Is Your Boss a Criminal or Possibly Even a Drug Addict?

Last week, I was telling my supervisor about an old boss that I used to have who was pretty eccentric. Even if you didn't know him, you could just tell by looking at him that he was up to something shady. Additionally, he lived in a separate apartment away from his family during the week and spoke of a new business that he was starting, yet he would never exactly tell you what it was. I once tried to get him to talk about his new business venture and he told me that it was based on "cat porn." Like I said, this dude was weird.

After regaling my boss with some of the legendary tales of my former supervisor, whom I shall refer to as Mr. X, he said that we had to run a background check on Mr. X. Of course, I was all for it. The results were shocking to say the least. Here are a few of Mr. X's criminal lowlights:

• 2 DUI's
• 3 meth possession convictions
• 1 conviction for distributing alcohol to minors
• 1 conviction for possession of cocaine

I was blown away by the results of Mr. X's background check. I knew he was a little crazy, but how did he even get an office job, let alone a supervisory position? It actually was a little startling, to tell you the truth. However, I now am even more of a believer in background checks for your co-workers, especially those who have some sort of power over you.

Frequently, Mr. X would ask me if I wanted to get some beers with him after work. I never accepted because I felt he was kind of strange, but what if I had gone with him? After four or five long island iced teas, he may have asked me to snort some coke or may have shown me his meth lab. Sounds crazy? After viewing Mr. X's rap sheet, these events probably would have gone down. Luckily, I never took him up on his offers. However, without having reliable information on someone's past, you can possibly end up in a dangerous situation. Therefore, you need to arm yourself with the facts, which is where background checks come in.

At the PSN office, we ran a background check on Mr. X (thanks PeopleFinders.com) in less than five minutes and for about ten bucks. As you have seen, the results were shocking and had I still been working with Mr. X, that background check would have definitely affected my relationship with him in many ways, including:

After Hours Activities: I don't know if I want to associate with a meth user. Therefore, I would have surely turned down invitations to associate with Mr. X outside of work.

Work Time Activities: If Mr. X was to come in to work looking ragged, perhaps that would have been a sign that he was using again. With tangible information on his drug history available to me, I probably would have gone to upper management with my suspicions.

Business Trips: There is no way that I am getting into a car with someone who has been convicted of multiple DUI's. Therefore, if I would have been assigned to ride with Mr. X to a business meeting, I would have asked to carpool with someone else. Additionally, if I was forced to give a reason why I didn't want to ride with Mr. X, I would have told my employer of Mr.X's DUI filled past.

For a variety of reasons, including for one's own safety, it just makes sense to know who our supervisors really are. The lesson that I learned from this experience is that there may be some pretty vital and interesting information out there on people that we work with that we may know nothing about. Though Mr. X never abused his power, there is no telling what other supervisors may do.