Once upon a time, there were two bosom buddies; *Clara and Jill. They not only worked directly with one another, but they also lived together too. They arrived to work at the same time every day because they took the same car. All of this seems inconsequential, however, the pair caused a debate among the human resource department for a week because of their debacle. What was it you ask? It was the question of whose fault was it that one of them was late to work on a particularly important day.
Clara and Jill typically get along so splendidly that they almost totally confine themselves to one another's company, as neither needs much supervision. Their inside jokes and nuanced stares were a language only they knew how to interpret. Their productivity was well enough to not need to be too involved in their output as they always met their marks as needed, if not above. Their symbiotic relationship though, hit a snag one day when Jill came to work and Clara was nowhere to be found. When asked about her chum, Jill said to call her at their apartment, although there was no answer when this attempt was made. Jill could not understand why it was her who was being asked where Clara was as she was the one at work on time.
By lunch, Clara popped into the office looking flustered and explained what had happened. Jill had always woken Clara up because the car they took to work actually belonged to her. Over the weekend the two had argued because Clara according to Jill had been too flirtatious with her boyfriend at a nightclub and in turn was giving her the silent treatment. This meant that the typical wake-up call and ride to work that Clara had come to expect suddenly and without warning was discontinued as Jill simply walked out of the door without informing Clara of her intention to leave her buddy high and dry.
The split of where the fault of Clara's tardiness was difficult for the HR department to agree on as one staff member found Jill to be the wrongdoer as she did not warn Clara to find new arrangments, while another staff member thought that as an adult Clara should not rely on another person for her success. The question is who should be reprimanded? Jill or Clara?
*names changed to protect privacy