'Why some people lose their jobs,' even at RSCVA

I received an interesting piece of literature in my box this week, titled "Why Some People Lose Their Jobs."

This gave me pause, as at first I thought it might have been placed there by my boss, Jeff Ackerman.

Jeff isn't usually so subtle as to drop little hints like this. He's more likely to come right out and say, "Hey, either get this right or you're all fired."

As I was pondering my own career future, though, one of the reporters admitted that she had put in my mailbox. She had picked it up at Job Opportunities in Nevada, along with some other hints for job-seekers, and was simply passing it around.

I thought I'd share it with you, because it makes some interesting points. "Studies show that more people lose their jobs due to poor character qualities than from lack of skills," it says. "Some of the qualities found most objectionable are:"

- Carelessness. You show no interest in the work. You neglect your duties and responsibilities.

- Unwillingness to follow the rules.

- Laziness. You don't do or complete the actions and activities that you are supposed to complete and be responsible for.

- Absence or tardiness without cause. You don't call in to work or let your supervisor know that you are sick or can't come to work because of another reason.

- Troublemaking.

- Too much attention to outside interests. Can't wait to get off work to go fishing, skiing, etc.

- Lack of initiative. Waiting around for someone to tell you what to do.

- Too little or too much ambition.

- Disloyalty. Bad-mouthing the place where you work.

- Irresponsibility. Lacking the desire to be held accountable.

- Lack of adaptability. Inability to adapt to working conditions.

- Misrepresentation. Pretending to have skills that you do not have.

- Bad attitude.

- Lying. "I wasn't at work because ..."

- Arguing. With your supervisor or fellow co-workers.

This is an excellent list, and you probably recognize a few of the problems as you look around your own workplace.

However, I noticed the list wasn't quite complete. Perhaps JOIN would consider adding:

- Charging $9,400 in personal expenses to the company credit card.

Now, this may not occur to most employees as a reason to lose your job, because most companies wouldn't be foolish enough to allow their workers to go around with a company credit card.

Silly people. You don't work for the Reno-Sparks Visitors and Convention Bureau, do you? Over there, the former director, Phil Keene, got to carry a company credit card and used it to make some charges, like $1,357 to something called "The Wine Enthusiast" in New York, to a South Lake Tahoe marina and to a Reno liquor store, according to stories in the Reno Gazette-Journal by John Stearns.

Keene paid the charges back after six months or so. After the newspaper asked him about them. He said he didn't know that he shouldn't be charging personal stuff on the company credit card. Board members said they weren't even aware they had a policy against people charging personal stuff on the company's credit card.

That's why I think JOIN should include it on its list of "Why Some People Lose Their Jobs." It should be there in black and white: Don't charge personal stuff to the company credit card. Just in case one of the people in line over at the JOIN office gets a shot at the RSCVA executive director post, I don't want them making the same mistake.

You can understand how it might happen. Some of those personal expenses can tend to mount up, and if the company could just carry the amount on the credit card account for awhile, it would give a guy a chance to catch up.

Keene, for example, had been having to scratch out a living in Reno on a salary of $149,350 a year. Fortunately, he got a 20 percent raise last August - long before the whole credit-card mixup came to light - that moved him up to $180,000 a year.

He probably no longer had to wait for Top Ramen to go on sale. Especially after the $22,402 bonus they laid on top of the salary. And the $750 a month car allowance. And the $360 annual "communications" allowance. Total package: $252,652.

Unfortunately, Mr. Keene had to resign that job after his bosses on the RSCVA board decided that whole credit-card mixup was making them look like they didn't know what was going on.

Whether Keene has checked in with the JOIN people yet, I don't know, because he still has some money coming from the RSCVA. It seems the contract they signed with him is supposed to pay him for four months after he resigns. That would be $102,744.

However, Stearns reported this week in the Gazette-Journal, the $102,744 is a bit short of what Keene believes he deserves for resigning. He wants six months' pay, which would be $137,558.

"I am asking that you do the right thing under the circumstances," Keene wrote in a memo to the board chairman, Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin. "We all know that I did nothing illegal or of such a harmful magnitude to warrant such malicious, shabby and vicious treatment, which left me no practical option but resignation for the good of the organization."

If you'd like, go ahead and check that statement against the JOIN list of "Why Some People Lose Their Jobs." See if any of the items on the list apply.

For bonus points, see if you can think of any other reasons that might apply.