There aren’t many secrets in Gaffney, South Carolina, so when two heating and air conditioning workers suddenly quit their jobs and began buying big screen TV’s, used cars, riding lawn mowers, and brick and mortar work with the old style $100 bills, people started to speak up.
You see, these two men were hired by Ms. Lois Brown to do some repair work around her house. Ms. Brown informed them that her husband had died several years earlier and that he hid thousands of dollars in the basement. She and her family had searched, but were never able to find the money. So, she told the workers that if they found it, they would be in for a big reward. It was the same offer she made each time someone came to work at the house, but after three days, the two left without telling Ms. Brown anything.
Both men quit their jobs the day after they found the money, and they didn’t waste any time spending it. All of the purchases were made with crisp $100 bills that were printed before the federal government started putting security threads and using off-centered alignment.
A few days later, Ms. Brown heard about the spending spree and confronted the two men. She said she wouldn’t go to the authorities if they returned the money. She’d even stay true to her initial offer and give them a portion of the money as a reward. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? Well, the two men played dumb, so she was forced to get the police involved.
The men were charged and sentenced to 5 years in the state Department of Corrections. If the men had come clean originally, she was going to give them half the money. Oh, the amount of money was supposed to be about $100,000.
It’s so important who we hire and put in our customer’s homes. Not only did this affect the two men involved, but what about the reputation of the air conditioning company? It’s so important that we do our part, as owners, to protect our customers, our company, and our fellow workers.
According to IMI Data Search, some industries experience a ratio as high as one out of four when it comes to applicants having a criminal record. This statistic, combined with numerous incidents of violence against homeowners by contractors, indicates the growing importance of hiring contractors who embrace policies of background checks and drug testing.
I encourage you to get the Tech Seal of Safety. With the seal, you commit to conducting criminal background checks, drug testing and that you properly train the technicians that enter private homes.
If you don’t have the Tech Seal of Safety, apply for it today. Give your customers a sense of safety and security by displaying the seal proudly.