Dark places and dirty faces

I caught some of the warehouse guys playing poker today when they should have been processing some orders. It was really funny, actually. There’s a dark corner of the attic above the warehouse where out-of-date stock gets put before it’s transported back to the depot. I’d gone up there to help myself to some salted peanuts that I shouldn’t have been helping myself to, and found them cowering around an over-turned crate that they were using as a card table.
There was a stunned silence from all of us. They looked up at me like a family of rats caught in a kitchen by a chef, while I stood there like a cheating husband who has just been caught with his pants down.
In the end I just smiled and said “Look, guys, you know you shouldn’t be here, doing this in work hours. If you want to gamble on your lunch break I’m not going to say anything, but you’re putting me in a tough position when I catch you in an off-limits area, skipping work and breaking several codes of conduct. Maybe this is something you should do away from work from now on? Now I’m going back to the shop floor. I suggest you do the same, and maybe we can all forget this happened, what do you say?”
They looked at each other in shock and said “Ok. Thanks.”
I have a feeling they might be quite helpful towards me if I need them for anything in the future.
I’m just glad they didn’t ask themselves what the Hell I was doing up there myself.

RC 29-3-12