I have written elsewhere in this forum about this. I personally was asked (told) to do things that were both illegal and immoral. It’s a slippery slope. First you are asked to do something that’s illegal, but harmless. You do it, and soon you are asked to do more and more things that are more serious. I have had eight full time jobs in my life, and with one or two exceptions each one required me to do something wrong.
These actions ranged from defrauding members of an association, certifying that a certain vaccine did not contain a certain product (when it did), not telling customers that a certain vaccine was ineffective against a certain strain of disease, overlooking overpayments of millions of dollars from large customers (UN), certifying that a certain test was approved by various states when it was not, and on and on. And yes, I quit those jobs. What was my reward? Unemployment–for years and years.
Often the person who was committing the fraud was the same person you were supposed to go to to report fraud! Good system.
Once in an interview, after explaining why I had left my previous job, the interviewer remarked that I seemed very idealistic. I replied that I simply didn’t want to steal from customers or kill people. That didn’t seem “idealistic” to me, it seemed like common sense.
My conclusion after all this is that organizations (both corporate and non-profit) are corrupt to the core.
You may recall the Arlington Cemetery scandal several years ago (it’s in Wikipedia). A woman contractor who had been on the job less than a week went to her boss and informed him that not only were headstones being put on the wrong graves or thrown into a stream, but that cremated remains were also being thrown into a stream, and some bodies were being buried on top of another body. This is Arlington Cemetery remember–veterans. So what was her reward? She was fired immediately (no protection for contractors who are whistle blowers) and years later she is STILL unemployed. She went to the press of course, and everything she had told her boss was absolutely true. But apparently no one wants to hire an honest employee.-
