The "Great Protector" turns into the "Great Pretender"

Back to the Protector, one of our first characters we met in CallCenter Grit...


I continued to be plagued with his poor decision making abilities. He had all the potential in the world, but people are not judged on potential, they are judged on results. I held his feet to the fire, and instead of improving his decision making process, he decided to start concealing his mistakes.

Poor decisions are one thing, but I have no tolerance for integrity issues. There was a project he wanted to initiate and presented to me during a one on one. Words are cheap, but I wanted to see how fast and far he would run with it. I agreed, and gave him some guidelines for implementation.

A week or two later, during our next one on one, I asked for an update on his project. The same project that he asked me if he could implement. His answer was muddled and lacked detail, and his eye contact and body language told me he was being deceptive. I felt the guy was giving me a line, so I asked him those infamous words. I told his to show me.

He was gone for probably 8-10 minutes, and during that time I was alone in the conference room. During that time, I hoped that the Protector understood that he was now making a career decision. I hoped for the best, but I also knew the best indicator of future performance is past performance.


He brought back a group of documents and presented them to me as confirmation that he had been working the project. The documents looked forged, with fake looking, repetitive signatures, all in the same color ink.

Also, from my one-on-one’s with the QA’s, what he was presenting looked like the project they had committed to executing and not what we discussed.

I told him that I thought he was a good guy and wanted to do the right thing, and I asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell me before we go any further.

He immediately got defensive, and played ignorant.


I asked him to be straight with me, and tell me if they were authentic. He confirmed all was on the up and up. The longer I stared at them, the more I knew they were fakes. I was insulted that he didn't take my gift and come clean, so I asked him again. Had he been straight with me, I would have placed him on a developmental plan and let him know that if his integrity were ever in question again, I would term him.

He quickly took that option off the table…

To my amazement, he continued to stick to his guns defending his story. When I threatened to inspect his documents, he didn’t waver. He said I would find that his work was legit. He has now limited his options, because now he has limited mine. He passionately asked me why would he lie. I told him for self-preservation. He reminded me of our first one-on-one’s where he immediately admitted to removing documentation from employee files. His argument was that if he would come clean on that, why would he lie now.


My temper was raging fueled by his persistence. I told him to sit tight, and went to the call floor with his documents in hand. I went to my QA, and asked them where these documents came from. She said they were her documents and the Protector got them from her 10 minutes prior. I asked if she was sure, and she said yes.

I went back to the conference room, where the Protector was waiting. I again, asked him where the documents came from.

Even with the knowledge that I had just come from the floor, he stood the ground that was quickly crumbling under him. I gave him the facts that were given to me.

He was stoic, and stuck with his story... I could have just whacked him, but I wanted him to tell me the truth. I want him to confess the docs were fakes. I just expected and deserved more respect and honesty than this guy was giving me.

I finally got up, and went and brought in my member of QA who confirmed that the documents were hers. She then told me the same story, in front of the Protector...

Again, he remained stoic… Unbelievable!!!!

She left... I was more disappointed now than angry. I knew his fate was sealed, but I still wanted him to admit his crime. If I termed him, it would ensure that he would not get unemployment, but it would also allow us to part on better terms.

I looked directly at him and told him that I thought he was a good guy, and wanted to do the right thing. I then got up, and moved down the table, and set in the chair right next to him.

In a non-defensive posture, I told him that good people make bad decisions every day. I told him that he made a commitment to me to complete a project, he didn't follow up, and that I he panicked when I wanted to inspect his progress.

He looked down, and said, “Yes, I was lying”.