Should I fire this guy because he bought his degree from the internet?

[ZergZergLOL]

Hey guys, I posted this on another board and the verdict I got was to fire him. Since I've been lurking here for a while I thought I'd post it here for some more advice.

A couple years ago I hired a guy named Thomas as a senior tech for a small data center I run in California. He always seemed like a pretty competent worker. Thomas had great personal skills, came into work on-time, and pretty much completed projects better than any of the other techs in our facility. He seemed like a pretty intelligent guy, actually. On occasion I've even had dinner with his wife and young daughter who's going through chemo. I generally consider Thomas a friend.

The other day I invited him to my house to hang out and have a few drinks. At one point in the evening we were shooting the shit and talking about the worst things we've ever done in our lives. I regaled him with a tale about how I stole expensive clothes from department stores as a teenager and he told me about how he once sent explicit pictures of his cheating ex-girlfriend sodomizing a toothbrush to her parents. I laughed and passed him another drink.

I guess he was getting a little too tipsy because a little later he related a story about how he got his college degree in philosophy. We don't require college degrees, but we generally hire and give greater pay to candidates with the degree over the candidate without one. Thomas said that he bought it off the internet for $450 from some website called "The Transnational Council" for something something. He wrote the domain

on a napkin and said that he had listed the degree he got through them on the resume he sent my secretary two years ago. I've heard this website discussed on some other message boards before. Apparently they represent universities who grant degrees based on previous college credits, work history, and military/life experience. Now I don't know what to do. Company policy is to terminate people who lie on their resumes, but he doesn't seem like that bad of a guy. The website he got his degree from looks like what they're doing is pretty unethical since there's no coursework involved. But I guess the degree is technically legal. Should I fire him because he bought his degree from the internet instead of attending a regular university?

What he did was pretty crooked. I think I'll decide to go ahead and fire him over this. If you were his employer what would you do?

[HotRod]

I'd stop SPAMMING news groups

[zero]

Keep him; fire you.

[J.A. Michel]

If anything, shame on you or your HR department for not checking his credentials closer when you hired him.

That said, if you're happy with the job he's doing and the degree - as you said - is "technically legal", then what's the problem? Keep him. If you're in a position to hire and fire, then you know that good, reliable help is hard to find. Think about it.

[Toller]

No no. His wife left him because his daughtor is on chemo. You have to tell it right.

[Bob]

Troll. Even if this elaborate story did happen to someone, somewhere, the NLRB would laugh the employer right out of the hearing. Go over to alt.legal and jerk them around for a while.

[sliptipular]

Wow. So, the only way you detected his diploma was a fake was him telling you? Even after a couple years, yet! Gee, I guess I'd better head over to scamsnational and check them out.

moron.

[psbourke]

Ask yourself is he valuable to you business? Does he contribute to profitibility? If so, the commercial decesion would be forget the conversation.

[good ol' Bob]

Jeezus f****ng kryst, didn't anyone notice that the guy provided a link to the site he is pimping?

[tinacci336]

If you were very smart , which appears your not, you would make the decision on what he does not on who he is. I'll give you an example, I know a tech that never finished high scool perse that when he was in his prime , 10 years ago I would of put him up against any tech in the country regardless of degrees. He was just a natural born tech that had an IQ of 154 and could beat the best of em.. Another example. Do you know that a few years ago,the person has died since, There was a colored janitor in NYC that only finished the 8th grade that was the most knowledged person in the world on the human eye.. He was a janitor by trade, but doctors from all over the world consulted him on eye problems. So mister, degrees don't necessary mean s__t!

[Bert Byfield]

I'd fire *you* for being the kind of a guy who acts like a friend to someone in order to trick them into exposing secrets that you can use against them.

[ben.aust]

I think Bert Byfield should be fired if he is lucky enough to have a job - because he is not intelligent enough to be worth minimum wage.

[anonymous]

YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT THIS GUY BEING A TROLL MOST LIKELY A SPAMMER TOO, advertising these websites... (I bet all the websites go to the same place too) I'm not going to waste the time to look.....

LOOK WHAT HE POSTED ON ALT.AUTOS (below)

I think this spammer just got BUSTED !!!!

[anonymous]

I'd do what I just DID do. Report YOU to your ISP for posting SPAM on multiple newsgroups !!!

Goodbye asshole......

[ben.aust]

You aren't too bright yourself if you can't see this is a hoax.

[Bert Byfield]

Thanks for illustrating my point.

[Goedjn]

Two questions.

1) Is there anything on the job application that is false-to-fact? (That's what "lie" means.) Does he in fact have the degree that he claims he does? If that degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on, that's YOUR fault, for not checking acreditations.

2) Does your company policy require a degree from an acreditted university, or just a degree? (wait, you just said you didn't require a degree at all.) so skip that,

2a) Is pulling his weight in the job?

[RicodJour]

Please don't feed the trolls.

Troll indicators:

- if the person posts an outrageous or ridiculous situation and asks for comments

- if it's posted or crossposted to totally unrelated groups

- if the poster never checks back in to clarify or reply to questions

- if the poster is a one hit wonder and has no track record other than the one post

- if the poster regularly posts similarly idiotic posts on other groups

R

[barry]

Troll alert! Don't feed them, eh!

J

[g.a.miller]

If he is a good employee and high competent work. follows Company Policy on projects. Keeps morale high and work profenicy is well, I would keep him on. It is very hard to find these type workers, degrees or not. You might be making a mistake to fire him. He may turn out to be the loyal worker you wish you had. Best Regards Anthony.

(just a thought)

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