205. A Costly Venture!

Low salary, crushing workload. 

But, Venkatachalam knew that he couldn't get a better job, given his qualification and experience.

Frustration of not being able to make both ends meet, made it difficult for him to be peaceful even at home.

Unexpectedly, he was made the cashier in his office. With the person who held that post quitting the job suddenly, the proprietor of the firm gave the responsibility to Venkatachalam.

Even while offering him the position, the proprietor cautioned him to be cautious and honest. "If there is any irregularity in handling the cash, I won't tolerate it" he told Venkatachalam, firmly. 

In the beginning, Venkatachalam handled his job with a feeling of nervousness. However, after some time, when he became confident of handling cash and adept at making entries in the cash register, he realized that he could make an extra buck, by making some "adjustments" to the entries.

There were expenses for which signed vouchers could not be obtained. For certain purposes, Venkatachalam would pay out cash on oral instructions from his superiors in the office. 

Some times, some employees would take an advance amount for expenses and would give accounts after a few days, after all expenses have been made . On such occasions, Venkatachalam would take the signature of the employee on a blank voucher, since often, the employee would usually be in a hurry to receive the money and proceed with his work.

Venkatachalam used such opportunities to his advantage, by carefully overstating the expenses by small amounts and pocketing the extra money. He could earn only a small amount through these means. But, he was happy that he was able to earn at least a little extra, regularly.

There was no system of supervision in the firm. A part-time accountant would come to the office once a week and post the entries from the cash book to the appropriate heads of accounts in the ledger.

He had no idea about the correctness or reasonableness of any amount posted in the cash book. Since he was not given any authority to scrutinize the entries, he would act as if his only job was to post the figures entered in the cashbook to the ledger. Whether it was fifty rupees or five hundred rupees, the figures didn't make any difference to him.

The proprietor would, now and then, check the cash book entries. He would point to a few entries and ask for details from Venkatachalam. He would listen to Venkatachalam's explanation, nod his head, apparently indicating his satisfaction with the details provided by Venkatachalam and hand the cash book back to him, without saying anything.

Venkatachalam understood his proprietor's action as a way of making Venkatachalam believe that his proprietor was keeping his eyes open and watching things vigilantly.

The proprietor would often withdraw some money from the office cash, on his personal account. He would usually withdraw five hundred rupees or one thousand rupees once or twice a week. There was no system of getting a voucher signed by the proprietor for the amount paid to him. Venkatachalam would just make the entry in the cash book. 

At the beginning of every month, the accountant would prepare a voucher for the total amount withdrawn by the proprietor during the previous month and get his signature.

Venkatachalam did something audacious. During a particular week, the proprietor received five hundred rupees from the office cash. Venkatachalam made an entry in the cash book showing another payment of five hundred rupees made to the proprietor after two days. 

For the next few days, Venkatachalam was careful to not take out the five hundred rupees shown as the second withdrawal during the week. He reasoned that if the proprietor found out about the second entry, he would plead that he entered it for the second time, by mistake and show that the cash balance showed the correct position. Since there was no system of anyone checking the cash balance now and then, there would be no question about the actual cash balance being five hundred rupees in excess of the balance shown in the cash book.

When the accountant got the proprietor's signature on the voucher for his withdrawals during the month, the proprietor did not dispute the total amount shown as withdrawn by him during the month.

After a month, the proprietor summoned Venkatachalam to his cabin. 

"Venkatachalam! You won't be working in this office from tomorrow. I will pay you the salary for the current month till today. You may go home" said the proprietor.

"Why, sir?" asked Venkatachalam, shocked.

"Do you think I am a fool? Whenever I withdraw cash from the office, I will note it down in my diary. Two months back, I noticed that you had shown excess withdrawal of five hundred rupees in my account. Even at that time, I became suspicious of you. Then, I kept checking your accounting entries. I observed how much money you pay for an expense and how much you enter in the cash book. I have seen through your method of overstating some expenses and pocketing the extra cash. Since it has been confirmed that you have been swindling money from thr firm, I am terminating your services" said the proprietor, angrily. 

"Please forgive me, sir. I committed a wrong, because I was struggling to make both my ends meet. I won't repeat this. Please give me some job other than handling cash. If you throw me out of the job, my family will come to the street" said Venkatachalam. 

Unable to bear the shock, he began to sob. 

"Having money troubles is no excuse to resort to stealing. Now, with no job, your money troubles are going to intensify. I sympathize with you. But I won't be able to help you" said the Proprietor, firmly. 

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 21
Dread of Evil Deeds

Verse 205 (In Tamil)

ilan enRu thIyavai seyyaRka seyyin
ilan Agum maRRum peyarththu.

Meaning:

Commit not evil, saying, "I am poor": if you do, you will become poorer still.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kaNakku poyththadhu' by the same author)

Verse 206 (Soon)
Verse 204