What Would You Do If Work Messed Up Your Check in Idaho?
What would you do? What would you do if on payday you find out your check is significantly more than it is supposed to be? Somebody makes a mistake, and instead of the normal amount that you are used to, your check is bigger, much bigger, what would you do? Do you let your company know? Do you spend it? Do you quit your job and disappear? There are multiple choices, and odds are slim that any of us will be in this circumstance, but if you see your check bigger than you have ever seen, what happens next?
Getting Paid More Than You Should
Recently an employee in Chili received his paycheck, to discover it was 330 times more than it should have been. The man normally made around $555 per check, but this one was worth $183,593. He told HR of the mistake and they asked him to withdraw the money and return it, which he promised to do the next day. He did withdraw the money, but he never returned to work, having resigned a few days later. If you had over 300 times the amount of money on your check than normal, would you do as this man did? Would you return it? Would you have even gone to HR, to begin with?
What to Do If Your Paycheck is Wrong
We all have bills to pay and could all use some extra money, but when a check of that magnitude falls into your lap, do you use it for financial help, or do you follow your morals? If taking part of it was an option, that would be best, but no company would allow that. The risk of eventually being forced to pay it back may be enough to scare you to not even attempt to spend it. Once you notify HR you are obligated to pay it back, even though this man didn't. If you keep it to yourself, you can keep it in savings and wait a while to see what happens, but spending it is way more fun. The dilemma would be real and would make for a tough choice. Morals or money, that is the question.
If you ever find yourself in this rare situation what is the right way to go? It is easy to say without the check in hand, but I like to believe I would tell HR and give the check back. It would help me feel better morally, as well as the fear of having to pay it back down the line would be gone. The worst case for me is if I spend it, then later have to pay back the money I do not have. The more the money, the harder the choice would be, but my family and I are making it work, so we wouldn't be out of anything, because it wasn't money we were supposed to have. If you find yourself in this situation, what would you do?