Recommended Reading】A bit of cleverness ruined a career (something everyone should reflect on)

Thread Content

A little girl went to France right after graduating to start a part-time study abroad program. Gradually, she discovered that the ticket counters for the local public transportation system were self-service; you could buy a ticket for whatever destination you wanted. The stations were almost all open-style, without ticket gates or ticket inspectors, and there were very few random inspections as well. 　　She discovered this management flaw, or what seemed like a flaw from her perspective. Relying on her intelligence, she accurately estimated that the probability of being caught for ticket fraud was only about three in ten thousand. 　　She was proud of her discovery, and from then on she often boarded the train without a ticket. She also found a reason to comfort herself: after all, she was still a poor student, so she could save as much as she could. 　　Four years have passed, and the reputation of her prestigious university along with her excellent academic results gave her confidence; she began to enter the offices of various multinational companies in Paris, confidently pitching herself. 　　But these companies were all enthusiastic at first, only to politely refuse after a few days. Repeated failures angered her. She believes that it must be these companies that have a tendency toward racial discrimination and exclude foreigners. 　　One last time, she rushed into the office of the human resources manager at a company and demanded that the manager give her a reasonable reason for not hiring her. However, the outcome was beyond her expectations. 　　Madam, we are not discriminating against you; on the contrary, we value you very much. When you came to apply for the job, we were very interested in your educational background and academic qualifications. To be honest, in terms of work ability, you are exactly the person we are looking for. 　　The girl asked, \"Then why not hire such talents for your company?\" 　　Because we checked your credit record and found that you have three records of being fined for skipping bus fares. 　　The girl said, “I don’t deny it.” But for such a trivial matter, are you going to give up a talent who has published multiple papers in academic journals? 　　That’s how the other party replied—A trivial matter? We don’t think this is a trivial matter. We noticed that the first time you tried to evade payment was in the first week after you came to us; the inspectors believed your explanation, as you said you were not yet familiar with the self-service ticketing system, and they simply issued you a replacement ticket. But after that, you skipped tickets twice more. 　　“I just happened to not have any change in my pocket at that time. ” 　　No, no, madam. I don’t agree with your explanation; you’re questioning my intelligence. I believe that before you were caught, you must have had hundreds of instances of ticket evasion. 　　“That shouldn’t be a crime punishable by death, right? Why be so serious? Can’t it be changed later? ” 　　No, no, madam. This incident proves two things: First, you don’t respect the rules. You are good at finding loopholes in rules and using them maliciously ； II. You are not trustworthy. 　　Many of the tasks in our company rely on trust; if you are responsible for market development in a certain region, the company will grant you considerable authority. To save costs, we are unable to establish complex oversight bodies, just like in our public transportation system. So we are unable to hire you; to be precise, in this **, you might not be able to find a company that will employ you. 　　It was only then that she woke up as if from a dream, filled with deep regret. 　　However, what truly struck her with a shocking remark was the last sentence spoken by the other person: Morality can often compensate for the shortcomings of wisdom, but wisdom can never fill the gaps in morality. 　　Morality is a person’s most fundamental quality, that is, their personality. No matter how excellent a person is, if there are problems with their character, it will cause them to lose trust and support. In the workplace, such acts of losing one’s integrity are even more terrifying; acting in ways that undermine the system for petty immediate gains is definitely a recipe for ruining one’s career. I warn everyone that in the workplace, one should rely on skill and sincerity; under no circumstances should one lose one’s integrity.