Was ordered to do something unethical at work...

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I rarely if ever stand up to authority, even if I deeply believe they're wrong. Anxiety, depression, and the effects of Asperger's are a debilitating combination. The fear and sensory overload of disagreeing with or confronting someone have always paralyzed me--at least, until now.

At my work, we have a really cool GM who looks out for us and treats us fairly, but above him we have a crappy owner who we never see, who doesn't pay his bills and after buying 10 hotels still hasn't learned that you have to spend money to make money. But last night he came up with the most ridiculous plan yet. Our hotel chain features a rewards program where frequent guests will earn points for each stay and eventually get free nights. Sounds like a neat idea, right? The chain wants the program to continue at all its hotels, including franchise properties like the one I work at.

Well, our cheapskate franchise owner wants to avoid paying commission on this rewards program by basically sabotaging it from within. In a nutshell, from now on he wants me (one of the night auditors) to go into the computer and temporarily deactivate the guests' membership numbers every night so that their points no longer accumulate and they don't earn any more of the free stays they're entitled to. This was all explained to me by the GM, who felt the same way I did: it's dishonest and a violation of corporate policy. But he passed it on to me anyway, in a move that makes me seriously doubt his judgment.

After stewing over it for several hours, I called him up this morning and told him no. I won't have any part in this harebrained scheme, even if the owner fires me for it. I always hoped that the people I worked with were capable of turning this business around, but now I'm losing that hope. We're already the lowest-rated hotel in the city, a small, aging and poorly maintained property. If this comes out (and it will eventually), it will anger a lot of loyal guests and hurt the business. This corrupt new owner and his dingbat wife are just milking us for as much money as they can get, but I was here before them and I've stayed because I care. They've gotten away with enough bad decisions. I won't let them scam the customers too.

So for once, I stood up for myself. I'll have to see if the GM backs me up on it. I've never defied an order before, so it's hard to say how he or the owner will react to it, but I know I've done the right thing.

you have done the right thing. the unethical scheme wouldn't have worked anyway, as customers would be aware they were being ripped off and take their business elsewhere. you are doing the owner a favor. i hope you get to keep your job.

Yes, you have done the right thing. Good for you!

After a couple or few weeks, a longtime "business guest" http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ who recently "stayed for a few days" at one (or more) of the franchise owners' other properties "complains" to the corporate office via anonymous e-mail message https://www.hushmail.com/ that his loyalty account wasn't properly credited. While he "doesn't care" about receiving the credits this time around, if it happens again, he will recommend to his own business switching its choice of hotels to another corporation altogether. The corporate office asks your franchise owner to audit and account for his loyalty guests' credits, and badda-bing, corporate learns he has been defrauding guests of their promised credits.

Meanwhile, you were right to decline.

Request the order in writing. Once you get it.. report it to the hotel chain and if you get fired you get a lawyer and sue the SOB to the point he has to give you one of his hotels