What the heck do I do?? Cash register missing $200!!!! (felony, work, office)
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With all of the topics you make about cash register shortage. I am amazed at how you still have a job at this store. I know a few people where there job is on the line if they are short on the cash register every time
Tell me about it. I got fired once as a gas station attendant because my drawer was 2 bucks short.
It can be alot of things. I worked management and have seen alot of things and had to close out as many as 12 registers in a night, with about $2k each in them.
I'd lean on another employee stealing the money. Managers, unless really stupid will not steal such piddly money, as a manager is usually smart enough to figure out ways to scam money out of a place without it showing up.
The manager is also likely having as big of if not bigger headache then you are about it.
How does your store do Inventory, is it possible there have been mis-ring ups. I have worked where people are $50 short, $100 short, etc... Then go over the inventory, and see they are $50 to 100 over on inventory.
Example, you are selling cups for $5 a piece, guy comes up and buys 1, you bump the 4 button instead. or you hit 4, it doesn't go through, hit it again and it pops up as 44. Anyone who has worked with an old crappy miscalibrated touchscreen knows what I am saying.
You gave out 1 cup, and got paid for one, but your register will show you short and your inventory will be over but they will balance out together.
The better way to steal is sell the inventory, but don't actually ring it up. So your drawer looks even, and no one will know when inventory went missing until later in the week.
Look for a new job and hope you are not prosecuted for theft. Good luck.
I wouldn't worry about that. An employer with any sense would not file a theft charge unless they had something very strong to go on (i.e. video surveillance of the cashier taking the money and putting it in his pocket). Otherwise they open themselves up to a civil liability far greater than a couple hundred missing dollars!
To the OP, I would personally not recommend you coming in to work early to try to help figure out the shortage. You'll more likely be in the way than help. Come in to work as you should and do your job with dilligence. It sounds like you are already doing that, i.e. signing off when you are away from the register. If the boss has questions about the missing money, answer him honestly. Bringing up concerns about your supervisor stealing from you may not go over well if you don't have any kind of evidence to back it up. It could seem to your boss that you are trying to deflect suspicion on to somebody else.
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There was a question I asked in my previous thread that never got answered. Do you guys think it's possible that there aren't really cameras watching above the cash area, and management only tells us about it to scare us into performing better, and some stealing employee is aware of this and taking advantage of it? Just because they're a keyholder (manager on duty) doesn't make them innocent, right? One of the keyholders is responsible for taking out the deposits from the drawer at the end of the day. I swear it could be her!!! I swear I didn't accidentally hand out deposit money to a freakin customer...
It's very unlikely they do not, at the very least, have a camera watching the registers and the cash counting areas. You are right that keyholders are not always innocent - I have seen supervisors and managers steal before!
Assuming everything the O.P. says is true, its obvious somebody else is taking the money. First his drawer is coming up short and as soon as he takes action to rectify that situation his deposits are coming up short. Something isn't adding up here (no pun intended.)
When your drawers are counted at the end of the night I'm sure they need to account for the deposits that you have made in addition to the money in your drawer. Who accesses the safe where the money is deposited? Can they get in there without your authorization? If so, how would you be able to determine if that person is indeed the one who is taking the money? I find it hard to believe there would be no cameras on the safe where you deposit money. And since you say there isn't, you need to find a way to cover your ass.
There is one thing you could do to protect yourself when making a deposit. Almost everybody has a phone that is capable of taking pictures and movies. What you need to do the next time you make a deposit is to actually film yourself putting the money in the envelope, write down what the deposit actually was, and make sure you film it being deposited into the safe. Make sure while doing this it is one continuous film. Otherwise it would be too easy to stop the film, take the money back out then resume filming and then deposit the empty envelope into the safe. Most importantly, I wouldn't let on to anybody that you are doing this. If they were aware you were doing this, they may try a different tactic, or stop all together. After all your ultimate goal shouldn't be just trying to clear your name, it should be to try to get somebody else fired because that is exactly what they are trying to do to you.
If you don't take this advice, you should be fired. Because all it is telling me is: You're either in on it, or you're to stupid to stop it. Either way, I wouldn't want somebody like that working for me.
Assuming everything the O.P. says is true, its obvious somebody else is taking the money. First his drawer is coming up short and as soon as he takes action to rectify that situation his deposits are coming up short. Something isn't adding up here (no pun intended.)
When your drawers are counted at the end of the night I'm sure they need to account for the deposits that you have made in addition to the money in your drawer. Who accesses the safe where the money is deposited? Can they get in there without your authorization? If so, how would you be able to determine if that person is indeed the one who is taking the money? I find it hard to believe there would be no cameras on the safe where you deposit money. And since you say there isn't, you need to find a way to cover your ass.
There is one thing you could do to protect yourself when making a deposit. Almost everybody has a phone that is capable of taking pictures and movies. What you need to do the next time you make a deposit is to actually film yourself putting the money in the envelope, write down what the deposit actually was, and make sure you film it being deposited into the safe. Make sure while doing this it is one continuous film. Otherwise it would be too easy to stop the film, take the money back out then resume filming and then deposit the empty envelope into the safe. Most importantly, I wouldn't let on to anybody that you are doing this. If they were aware you were doing this, they may try a different tactic, or stop all together. After all your ultimate goal shouldn't be just trying to clear your name, it should be to try to get somebody else fired because that is exactly what they are trying to do to you.
If you don't take this advice, you should be fired. Because all it is telling me is: You're either in on it, or you're to stupid to stop it. Either way, I wouldn't want somebody like that working for me.
1. Of course they can get in the deposit box without my authorization. I'm not responsible for the deposit box. I just put the deposits in there. They have the key to open it. I'm pretty sure it's the same keyholder I'm suspicious of who has access to it. I'm not paying attention to it because I'm too busy passing customers. Like yesterday, there were tons of people at closing time we were all serving as quickly as we could.
2. Are you joking? Film myself making deposits and keep it a secret? There are other cashiers around to see me do that. Managers too. They'll all ask me what I'm up to and it's going to add more time to customers getting served when we're supposed to serve them as fast as possible. There's no way I could do this.
Wanna know how the deposit box works? It's this box with a rectangular hole, like a door mail slot. You put your deposit in and, I don't the exact details, but to open it you put this key in and you wait a bit (about 5-10 mins if I remember right) while it "loads" to unlock and when it's ready you then have 15 seconds to open it. Then you can take all the deposits out. Hope this clears it out for you.
And yes, one of the supervisors is always there when I have these large shortages. It has to be her, or this other one who's second and last on my list of suspects. The boss wasn't there and I believe he never has been during these large shorts.
I'm glad you finally explained what this "deposit box" is all about. Does each register have its own box or is this a communal box? You explained how the box can be opened but is anybody other than a manager able to unlock it, i.e. you or any other employee?
From all that you've written about the register problems at this place it's beyond obvious that the whole protocol is sloppy beyond sloppy. I've no doubt that if this is representative of the owners' normal procedures they're losing money hand over fist both through direct stealing of cash and goods going out of the back door.
You need to look for another job and maybe one which doesn't involve a cash register. I'm unfamiliar with Canadian procedures but if you quit or are fired can you collect unemployment benefits to tide you over until you find something else?
PS: I see you've further explained the deposit box. It's too bad that you don't really know how it works or even who has official access to it. This really is something you should know in order to protect yourself against exactly what's now happening.
Last edited by STT Resident; 01-15-2012 at 05:42 AM..
Reason: added PS after new post
I'm not a business owner but . . . Wouldn't it make sense to have a second verification signature on the deposit slips? I know that doesn't help your current situation, but perhaps it's an idea that you can bring to your manager?
I'm not a business owner but . . . Wouldn't it make sense to have a second verification signature on the deposit slips? I know that doesn't help your current situation, but perhaps it's an idea that you can bring to your manager?
That's my thought on it. Good internal controls would dictate there be an audit trail to account for the money. Cashier "deposits" 200 dollars the manager counts the 200 dollars and signs a receipt for it which the cashier uses when they close out the register at the end of the shift.
Putting an envelope in a communal box with no controls is asking for trouble.
So I went in to work an hour earlier today and...the boss wasn't there, and didn't show up for the rest of the day either. Pretty weird. No I am not making this up. It's really weird and confusing why he wouldn't be there after what happened.
Here's how my shift went. The keyholder(s) that I'm suspicious of told me not to touch the cash register for "obvious" reasons and gave me other tasks to do like cleaning up, fixing the aisles, etc. What was also interesting is that they were both writing some letter to someone from the head office about the shortage. I don't know when it's going to be sent out though.
Now what I have in mind for tomorrow is to go in tomorrow after school to speak with my boss, even though I don't have a shift tomorrow. I plan on telling him my thoughts and suspicions about who's stealing. I'm going to call him first earlier in the day to see if he'll be there. Also, I told my parents about this issue and they also agreed that someone is stealing from to throw me out. What I'm also considering is getting my father to come along with me if I do go, so he can also speak with him and find out what's going on. I don't know if this is a good idea. I have a feeling it will make me look "babyish" to the boss.
My answer about your father going depends on your age. How old are you?
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