Get the Facts First

Don’t Make Judgments Based on Rumor or Innuendo

I was seven years old and just beginning my first year at Saint Mathew’s. With a loud crash, the door at the front of the room suddenly burst open. In stormed the Sister Superior, nostrils flared and eyes wide with rage. Instantly, the class was petrified.

Sister Mary Bridgett looked like a cross between Godzilla and a First Sergeant. She easily towered over the young nun, barely out of her teens, who was teaching class. Thank God I was seated at the very back of the room. Abruptly she turned to face the students and commanded, “Francis Keefer report to me immediately!” I was so terrified it was a wonder I didn’t wet myself. “Why did she want me, what had I done?”

Trembling with fear, I moved toward the front of the room. It was the longest walk of my life. An eternity later, I reached her. My eyes locked onto the floor. I was afraid to look up at the towering presence above me.

“Confess!” She roared.

I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. My young mind frantically searched itself for any transgression that I’d ever committed in my entire life.

“Confess!” She roared once again.

I didn’t know what to say.

Reaching behind her, she grabbed a three-foot wooden pointer from the chalk ledge below the blackboard and began to thrash me violently about the head and shoulders (Corporal punishment was an accepted disciplinary tool in parochial schools at that time).

Again and again her words of “Confess!” reverberated throughout the classroom.

My mind is a blank after that. I’m sure that I must have been reduced to tears, not just from the beating but also from the humiliation. The next thing I remember is her grabbing my ear, twisting it and dragging me out of the room and down to her office. Her workplace was dark and foreboding. It looked like a dungeon out of a Charles Dickens’ novel.

“Stand in the corner and face the wall!” She commanded. “You will remain in that corner until you confess!”

With the daily exception of fifteen minutes for lunch, during which time I could use the lavatory, I remained in that corner, facing the wall, for the next three days.

I was afraid to tell my parents. I didn’t want another beating.

At the start of school, four days later, I automatically reported to the Sister Superior’s office and assumed my position in the corner. Around mid morning, she returned. 

“Come here!” She harshly commanded.

I positioned myself in front of her desk.

Sternly, with ice-cold emotion, she looked me straight in the eye, pointing her finger at me and said, “We caught the kid that was spitting out of the bus window. Return to class but,” and by now she was vigorously shaking her finger in my face, “let this be a lesson to you!”

With that I was gone. As I walked down the hall I was bewildered. No apology. No sign of remorse, just, “Let this be a lesson to you!” I hadn’t done anything. What kind of a lesson was it supposed to be? Instead of assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner and instead of convicting and punishing me for a crime I didn’t commit, all she had to do was ask me about the incident. I didn’t even ride the bus. I walked to school.

Unfortunately I’ve either seen or heard of similar experiences with just about every network marketing company in the industry - folks falsely accused of proselytization, doing multiple deals, or some other infringement of corporate policy when there was no basis for fact. I was terminated once for being in two companies. As anyone who knows me will attest, the charge was ludicrous. In fact, I had just spent $80,000 renovating a building to be a remote hub for my company, open to all distributors, regardless of lineage.

Too many times I’ve seen jealousy on the part of distributors or paranoia on the part of management lead to indictment and often termination of innocent or misguided individuals. The standard in the industry seems to be shoot first and ask questions later.

Before reporting “errant” distributors to the home office, I would implore those of you who believe your fellow distributors are guilty of impropriety to go to those distributors and get the facts firsthand rather than relying on rumor and innuendo. More often than not, I’ve found that there is a misunderstanding that can easily be remedied. Always address problems on the lowest level necessary for resolution. You always have an option for escalation.

To management, I implore you to get all of the facts first. Sometimes the problem is inter-organizational rivalry or petty jealousy blown out of proportion. If an infringement of company policy exists, it may simply be a misunderstanding of interpretation or a temporary lapse of common sense. It may an outright transgression. In any case, weigh the use of compassion. Most often a little objective, unemotional counseling is all that’s needed. Remember, every distributor who quits or is terminated is negative advertisement for your company.

Let this be a lesson to you!