What do you do when your friends at work are stealing from your employer? That’s the question that confronts Wendy Kim (real name: Woo Jin), a young Korean immigrant working in a big-box store and the protagonist of The Rip-Offs.
The trouble begins when Wendy’s manager, Pauline, needs a gift for a baby shower and helps herself to some merchandise. Wendy, shocked, reports the theft to the store manager.
Pauline is caught with the baby clothes in her purse and is dealt with quickly, but Wendy realizes that it doesn’t end there. Several of her co-workers are ripping off their employer in more subtle ways – coming in late, taking home office supplies, and other small misdeeds.
The pressure is on Wendy, from both her boss and her own conscience. She’s supposed to report any dishonesty in her co-workers, but that could end up painfully isolating her. When she tries to persuade them to stop, they resent it and she becomes isolated anyway. Can she report them without naming names? And is this really her problem – or the store’s?
The fact that so many people find themselves in situations like this, and that there’s no ready-made solution, should set off some discussion in class. Of course, someone reading the book on his own will also have much to think about.
This book is for beginners and up. (One of my students said this was easier to read than her children’s picture books.) Each chapter has comprehension/discussion questions.
(The Rip-Offs, by Tana Reiff, Fearon/Janus/Quercus, 1991. Length: 64 pages.)
ESL Book Review - The Rip-Offs
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