5 years ago I was working for a credit union in the collections department. I was REALLY good at what I did, to the point that debtors who had been problems for years when they came across my screen and I talked to them and helped dive into their problems, never became an issue again. I basically believed in giving people a chance, and if we needed to rework a loan, I advocated for the customer. The thought process I had was; “Hey guys, do we really want to waste thousands of dollars calling these people every month and perpetuate the cycle or do we want to get people back on track?”
Apparently those delinquency numbers going down was a huge problem. My boss hired someone who came from a commercial real estate background to help process legal paperwork, and this person made no bones about the fact that she didn't mind cutting corners and having zero ethics. Within the first week she brought up to the department manager that there was a loophole in state law that as long as you could verify someone was a property owner, you could start the legal process at 21 days past due. There was barely time for us to get a few calls into people before she wanted to start the lawsuit process, and it became a matter of policy that on the second call to the member that we had to do a GIS search for property. I made it very clear that I would NOT be participating in that because while it might not be illegal, it was unethical and morally wrong.
About three months in to this new policy, I get brought into a meeting with my supervisor and the department manager. It began with; “We have a problem.” To which I said; “Oh? How can I be of assistance?” My supervisor said; “The problem is you refuse to follow department policy on verifying property ownership on the second call.” To which I responded with; “Yeah. Because our credit union has a reputation for being honest and working with people. I mean…that's literally what our advertisements say.” “Well, we need to start getting more money in from lawsuits.” “Why?” “Because you've cost us money in fees and daily compounded interest from getting accounts back on track.” I pondered that for a moment and said; “I'm sorry, but isn't it our duty to protect our members from massive bad debt write offs? Isn't getting accounts in good standing doing exactly that?” The department manager retorted with; “I am going to authorize two additional weeks of vacation for you, I've already put in for it. You will be off starting Monday. If you decide you can't do this job, let us know when you come back and we will find something else for you at the credit union to do.” I said; “Sounds great!”
What do you guys think I did? In the two weeks I was out I had a ton of interviews. I called my boss on the Friday before I was supposed to be back and asked her if it was OK if I came in to work on Saturday because I was feeling great about my job and knew I could do it. She replied with; “Come on in!” I worked Saturday, and after everyone left, I cleaned my desk out and sent off my resignation letter effective immediately.
Monday morning both the supervisor and department manager were blowing up my phone thinking I was joking with them. And then the reality set in that not only did they give me two weeks of free vacation…because I came in on Saturday and worked…they had to pay out the rest of my PTO balance. The credit union was small enough that the CEO knew everyone by name and was the type that came by and gave out birthday cards and your annual anniversary bonus/gift. As soon as I confirmed my PTO balance in my paycheck that Friday, I hit send on an email I had drafted to him explaining why I had left.
The supervisor and department manager didn't last long. Not sure how the guy who was the VP of the entire area survived, but he did. Oh and the person that they brought on that suggested all of this garbage? Yeah…she lasted long enough to have to file all of the paperwork to drop all of the lawsuits that she had helped file and process refunds to everyone that was sued…then she got canned too. It feels nice to win one for the little guys.