Bridge of Trust

There was always a food basket like this picture in the office kitchen. If someone wanted a snack, he would take it and put his money in the box. They would come month after month, take the money and fill the box with new food. Sometimes, for example, I would be two or three dollars short of money, someone had bought food and did not have change with them and forgot to pay the money later. The previous president quietly gave this money out of his pocket and never announced that the money was short and the deficit was always around two or three dollars. Sometimes, a lot of money came, as it was clear that someone had paid back the loan.

At the end of the first month of work, when he realized how many dollars were missing, he told the secretary to send an e-mail to everyone, saying how many dollars were missing, and by tomorrow, anyone who bought food and forgot their money should leave the money. Otherwise, we have to pay from our own pockets.

Result? The next month, the deficit was $10. $20 next month. and $25 the following month. Finally, they decided to remove the box altogether. Now the others also understood that there are some people who take food and don't pay. Now more people were doing it. The bridge of trust was easily broken and destroyed by pointing fingers at each other.

Sometimes, just because some people realize that they are a group (however small) that do not follow the law and abuse the conditions, it makes them not follow the law and they also learn that trust can be abused.

The office kitchen was a place of convenience for many workers who needed a quick snack during the day. It was well-stocked with a food basket that contained an assortment of treats such as chips, cookies, and candy. It was a simple system that worked well for everyone, or so they thought.

The way it worked was straightforward. If someone wanted a snack, they would take it from the basket and put their money in the box. The money collected would go towards restocking the basket with new items. This process went on without issue for months, with everyone using the system as intended.

However, one day, an issue arose when someone took food but didn't leave the money in the box. The shortfall was only two or three dollars, and it was assumed that the person had simply forgotten to pay. The previous president, who had always kept a watchful eye on the food basket, quietly paid the missing amount from his own pocket.

This act of kindness went unnoticed, and the deficit continued to occur every few weeks. Eventually, the previous president decided to take action and instructed the secretary to send out an email reminding everyone to leave money in the box if they took food from the basket.

However, this reminder had the opposite effect. The next month, the deficit was $10, and the following month it increased to $20. It seemed that the more they reminded people to pay for their food, the more people were taking without paying. The trust that had been established among the workers was slowly eroding.

As the deficits continued to mount, the workers realized that there were some among them who were taking advantage of the system. The once-united group had now become divided, with some workers accusing others of not paying for their food. The bridge of trust had been broken, and it seemed that there was no way to repair it.

Finally, after several months of increasing deficits, the workers decided to remove the food basket altogether. It was a sad moment for everyone, as they realized that a simple system that had worked so well in the past had been destroyed by a few individuals who had taken advantage of it.

This experience taught the workers an important lesson about trust and how easily it can be broken. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch, and once that happens, it's tough to regain the trust that was lost. It's a lesson that they would carry with them throughout their lives, a reminder to always act with integrity and honesty, even in the smallest of things.