Well kept office secrets.

As Departmental Head, critical problems got to be solved amicably.

1) One of my young lady clerical staff went missing from the Office and could not be traced or tracked. She was absent for more than two consecutive working days from mid week and by right a disciplinary action could be constitute against her by terminating her service. She was one of my efficient clerk, the earliest to the office and always stayed back late and never claimed overtime. I was worried about her and I requested one of the senior lady staff to pay her parents a visit. This lady came back and told me that even her parents were frantically looking for her. However during our discussion she told me that this particular girl had been behaving very peculiar off late and from gossips this girl is on the family way. This girl always wore the baju kurung as if hiding something and reservedly preferred to be a loner. I don’t quite believe on the gossips as she looked innocent and decently well behaved.

The following week, on Tuesday, surprisingly she reported to work and I had to interview her and show cause of her truancy. When reprimanded, she stubbornly silent. She only stared at the floor. I began to lose my patient and I asked her bluntly, “From the sources I got, someone told me you are pregnant. How true is it?” She stared at me, looked right, looked left, looked down and tears swelled from her eyes. I began to feel worried because it was a very sensitive question to a young girl. Suddenly she opened her mouth and told me that she had just delivered a baby boy last Saturday. My God, I nearly fell off from my chair. She related to me all her predicament and the baby was with a family in Shah Alam. Her parents still did not know about the mishap and she distanced herself from them. Now I knew why she was always wearing the baju kurung and why she was damn early to office and stayed late in the office. She evaded her parent eyes. I now have big problem in hands. By right she was still on maternity leave having delivered a baby just three days ago and at the same time she had contravened her service contract. She was a very good staff. What should I do? I excused her for a while and would come back soonest to her. I nearly finished a pack of cigarettes to find the best alternatives to tackle the problem.

I summoned for her Reporting Executive and we had a lengthy discussion to address the problem. The solution was to request her to take an annual leave, approved several days off unpaid leave and asked her to recuperate at home immediately. We decided not to take any disciplinary action against her. She agreed and I was quiet happy. I then advised her to be honest with her parents and requested the boyfriend to confess and met her parents as well. Both families should confer and accepted the fact that both of them had gone over board. It was lucky in this circumstances, the boyfriend accepted full responsibility of the mischievous misadventure. Later, I heard, all went well.

Few months later, I attended their wedding.

It was a well kept office secret.


2) My Stenographer resigned for greener pasture and I had to find an immediate replacement. I referred to Human Resources and there was one temporary clerk with stenography qualification from Institute Teknologi Mara at one of the subsidiaries. I looked at her testimonial and she was qualified to be absorbed permanently in my Department. A formal interview was unnecessary because she was interviewed during the temporary appointment. All went well and she was competent with the computer. However as an ITM diploma holder she somehow did not protrude as one. Her command of the English language was not competent and I had to ensure all typed correspondence she prepared had to be double checked. Several other physical evidences that I felt something were not right about her. I went back to Human Resources Department and requested for her Personnel File. Maybe I was not thorough during the first sight. Going through, something aroused my suspicion. She obtained her stenography diploma immediately a year after her SPM. That was quiet impossible. Since one of the Human Resources Executive was a Lecturer from ITM, I handed him the Photostat copy of the Diploma to countercheck with ITM. True enough, the name on the photostatted Diploma was superimposed. I discussed with the HRM Manager and he admitted he failed to see the original. What my Stenographer did was an absolute cheating. We were reluctant to initiate formal disciplinary action against her because the HRM Manager was also partly at fault and it also involved a criminal offence. Names would be mentioned and tarnished.

How to get out from the crisis? It was rather fortunate and at the most unfortunate circumstances, she was on maternity leave. Again, I got to call the same senior lady staff to pay her a visit discreetly informing her that the Management had found out what she did and the best solution was to tender her resignation.

She did to our relief. I felt guilty and pity but I just could not tolerate being cheated. I did not condone blatant cheating in my Department. I scouted for a new Stenographer.

It was also a well kept office secret.




When I looked back at those episodes, I began to wonder why on earth I took the risks of sticking my own neck for them. If my Divisional Director came to know the drama at ground zero, I had a lot to answer. Perhaps or maybe they knew and they agreed to my diplomatic decisions. God knows.