What should my friend do?

[milan08]

Hi, everybody, havent been here for a while. How is everybody?

 

I want to ask you a favour.

 

My friend doesnt speak a lot English, and she works in a convenience store as a cashier. It is all like that: Her till was $140 short, which happened before, and after a couple of weeks, the money would come back. But not this time, after a month of reconciliation, the manager finally told her that the money is gone. Yesterday, the manager pulled her into the office and wanted her to sige a paper work of warning. She asked the manager Warning of what because she didnt take the money.' The manager said that we didnt think you took the money, but it is just a process, and you know any money less than that could end up being fired, but we didnt fire you, because you are a good employee....She couldnt help crying after hearing that, because she felt insulted,as an loyal employee. She later told me that a lot of people that day shared the same till with her, including some of the management. It shouldnt have happened if it was not due to the bad management. She demanded the manager check all the video inside the store and she wanted to know what happened to that $140 and managered said they would give her an answer.

 

 

She told me the store yesterday and she felt so irritated and mad and wanted to take legal action again the company. But she doesnt know much such law about here, neither do I. So, if anyone has some advice, please help her out.

 

God bless.

Thanks a lot.

[credzba]

Hi, everybody, havent been here for a while. How is everybody?

 

I want to ask you a favour.

 

My friend doesnt speak a lot English, and she works in a convenience store as a cashier. It is all like that: Her till was $140 short, which happened before, and after a couple of weeks, the money would come back. But not this time, after a month of reconciliation, the manager finally told her that the money is gone. Yesterday, the manager pulled her into the office and wanted her to sige a paper work of warning. She asked the manager Warning of what because she didnt take the money.' The manager said that we didnt think you took the money, but it is just a process, and you know any money less than that could end up being fired, but we didnt fire you, because you are a good employee....She couldnt help crying after hearing that, because she felt insulted,as an loyal employee. She later told me that a lot of people that day shared the same till with her, including some of the management. It shouldnt have happened if it was not due to the bad management. She demanded the manager check all the video inside the store and she wanted to know what happened to that $140 and managered said they would give her an answer.

 

 

She told me the store yesterday and she felt so irritated and mad and wanted to take legal action again the company. But she doesnt know much such law about here, neither do I. So, if anyone has some advice, please help her out.

 

God bless.

Thanks a lot.

 

Cashier jobs are relatively easy to get, especially with experience.

If you were fired from your job, no job is easy to get.

 

Turn in 2 weeks notice, and go get another job.

That keeps them from firing her (because she has already quit), thus preserving her work record, and gets her out of a situation where they are not treating her fairly.

 

If need be find another job first, but don't wait too long, because if she signs that paper admitting guilt, then she can easily be terminated.

I even had a friend write a rebuttal saying they are signing the paper because it is required to keep their job, but not admitting guilt.

Didn't matter they used it to fire her anyway.

[warpedbored]

Since several people use the same till the company doesn't have a leg to stand on as far as blaming her for taking the money. It sounds like the manager is trying to make her sign a verbal warning. Is this a large corporation? If I were her I wouldn't sign it. She did nothing wrong. I would ask to have a meeting with someone in HR. If she is fired she could have a case for wrongful termination. If they are trying to make a scape goat out of her because she is foreign she may have a case. National origin is a protected characteristic. I have a hunch if she asks to bring HR into it it may go away.

[milan08]

Hi, everybody, havent been here for a while. How is everybody?

 

I want to ask you a favour.

 

My friend doesnt speak a lot English, and she works in a convenience store as a cashier. It is all like that: Her till was $140 short, which happened before, and after a couple of weeks, the money would come back. But not this time, after a month of reconciliation, the manager finally told her that the money is gone. Yesterday, the manager pulled her into the office and wanted her to sige a paper work of warning. She asked the manager Warning of what because she didnt take the money.' The manager said that we didnt think you took the money, but it is just a process, and you know any money less than that could end up being fired, but we didnt fire you, because you are a good employee....She couldnt help crying after hearing that, because she felt insulted,as an loyal employee. She later told me that a lot of people that day shared the same till with her, including some of the management. It shouldnt have happened if it was not due to the bad management. She demanded the manager check all the video inside the store and she wanted to know what happened to that $140 and managered said they would give her an answer.

 

 

She told me the store yesterday and she felt so irritated and mad and wanted to take legal action again the company. But she doesnt know much such law about here, neither do I. So, if anyone has some advice, please help her out.

 

God bless.

Thanks a lot.

 

Cashier jobs are relatively easy to get, especially with experience.

If you were fired from your job, no job is easy to get.

 

Turn in 2 weeks notice, and go get another job.

That keeps them from firing her (because she has already quit), thus preserving her work record, and gets her out of a situation where they are not treating her fairly.

 

If need be find another job first, but don't wait too long, because if she signs that paper admitting guilt, then she can easily be terminated.

I even had a friend write a rebuttal saying they are signing the paper because it is required to keep their job, but not admitting guilt.

Didn't matter they used it to fire her anyway.

 

First of all, thanks for the reply.

I might miss your point, and I think the best thing for her to do is wait until they check the camera and hopefully something will come out. Though it is easy to find another job like this, it makes her look guilty if she quits now, then people will say: Yes, she took the money." But it is only my advice.

[milan08]

Since several people use the same till the company doesn't have a leg to stand on as far as blaming her for taking the money. It sounds like the manager is trying to make her sign a verbal warning. Is this a large corporation? If I were her I wouldn't sign it. She did nothing wrong. I would ask to have a meeting with someone in HR. If she is fired she could have a case for wrongful termination. If they are trying to make a scape goat out of her because she is foreign she may have a case. National origin is a protected characteristic. I have a hunch if she asks to bring HR into it it may go away.

 

She works at one of the Chain companies, I think it is called queck, but not so sure, a weird name.

 

She didnt sign the paper verbal warning.

 

My suspect is why the managerment havent checked the camera for a month, and they said they believed nobody stole the money. I am thinking they might try to make a scape goat out of her. But not sure, just guessing.

 

What should she tell the HR if she demands a meeting with them?

 

Tha

[warpedbored]

She should tell the truth. That she didn't take the money. She might mention she is afraid she is being singled out because she is foreign. She should also ask to have the video studied to exonerate her.HR should be sensitive to the issue of national origin since they could be sued for a lot of money if it turns out she is being made a scape goat because of it.

[Randy W]

The bottom line here is GET A NEW JOB, before she is accused of something else. Make no mistake about it, she IS under accusation. It's too easy to find a scapegoat. If they AREN'T reconciling the till between everyone's shift, they aren't interested in determining who did it.

 

A reputable store will hand each cashier their own cash register drawer with a known amount of money. They will operate ONLY from their own drawer. When people are allowed to co-mingle money like that, it makes it too easy for someone to steal.

[NewDay2006]

A reputable store will hand each cashier their own cash register drawer with a known amount of money. They will operate ONLY from their own drawer. When people are allowed to co-mingle money like that, it makes it too easy for someone to steal.

Depends on what you mean as "reputable"... my wife works for Wal-Mart...my wife shares the same register also. If she takes a break someone else just take over. I had these same thoughts about sharing a register. I wouldn't sign any paper... that would be an admission.

[warpedbored]

I work in retail management. We run 2-3 drawers with everybody working all the tills. In 10 years I've worked there we have never been more than $20 off. We can't have separate tills for each associate because we often have to leave the cash wrap to help customers on the floor. She may be in a similar situation.

 

My company requires all management to take courses on harassment, sexual and otherwise. They are very sensitive to these issues because they know if they get sued it can cost them a lot of money. One thing her manager may not realize is that he can be sued as well. Being an employee doesn't protect him.

[dnoblett]

Her till was $140 short, which happened before, and after a couple of weeks, the money would come back.

 

I'm surprised no one has keyed on this. This certainly looks to me like someone with access to the register took out an 'employee loan'. They stole the money and then replaced it at a later date. They got away with it then so they tried it again, but this time can't come up with the pay back money.

 

It could be the boss.

 

Not sure I have any advice for your friend, but Carl's suggestion to involve HR is a good one.

Very true.

 

I have experience of working at a small retail store no "Cashiers" only a few sales people and a manager, so only one cash drawer. From time to time would have a short or overage usually less than a buck or so, this would be chalked up as a miscount when giving change. However sometimes would hear of the "loan" overage/shortage, and in a few stores where this seemed to be a problem, the manager would install a camera, and would eventually catch the problem employee. But yes a crooked store manager is a bit harder to deal with.

[milan08]

She was reluctant to come back to work, considering of quitting, but I told her to hang on a couple of weeks, until the truth is, or semi out. Quitting too soon will leave them the space to gossip, and ending up the real" Thief' unattended. She cant have a one on one meeting with the HR, so I want to write a paper work presenting what has happened so she can mail it to the HR office.

 

It is very humiliating and insulting for her to be treated this way, though, that is why she wants to sue the company, but I think there is not enough evidence, because the company didnt say directly she stole the money, they just said it was a verbal warning for missing $140.

[warpedbored]

She could request a private phone conference with HR. I doubt seriously they would deny her. If she has an employee hand book it probably has a phone number in it.

[Randy W]

A reputable store will hand each cashier their own cash register drawer with a known amount of money. They will operate ONLY from their own drawer. When people are allowed to co-mingle money like that, it makes it too easy for someone to steal.

Depends on what you mean as "reputable"... my wife works for Wal-Mart...my wife shares the same register also. If she takes a break someone else just take over. I had these same thoughts about sharing a register. I wouldn't sign any paper... that would be an admission.

 

A reputable store will reconcile the till before someone else digs into the same stash. Otherwise, they have a mess on their hands trying to sort out who did what. If they take the time to figure out who the true guilty party is, that's one thing. But if they toss out accusations of any kind in the meantime, that's downright sleazy in my book.

[xiaofeizhu]

Sorry for my late response, but as you all have suggested, make sure she does not sign the warning notice. I have had several jobs involving cash drawers. The first one, we all had our own drawers. At the company I am currently part-time at, there is only one cash register, so there are at least 2, sometimes 5 people all using the same drawer. One time, the drawer was $1,300 short! It was a check, and everyone blamed me for it and they were going to write me up. They used the excuse that "it could NEVER be 'Tina' because she has been here for 10 years". Well, guess what..."Tina" put the check back into the customer's bag, and we are not like Wal-Mart or other stores that give the checks back! I never agreed to sign the paper because I knew it was not my fault.

 

She may be embarassed, insulted, and mad, and I don't blame her. The concept of face comes into play, I am sure, but please advise her to go back to work and keep being a good employee. Then, let her call HR, maybe you, or someone that you know, can help her if her English is very bad. National origin, as was mentioned earlier, is a protected category. We just had a 2 hour long training on harassment. She can sue both the manager and the company for unlimited damages. If the manager knows anything about the laws, he/she will know that this means that the manager will have to pay (in addition, most likely, to the company) from their pocket. Even if they declare bankruptcy or try to evade, the debt to her if she wins a lawsuit will be forever until it is paid in full. Furthermore, the law also protects her because she does not have to talk to her manager about it and can go directly to her HR department to file a complaint. Even more, if HR does not handle the situation in a prompt manner, that is also covered by the law, and she can sue the company for not investigating the matter in a prompt manner.

 

Have her file a compaint ASAP. Tell her not to quit and to be strong because like others have said, they will most likely view her resignation as an admission of guilt. HR needs to be involved. If they are unwilling, then this can be grounds for a lawsuit. Best of luck, and let us know if there is anything we can help with.

[lostinblue]

I have a friend who worked at sears. She was in customer service and collected all the drawers at the end of the night and counted the money. If the drawer was off a dollar or two there was big trouble. Someone started stealing $20 at a time once in a while. My friend was called in as well as every other employee with access to the drawers. They sat EVERY employee down in a room with a manager and sheriff and was told " confess we know you stole the money". At the time she really needed the money and could not give up that job. One girl was found to be stealing after time went by. There was no "I am sorry to put you through this ordeal" by management. Rather than say major stores treat you more "fairly". It is perhaps some A____ manager within the store system killing the moral of the workers.