Cash drawer short, I did everything right, should i contest? (employee, transaction)
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I work in a retail store that has a cafe/food bar. I've been here for around 7 months, and usually work the food counter. During my closing shift last night I was informed by the assistant manager who gathered up the tills that "my till" came up short by around 5 dollars and something cents, and that there would have to be a "discussion" about it soon.
He did this in front of other employees which didn't sit well with me b/c at worst he's accusing me of theft and at best he's saying I'm an idiot who can't count, but what irked me most was that it's not just "my till."
All the employees that work the food side process transactions on the same till. There were at least 3 other people who rang up multiple transactions that day on the same till, one of who did so during part of my shift. There's no balancing of the drawer between shifts either so the shortage could have even happened when I wasn't there.
The only other time I have ever had an unbalanced till before was at the same job, but different store where I was filling in about 6 weeks ago. It was a closing shift on the food side again, with multiple people ringing at one till. The next morning I was informed that the till was 7 something over, a few dollars of which they actually realized later was tip money collected with the till, but still made me sign some form that "was just me saying I knew how to count" aka was responsible, otherwise they couldn't let me back on a register which meant I couldn't work. Another employee told me later that they're periodically over/short at that store.
I've never had this problem at another job, or at anytime I'm working at my current job but am the sole person at a till, so I am confident that if there was a shortage this time, it wasn't me.
What should i do if they give me a form to sign again? I was naive about it the first time and felt like i had to sign it. I'm worried that if I say that I don't want to sign it, or try to confront this manager (who doesn't like me anyways) that I'll just make things worse.
Refuse to sign anything which admits your error. Any system which allows multiple people to use the same register/handle the money is a lousy system and there's no way to pinpoint exactly who made the error. Cash drawers should be counted and tallied with the receipts/tape at the end of the shift by a manager with the employee present.
It never fails to amaze me that so many business owners/managers have no clue how to manage a register system but that's beside the point.
Refuse to sign anything which admits your error. Any system which allows multiple people to use the same register/handle the money is a lousy system and there's no way to pinpoint exactly who made the error. Cash drawers should be counted and tallied with the receipts/tape at the end of the shift by a manager with the employee present.
It never fails to amaze me that so many business owners/managers have no clue how to manage a register system but that's beside the point.
So true. If you can't be present when they count it, then you can't know they didn't either make a mistake or actually steal the money themselves. And if you're not the only one there, then how can they possibly blame you? Sounds like a lousy job - bar jobs are a dime a dozen, and I'd get another quickly.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I agree. If you sign anything, first write down a note on it about other people using the same drawer. Their procedure is faulty, there's no way to know who messed up. That sounds like it may have been s simple but common mistake, giving someone a 10 instead of a 5 in change for a 20.
I agree. If you sign anything, first write down a note on it about other people using the same drawer. Their procedure is faulty, there's no way to know who messed up. That sounds like it may have been s simple but common mistake, giving someone a 10 instead of a 5 in change for a 20.
I happen to know that writing down a note on it before signing is deemed by most managers as "troublemaker".
The OP really is in a tough position. If he accepts and just suck it up, he's wrongfully reprimanded. If he refuses to sign or signs with a note, he's a trouble maker.
If he accepts and just suck it up, he's wrongfully reprimanded. If he refuses to sign or signs with a note, he's a trouble maker.
Sounds like bad management to me.
Yes and no. Yes the system they're using does indicate poor management. On the other hand, some management is open to suggestions which improve the efficacy of the business. Properly approached, it could be a win-win for all if the OP is interested in moving a little outside the box.
I never worked in a retail situation until I was in my 40s when I took over management of a small supermarket. They DID have a good system in place and I quickly learned it but also quickly found the loopholes and was able to close them up, thus saving the store a fair bit of money. That experience stood me in great stead when I opened up my own business several years later and leaned even more when a couple of employees tried to run the old scams and pocket cash for themselves ... With a good system in place (it's not complicated to set up even with a simple register) catching a scammer is easy. But in this situation, to blame one employee when several people are using the same register is stupid beyond stupid and just plain wrong.
Holy cow. When I worked at a bank as a teller I was the ONLY person that used my drawer. If you were out of balance by less than 10 dollars nothing was done. You said you were over or under, we wrote it on the books, and then that was it. If it was more than that you had to look for it and try and find your mistake. You didn't get in trouble or anything until after a bunch of outages or a huge amount.
A store getting that upset over 5 dollars? Seems a little bit obsessive to me.
Probably too late but you need to check the bills and coins for foreign or old money if a machine is used to count the drawer. Happened to me once, Canadian coins. Fortunately I put up a stink that we count by hand.
Yes and no. Yes the system they're using does indicate poor management. On the other hand, some management is open to suggestions which improve the efficacy of the business. Properly approached, it could be a win-win for all if the OP is interested in moving a little outside the box.
I never worked in a retail situation until I was in my 40s when I took over management of a small supermarket. They DID have a good system in place and I quickly learned it but also quickly found the loopholes and was able to close them up, thus saving the store a fair bit of money. That experience stood me in great stead when I opened up my own business several years later and leaned even more when a couple of employees tried to run the old scams and pocket cash for themselves ... With a good system in place (it's not complicated to set up even with a simple register) catching a scammer is easy. But in this situation, to blame one employee when several people are using the same register is stupid beyond stupid and just plain wrong.
I've never worked in retail before. Can you quickly tell me some of the scams you know of by employees?
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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This happened to me years ago when I worked retail. Don't sign or admit anything. In my case, the first time it was short was something like $2.00 and I just paid it (despite sharing a drawer b/c I was only a teen and stupid), then it was $20.00 and, luckily, I figured out the scam. Eventually, more and more money will be missing until you stand up for yourself. And since you're taking the fall and everyone knows it, I'd expect more money to be missing.
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