There’s probably not an HR department in the land that doesn’t think one or more of their staff are robbing the business blind with fiddled expenses or bouts of illness that seem to strike on particularly sunny days.
However, Alejandro Martinez, a resident of Las Vegas, in the US, is accused of taking this idea a bit too far. According to the police, he popped in to Papa Murphy’s pizza parlour, ordered a pizza and then asked for a job application. He began to fill it in, but obviously ran out of patience so instead decided to rob the place.
Police said he pulled out a gun and demanded money. The cashier apparently gave him $200 and he fled. Unfortunately, he left his application form behind. Coupled with a positive identification of his number plate, this looked like an open and shut case.
However, the defence thinks otherwise. A lawyer representing Martinez says his client is innocent and that a witness was unable to identify Martinez as the robber.
Now Guru’s opinions on what should be done with criminals would normally make Idi Amin choke into his coffee, but on this occasion his HR experience means he has to come down on the side of Martinez.
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How many times have you been given a CV which purports to represent one person only to find when you hire them that a completely different person appears in the office?
With this precedent in mind and only an application to go on, there’s every chance Martinez could be innocent.