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  • Employee Theft

    *Warning, this has a twist to it*

    One of my friends who cuts hair for a living (she works at a walk-in chain salon now that only does cuts, but she is able to do color and other stuff, and used to work for a bigger salon with more options, just for the record and to help explain) once told me that she had a coworker who stole money from the salon, as in physically stole right out of the register at closing time. It took a while (weird how that always works out that way) for the records to not match and for her to be caught, but she finally was. She had stolen thousands of dollars from the salon because that job itself wasn't getting the bills paid or helping her take care of her kids enough, that was her excuse.

    Because of a hiring freeze (surprise surprise) and because their GM was a total sap, she was allowed to continue working there as long as she paid what she stole back to the salon in a discussed amount of time.

    Then there is my bf's father, who is the main pharmacist at a local Mart, a Mart that has been going under in general for quite some time.

    There was another full timer pharmacy tech who was openly stealing narcotics and other types of drugs, not to mention cash right out of the till (like in the first story I told above). The best part of that was my bf's dad would come home from work and say that the store had video EVIDENCE of her stealing the cash and the medications, and the GM and DM of that store actually had known about it for months! Months! And they wouldn't fire her, once again because the company was tanking and they didn't want to put the money into hiring and training another tech. This chick had been there for quite a while and was good at her job. BUT she was a dirty thief!

    It got to a point where she was stealing right in front of my bf's dad while they worked together, once she realized she wasn't going to be fired. Then her attendance got really shitty. She knew she could keep the job no matter what.

    What did it take to get her fired? My bf's dad came home one night and practically had a mental breakdown, and then wrote an e-mail that he didn't think twice about sending to the district manager, saying that if they didn't fire her, or at the least do something about her stealing, that he would finally take up Wal-Mart or Walgreens on their offer of employment (supposedly those pharmacies had been after him for years, my bf's dad has been in this business since before my bf was born and he is well known), if it meant that he no longer had to work with a thief. As it was, my bf's dad works 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, open to close, some days all alone. Losing him would have actually been worse than losing the thief tech.

    So they finally fired her.

    My question/debate here is what do you think of employees who steal who are still allowed to work at their jobs, or in general, how far can employee theft go before it gets ridiculous and why can't they just be fired for it in the first place?

  • #2
    Allowing any known thief to continue working, especially with undeniable proof that's admissible in court, is already too far. Then, yes, they are just asking for it.

    And not doing any favors for the honest employees who, let's face it, if a manager had even a sniff of a rumor that the GOOD employees were stealing, would be fired at once.
    I have a drawing of an orange, which proves I am a semi-tangible collection of pixels forming a somewhat coherent image manifested from the intoxicated mind of a madman. Naturally.

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    • #3
      I feel you have to be really stupid to not fire someone who has stolen from you. Nor should you be surprised when it continues.

      The managers in the second story were committing a felony by knowing about it and having evidence without reporting it.
      Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. - Starship Troopers

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      • #4
        I have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to employee theft.

        If you steal, I go under the microscope along with you. I get things taken away and have to follow new restrictions and policies along with you. I'm just as much a suspect as you are, unless and until they prove it was you.

        It's the reason we have a lock on the garbage compactor now and have to go through the rigamarole of calling a manager any time we need to empty garbage cans.

        And when you look the other way when it comes to controlled substances going on hiatus, that's just begging for Very Bad Things.

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        • #5
          We had an interesting situation at work a few years ago where they went both ways. Being deliberately vague (as I wouldn't feel right posting details even if I remembered them by now)... it was a couple hundred dollars, not thousands, but they let him keep working (not handling cash, I don't think) to pay it back, *then* fired him.

          And I'm still not sure where I sit on that.
          "My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl."

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          • #6
            Here's another angle on employee theft: The bank where I work has insurance covering loss due to theft by employees. However, the insurance company will not cover losses incurred after the first discovery of theft by an employee. I think the policy even has a clause that the employee that is discovered stealing from the bank must have their employment terminated immediately.

            The reason is similar to what you described in both stories: people tend to steal small amounts first, and if they get away with it, steal larger and larger amounts. Of course, at a salon, you're usually not looking at the potential for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in theft, like you are at a bank.
            "The future is always born in pain... If we are wise what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world." --G'Kar, "Babylon 5"

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            • #7
              My work has zero tolerance for provable cases of theft. They find out, your ass is out the door, and unless you're lucky, getting charged, too.

              If I worked for a place that had a known thief that they let continue to work despite holding evidence, I'd be looking for another gig. And when I found one, I'd check out what options I had to get everybody involved dealt with, not just the thief.

              ^-.-^
              Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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              • #8
                Irv has an amazing point, whether it's while someone is stealing and they are trying to find the culprit or they already have, even if it was only one bad apple, it seems like the trust is lost for a while with everyone, and good employees suffer and have privileges taken away or are watched more closely, all because of something someone else did. That's not fair at all.

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                • #9
                  One store I was transferred to, I was surprised to find half the cash drawers didn't have locks. It bothered me at first, and I'd have replaced them had it been my decision to make... but on the other hand, at the end of the day, every day, the money was all there! Oddly enough, it was only some time after they replaced the entire POS system (getting, of course, brand new drawers with brand new locks in the process) that problems turned up.
                  "My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl."

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                  • #10
                    it was only some time after they replaced the entire POS system (getting, of course, brand new drawers with brand new locks in the process) that problems turned up.
                    We had a cashier who was suspected of stealing from the SCO lanes. Thing is, those are locked up tight and only a manager has keys to it. Store policy also dictates that the SCO money bins are not to be opened during business hours for any reason, yet every time this one cashier worked those lanes, the SCOs would come up short.

                    I personally was not convinced that she was stealing simply because I could see no way to get to the money without a key nor could anyone offer an explanation as to how she was doing it. However, management was convinced and fired her. Oddly enough, the SCOs weren't short money after she left.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by blas87 View Post
                      Irv has an amazing point, whether it's while someone is stealing and they are trying to find the culprit or they already have, even if it was only one bad apple, it seems like the trust is lost for a while with everyone, and good employees suffer and have privileges taken away or are watched more closely, all because of something someone else did. That's not fair at all.
                      It isn't, but it's only natural.

                      Money and/or merchandise is going missing. It has to be stopped. Everybody has to be watched closely or do things differently until management/LP can figure out who's doing the stealing and how they're doing it, and then they have to put measures in place to prevent it from happening again.

                      It's always somewhat surprising and dismaying to find out somebody's been stealing. Nobody has "thief" tattooed on their forehead and when you find out they did it, you almost don't want to believe it.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by flybye023 View Post
                        We had a cashier who was suspected of stealing from the SCO lanes. Thing is, those are locked up tight and only a manager has keys to it. Store policy also dictates that the SCO money bins are not to be opened during business hours for any reason, yet every time this one cashier worked those lanes, the SCOs would come up short.

                        I personally was not convinced that she was stealing simply because I could see no way to get to the money without a key nor could anyone offer an explanation as to how she was doing it. However, management was convinced and fired her. Oddly enough, the SCOs weren't short money after she left.
                        In other words, either a manager was stealing only from her drawer (And got away with it), or she was shortchanging the store, and pocketing money before it went into her drawer (which seems less likely)
                        Happiness is too rare in this world to actually lose it because someone wishes it upon you. -Flyndaran

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Evandril View Post
                          In other words, either a manager was stealing only from her drawer (And got away with it), or she was shortchanging the store, and pocketing money before it went into her drawer (which seems less likely)
                          It does sound like that... and similar things have happened. But unless the purpose of the manager's stealing was just to get her fired, it almost certainly would start up again with another cashier.
                          "My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl."

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Ladeeda View Post
                            Allowing any known thief to continue working, especially with undeniable proof that's admissible in court, is already too far. Then, yes, they are just asking for it.

                            And not doing any favors for the honest employees who, let's face it, if a manager had even a sniff of a rumor that the GOOD employees were stealing, would be fired at once.
                            THIS! It's another variant of Beloved Asshole Syndrome. Why is it some people can get away with anything short of murder and keep their jobs, yet others have to walk on eggshells not to get fired? It makes absolutely no sense to keep a known thief working. Fire the scum and press charges!
                            People behave as if they were actors in their own reality show. -- Panacea
                            If you're gonna be one of the people who say it's time to make America great again, stop being one of the reasons America isn't great right now. --Jester

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                            • #15
                              This is why I don't give a shit at my job anyone, I have one fucking thief who tried to rip me off I brought it up to the manager, no right up which SURE, I can't prove she was doing through my coat I have a strong suspicion, and the girl who worked with thief twice and got money stolen both times can't prove anything either. but you know what we can prove thief is a SHITTY worker, I mean it is one thing to be robbing people but doing your job, thief robs people and fucks off instead of working. I HAVE NO IDEA why the bitch hasn't been fired.

                              However, I'm mostly on time, to honest to steal money out of the drawers or pocket the extra money accidentally given to me. Couple times I have had Canadians give me $50s that stuck together that while im dropping it would be VERY easy to slide the extra bill into my pocket, and it would be a long time before they every realized their mistake and even then proving it would be near impossible. But i don't do that, and I have to worry abotu losing my job because I don't bust my ass to sell the flavor of the month.

                              Actually, at times it pisses me off if I was a thief I could be EASILY making double or triple my current wages with very little effort, which is why they do it. And our company like many others doesn't comment on past employees except they worked here.

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