Posted: 5/20/2010 12:52:38 PM EDT
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Yet again the retail business never fails. I'm working today for the family with a long time employee. She starts talking to the customers like she knows them (clue 1). The customers look at me with those eyes and facial expressions I have seen before under similar circumstances (clue 2). I am standing next to the cash register they are at. When the employee goes to ring them up she of course runs to another register that she thinks is out of my sight to ring up the order (clue 3). She ends up using a register that doesn't work and I watch her wave off the customers attempts to give her money.  I checked the register tape and nothing was rung up during the time period and anything even close to the time didn't even come close to what the customers purchased (of course the most expensive items in the store). Why do they think I am this fucking stupid? This isn't the first time employees blatantly steal in front of me. |
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Quoted:
My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. Naturally. Paying a couple of other reliable employees a little overtime is more expensive than keeping a known thief on the staff. Imagine what the other employees think when a thief isn't dealt with swiftly and harshly. 
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My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. I have a feeling if you don't it will fuck up your inventory issues too. Specially with the busiest weekend coming. Good temp help can't be that hard to finds on short notice in this economy. Depending on where you live, wait too long and you could lose cause for firing too. |
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I did all I could do tell her I saw her stealing from me. She flat out denied it. And I said if I ever caught her stealing again she would be fired. My dad said I couldn't do anything more. I would have fired her period if it was up to me, I have a stack of applications. ETA: The issue here is that she was one of my uncles (partners in the business with my dad) friend's daughter. |
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What kind of store is it? There's some items I might need to pick up if you guys are giving stuff away. 
Retail food business. 
Ahh. Don't need that. LOL. I worked retail for a long time. Catching someone stealing was the only reason I could send someone home on the spot. It took a couple days to actually fire them (Corporate BS), but they didn't get to work while the paper was getting shuffled. |
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Quoted: Quoted: My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. Naturally. Paying a couple of other reliable employees a little overtime is more expensive than keeping a known thief on the staff. Imagine what the other employees think when a thief isn't dealt with swiftly and harshly. +1 good way to kill morale |
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I did all I could do tell her I saw her stealing from me. She flat out denied it. And I said if I ever caught her stealing again she would be fired. My dad said I couldn't do anything more. I would have fired her period if it was up to me, I have a stack of applications. ETA: The issue here is that she was one of my uncles (partners in the business with my dad) friend's daughter. That's the second fail. |
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Threads like this make me want to claw my eyes out. I get not making a stink in front of customers but I am absolutley floored that you did not take her in the back room, confront her, fire her, and call the police. W...T...F...
I swear it must be an ARFcom tradition to torture the readers with threads that have everything but the most obvious and correct response. I can think of so many recent threads like this. 1) Landlord stole my handgun, what do? 2) Somebody lifted my trailer and I think I know where it is. Should I call the cops? 3) My lazy uncle lives with me but won't get a job and won't move out. I'm depressed and I want my own space but I don't want to kick him out. What the fuck people? |
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Walk away. I don't care if you are going to inherit the business some day, leave now. If your dad doesn't value you enough to let you fire some one you caught stealing, you do not want to stay there. It will only get worse.
I wouldn't work for some one who told me I couldn't fire her, family or not. He has some weird priorities. Every employee in the store knows what she is doing. And they just lost all respect for you, and your dad. You can't fix the dad respect issue, but you can get yours back. My reputation is too valuable to throw away working some place that allows thieves to prosper. |
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Quoted: Threads like this make me want to claw my eyes out. I get not making a stink in front of customers but I am absolutley floored that you did not take her in the back room, confront her, fire her, and call the police. W...T...F... I swear it must be an ARFcom tradition to torture the readers with threads that have everything but the most obvious and correct response. I can think of so many recent threads like this. 1) Landlord stole my handgun, what do? 2) Somebody lifted my trailer and I think I know where it is. Should I call the cops? 3) My lazy uncle lives with me but won't get a job and won't move out. I'm depressed and I want my own space but I don't want to kick him out. What the fuck people? Spot on!! |
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Confront my employee in front of a packed store, not gonna happen. I have to wait till the store closes. No way , you call the police and have her arrested in the store in front of the employees and in front of the customers as soon as you have proof. That's called sending a message. We had a high level manager that we caught stealing and had her on video. We called the police and had her arrested while she was in a meeting with a bunch of high level marketing managers. Put her in cuffs right in front of everyone and read her her rights. The VP of Marketing screamed bloody murder, we just laughed and told him not to hire criminals anymore and he won't be embarrassed. Most fun at work I had in a long time. |
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Quoted:
My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. Naturally. Paying a couple of other reliable employees a little overtime is more expensive than keeping a known thief on the staff. Imagine what the other employees think when a thief isn't dealt with swiftly and harshly. This is why they get theft in retail, they are too cheap to hire honest people. |
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I was at the grocery store picking up some Tito's last night. I was at one of 4 self-checkout stations. I'm finishing up when the person watching the stations yells "Excuse me! You're not done yet!" I turn around and two people were trying to quickly walk toward the door with bags of groceries while the checkout station was still on the "Select payment type" screen.
yeah, I'm sure that was an accident. 
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Quoted: My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. Sounds like a plan, give her the chance to work a busy weekend and really make a killing on the free-bagging cuz it's so busy and no ones paying attention. From a former loss prevention guy at a retail store, this is a really, really dumb idea. Enjoy being stolen from more. |
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Quoted: Quoted: My dad (my boss) won't let me fire her right now, our busiest weekend is coming up and he is afraid that it will fuck up our staffing issues. Sounds like a plan, give her the chance to work a busy weekend and really make a killing on the free-bagging cuz it's so busy and no ones paying attention. From a former loss prevention guy at a retail store, this is a really, really dumb idea. Enjoy being stolen from more. +1. I hate to say it, but it's time to fire the thief and ask for forgiveness from your dad later. |
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Fire her now, take your dad's wrath now, but save the business so you can keep working there and he can keep the business. Employees who give 5 fingered discounts will continue to do so, and can cost you thousands of dollars a year. This can wipe out much of your profit margin. It is also likely that she is playing around with the register and potentially pocketing money. It is not worth the risk. If you have to bring in the cops to make an arrest to get the point across, do so.
Bring in temps or pay overtime if you have to. It could be cheaper to the business than leaving her there, even for an additional weekend. At a minimum, if your dad still insists on keeping her, re-assign her to some crappy job (eg custodial or something else) until you can get rid of her. |