Sick and tired of shortages in cash register (employee, transaction, owner)
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I've been working as a cashier for almost a month, and I've had 3 shortages so far of about $5-6 each. The guys I work for are pretty nice and they don't make a big deal out of it, they don't tell me to pay it or anything. But every time a shortage happens I sit down and just think about the whole process of handling money and look for places where I can improve, I double and triple check everything, I check if bills are stuck together, I do my best to try and figure out where mistakes might happen in the process of handling money and I try to come up with the safest way to do everything, but somehow the cash register continues to come up short.
I don't want them to think that I'm stealing (which anyone that isn't dumb won't do because it's easy to see if people steal from a cash register, but still) so I offered to pay all those shortages, but they refused.
I'm gonna ask the manager to let me work on the cash register alone without anyone else working during my shift even when I'm on break, and see if I still get shortages. If I do I will just pay everything and quit, because I think that even though there's a chance it's not my fault, paying that money is worth making me feel better about myself because if I pay they will know that I'm definitely not stealing.
Is that a good decision? or should I already quit because no matter how much I try to improve myself I just plain suck at this job and should look for another one? I know some places are way more strict than where I work and they fire people over $1 or $2 shortages so that's why I'm asking.
If other people are working the same cash register and you are double and triple-checking your transactions, why are these "your" shortages?
I feel like they are my shortages because I'm the newest employee here, everyone else has been working here for at least 5-7 months and shortages only happen during my shifts.
I had a similar situation many years ago, however, it was usually $20 and they did try to accuse me. Because second shift crossed over for an hour with my drawer, I pretty much demanded that they count my drawer before the cross over, and whenever they did, my drawer was within 10 cents. They still tried to accuse me, but in the end they installed cameras and caught a second shift person stealing (and I was later promoted).
Moral of the story, don't assume you are bad with $ handling, it could be someone taking the $ (and if they are taking different amounts, they are a little smarter than my thief!). See if your boss can count your drawer before it's shared or give you your own.
Take a moment before and after EACH break to count out the drawer. (Don't worry about the coins, just the bills. It'll go a lot faster.) Note the figures and report even the smallest discrepancy, to multiple higher-ups to better cover yourself. Who's to say a management type isn't helping themselves to the till? It would make it that much easier for them to turn around and say, "Ehhh, it's only four bucks, don't sweat it."
Back in the '80s a friend of mine was a cashier in a pharmacy chain franchise, working through grad school, when he was falsely accused of dipping into the register. He adamantly professed his innocence and got the store management to agree to putting the checkout line under surveillance. Whaddaya know - a regular customer (maybe better described as somebody who came in a lot) was soon caught running up, placing his hand against the drawer to silence the "bell," pressing the no-sale button, and grabbing a handful of singles when the drawer opened. The theft had only taken a few seconds.
It strikes me as odd that in as large a place of business as this seems to be there are no "security" cameras at the checkout lanes.
The hidden message in the OP's inquiry is that he needs to develop more assurance and be willing to stand up for himself. Honesty is something everyone should possess, and naturally it's good that he has it. But conceding defeat when it's not your battle (it's the employer's, or should be) shows an example of what might be termed being "spinally challenged." I'm in no way looking to pass judgment, not having always been exactly a shining example of self-esteem and assertiveness. (And I'm not saying I am now. ) Looking for another job will inevitably bring the question, "Why did you leave your last position?" - particularly when it's been less than a year. And what will you say? There were repeated shortages in the cash register, and you weren't at fault but no one would listen? What will go through an interviewer's mind is "Yeah, and innocent people fill our jails."
Its pretty common for small/mid sized businesses to have absolutely no comprehension of proper till controls. A till/drawer should have ONE owner and one owner only. The shift should begin with the "owner" counting the drawer in front of a supervisor, and it should end by zipping up the drawer in a drawer bag in sight of everyone, then immediately walking to the cash office where the supervisor is. Then it should be counted by the supervisor in front of the "owner." No other clerk should ever have their hands in the drawer. Also the supervisor should never count the drawer without the clerk present. Even the supervisor is human and will often steal from the clerk's till, using their authority to question the clerk.
If there is any discrepancy in your cash drawer and you were not the only person with their hands in the Till...
You can not be held accoutable for that money, I would think that most places have procedures in place for this sort of thing... If you go on break, request a clean till for the person covering you..
You can't be held responsible if you're not the only one in the till.. Our POS system, if you elect to utilize drawer assignments, won't even let the manager pop the drawer open if it's assigned to an employee. We get complaints about it, but.. If someone is responsible for the till, they should be the only one in it.
Now.. Having said that.. About 15 years ago we did an equipment swap at Denny's.. We got all the equipment back at our office to hold.. Eventually, they said dispose of it.. So, I got all the cash drawers to go to a recycling center, since they were all steel.. But, we had to open all of them to get the plastic till out of them. Since we didn't have keys.. These drawers had a flaw where if you hit the lock mech with a hammer, it would trigger it to pop open.. So.. 5 to 600 drawers, I was out there smacking with a hammer, pulling the till out.
As we pulled the tills, we found lots of change.. Started pulling the drawer itself out as well and looking through them.. Found tons of junk paper, coupons, etc in them.. Along with a couple of paychecks.. And several hundred dollars.
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).
) Looking for another job will inevitably bring the question, "Why did you leave your last position?" - particularly when it's been less than a year. And what will you say? There were repeated shortages in the cash register, and you weren't at fault but no one would listen? What will go through an interviewer's mind is "Yeah, and innocent people fill our jails."