from private landscape maintenance work. All of it at the same time. Awesome! Rabbits like me quietly plugged away in exchange for good reviews and potential raises.

The supervisor didn’t get fired until several years later. I never found out if he got disciplined for his double-dealing.

Hard core double-dealing

This next case is also a true story. This case was hard core and went on for years costing the company a lot of money.  When I paid a visit to a site and the crew leader was gone my suspicions were aroused. His main helper kept answering all of my questions with the same robotic, “He’s off-site.” But why?

Since I was very busy at the time, I forgot about it. Juicy details wouldn’t be revealed until a year later. Right after the crew leader was sent packing. He now runs his own company.

It was an amazing scam. The crew leader would go off-site to work on his own private projects and his main helper would run the crew for him. Sure, but what was in it for him? His crew leader would quietly give him a weekday day off all the while pretending he was at work. You help me, I help you.

Busy boss

Craziness can slip through when the boss is very busy. But eventually our double-dealer slipped up. He was parked at his girlfriend’s place on a Saturday, scheduled to do overtime at 1.5 rates. Except his truck never moved. And so a concerned resident called the number displayed on the side of the truck. Busted!

Don’t do it

Hopefully, the company you work for is populated by all-stars who wouldn’t even dream of stealing through double-dealing. I know it happens but I find the lie fascinating. What a dream. While the boss pays you for a full-day of labour you didn’t perform, you make private clients happy. Except it’s wrong. It’s a lie and you’re stealing. Quit and start your own company.