How to apologize about porn found in company server

Hello everybody. In this post we will learn how to get out of this very common trouble - porn found at your work place.

lets take a look at his hypothetic situation:

Meet John Doe. John works at a PR firm, and one of his vices is downloading good, wholesome pornography to his workstation.

One day, John’s boss, we’ll just call him Mr. Boss, starts suspecting his secretary of leaking private emails. So, Mr. Boss gets a private eye to go over the server and secretary’s laptop. John got panicky, and started erasing the porn from his workstation, only to find out it was backed up in his folder on the server.

so now lets take a look and find out how to get John out of this trouble safely.

the facts:

1. there is porn directly linked to John on the server.

2. the private eye might find it.

3. Mr. Boss will be embarrassed

Should John apologize? should he blame the secretary? should he avoid the issue?

here is Johns solution.

John talks to his boss before the eye talks to him. This is because john doesn’t know if Mr. Boss knows or whether the eye would squeal. He gets 1 point for honesty (assert this by saying something like “I didn’t want you to hear this from someone else”)but don’t over do it by using the “we have been working … years together”.

Next, John explains that ’some personal information’ accidentally got to the server. John is being very apologetic, and makes it very clear that no one should know it ever existed (addressing Mr. Boss fears of embarrassment before they arise). Since Mr. Boss is technology challenged, John explains him how ‘the files were being deleted, but they took the server before i could finish’.

At this point, John explains this will never happen, assumes all responsibility and apologizes for the trouble.

Mr. Boss understands there was some mistake or a ‘glitch’, and considers everything to be taken care of.

case solved.

Important note: in this case, the solution worked thanks to (but not solely) the fact that ‘pornography’ is never mentioned, at any cost. the phrase ‘private files’ hints but does not dictates.the success of this scenario is totally up to the user. Think as if you are Mr. Boss. understand his fears, address them before he has time to start fearing. The truth can be bent, but should not be broken. tell a version of what happened.

Good Luck, and send me that porn when you are done