its gnawing at me

coolhandluke

I work in IT. There are days when I truly love my job. I enjoy teaching people to surmount their ignorance and overcome their fears of technology. I love hard problems that multiple people cannot resolve... head scratchers. One of the parts of my job that I don't really care for is monitoring peoples files during file transfers. I don't go out of my way to see if they've got questionable material but if in the course of my regular duties I find it according to company policy I have to report it... lawsuits and all.

I was helping someone that I consider to be a mild acquaintance. He lives next door to my building in a hotel while awaiting an assignment. I've had to go there to do work on his system. He always has a cold beer ready for me. We've talked about family and other things. A bit beyond niceties. I like the guy genuinely. He is always smiles and always shakes my hand warmly. We usually share a laugh about something.

I'm not a prude. Far from it. I think I have a healthy sexual appetite. The problem is that in the basics of my job I found a bunch of porn on this guy's system. I had to go to HR who told me to go to my supervisor who then went to his supervisor. About 10 minutes later I get a call and this guy asks me if he can borrow his system for a sec. I know what happened is that my boss told his boss about it and he told him to get rid of it. Part of me feels guilty. Part of me feels like I ratted someone out. The moniker of "its my job" isn't helping...

sacolton

My two cents.

If you really consider this guy as a friend then you should have pointed out that you found porn on his computer and that you are obligated to report it. Allow him the opportunity to delete it himself. Give him the warning personally and let him decide what the consequences may be if it should happen again. I think a fair warning would have been sufficient.

Gopher

It is your job.

This outcome isn't the worst possible one:

my boss told his boss about it and he told him to get rid of it

The PC's and devices at the jobsite are owned by the company and are mainly for business purposes. Most employers have written rules on this subject, along with guidelines about what (if anything) would be allowable personal use of the machine.

That guy is only a 'mild acquaintance', he doesn't pay your salary.

primitivegenius

yeah bro that sucks, dont know if this helps at all but before you even look at the comp...... could you tell the person do they need a few minutes to delete anything that they dont want you to see or shouldnt have on their comp......... then go to the bathroom or get a cup of joe for ten or fifteen minutes lol.

then if they were stupid enough to think you couldnt find it or wouldnt find it, and they know the company policys....... then its on their heads. sides how long does it take to burn 30 gigs of porn onto dvd-Rs lol.

Wordly Andre

First copy all the good stuff over on CD then show him how to delete it, after that send a copy to Worldly Andre to my Bethel address

Quirky1

You can't let it get under your skin, you are just doing your job. I am a firm beleiver in protocol even tho some things can be over looked to an extent. You still have a job to do.

Quirky1

coolhandluke

thanks for the advice.

Andre, expect a package wrapped in non descript brown paper

Primitive, that is a super idea. I think I'll do that from now on. I honestly didn't want to get the guy in trouble and he seems to be taking it well, at least I hope he is.

The reason I handled it this way is that if it comes back on me that I warned him, its my head.

VoidEater

Sadly (or not), we are often put into the role of watchdogs. As slight as the chance may (or may not) be, how worse for the guy to have a sensitive colleague or, worse, customer come across his personal collection.

I've had the displeasure of pointing out a huge collection placed on a departmental file server, as well as blowing the whistle on a CIO - in the latter case, there were images on desktop and in screen savers on both desk and laptop machines, relatively visible to any guest, that would have (no question) resulted in a lawsuit under slightly different circumstances. BTW, I'm both open-minded and I've certainly collected some mileage in my time, but the images this guy had in general view were, well, startling.

Terminations were the result of both situations. In the first case I believe a scapegoat was found; in the latter case I think it was deserved.

We all have roles to play, and not all of them are conducive to our self-estimation. Yet it is often a measure of integrity and appropriateness to follow through.

primitivegenius

yeah i know how that works...... this way at least your not WARNING HIM...... because you havent begun working and hell we all need a few minutes to drink that cold beer........ and if he/she happens to use that time to get righteous......... thats not a concern of yours. sides they should know better really. if its a company computer then they should at least have enough sense to copy it off onto a disk.

honestly i would think that a person could live without porn at least while they were at work, but the thing is when i worked at the airport...... people couldnt go on vacation without carrying enough porn(among other things) to open their own website. i mean if your going on a cruise for 5 days......... do you need so much porn to take with you that if you started playing it at the highest speed ............. you would be there for over a month watching fast moveing pornstars? go figure lol.

you dont want to be the asshole rat fink....... especially if you like the person..... who turned them in..... and you dont want to be called the person who lets people off by the higherups.

they should know what they SHOULDNT have on a company comp......... and they should know company policy that demands you report what you find. you will still have fools who dont know anything about comps but think they have hidden it enough that an expert (you) couldnt find it. (shakes head)

loosie

Well it is your job. He should have used his personal computer for porn not the companies.

When I worked in tech support I had a customer call me up and ask me if I could tell him how to delete all his porn from the computer before his wife wakes up from her nap. LOL

its gnawing at me

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