Oh my goodness, what a weekend I've had...

So I've been working as a cashier at a grocery store for the past month, and things have been going pretty well. Then yesterday, this guy comes through my line and asks if he can have a $50 bill in exchange for some change. I didn't have any 50's in my drawer, so he asked for 10's and 20's instead. He kept having me count out the change to make sure it made $50, but it just got more confusing. Then he said he wanted $100, which only made things worse. Then his friend, who was in line behind him, paid for his purchases with a $50 bill, so the first guy asked if he could have that and give me the change. I was just so confused by then. I'm sure you can all see where this is going...
So at 9:00 pm, when the store closes, I went into the back room by the customer service desk where all the cashiers count out the money in their drawers at the end of the day. We're supposed to count out $250 to leave in the drawer, then turn in the rest of the money. I thought it was strange that I only had $255 total in my drawer, since there's usually a lot more than that, and when the manager checked my record, it showed that I was missing $180 dollars. I explained what had happened with the guy wanting change, but my manager wasn't at all happy, and said that probably I would either not be allowed to work the register anymore, or I would just lose my job. I won't know until I work again on Tuesday.

So of course I was a total wreck when I got home and explained everything to my parents. They let me cry for a couple minutes, then said they had a surprise for my birthday, which is this Friday. I was in no mood for a surprise, but they led me into the living room, turned on the lights, and there were my grandparents and all my friends waiting to surprise me. I was soooo embarassed, but it was just what I needed. And all my friends pitched in to give me the $180 dollars to pay back the store, which was amazingly nice of them. I don't know how much good it'll do to secure my job, though...

I just feel so stupid, because I really should've known better. The same thing happened to one of my friends once when she worked as a cashier at a restaurant, and she lsot $150. When I got my job she warned me extensively to never give change to people, and I'm kicking myself now for not listening. I love my friends though, and I was SO surprised. I had no idea that they were planning anything.

So that was my soap-opera weekend. Ah well, c'est la vie. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

Cairn that sucks, but don't beat yourself up over it too much.  You learned what you were supposed to that day and hopefully the manager will realize that you are still an asset to the company.  

I worked at a restaurant all through high school.  When I got promoted to hostess, I had taken a to-go order and the lady complained about it.  I took it back to the kitchen, and with the manager I was joking about what a pain this lady was.  When I took the order back to her, the owner had come in, the customer had seen us and complained about me to the owner.  I felt awful (and I should have).  The owner apologized, gave her a gift certificate and when she left the manager talked to me.  She was very understanding, didn't fire me or even write me up.  But I learned a huge lesson that day and made sure it never happened again.  I like to think I repaid the owners with the rest of my good service for their kindness and a lot of good learning experiences.

I'm glad your friends and family were there to cheer you up.    Oh and by the way, happy birthday!

Wonderful that your family and friends were there when you needed them and they could help you after a bad experience like that.  :) I'm sure your birthday will be a happy one! :D

It's truly touching when friends and family make such a loving gesture, isn't it? That ought to be a powerful cheerer-upper thought for you whenever you're blue, knowing how much you are loved.

Any decent employer would understand that anyone can be tricked in a situation like that, and that it's not likely to happen again in any case. I hope things work out with your job.

Happy Birthday in advance!

/Kate

A tough lesson to learn.  Sorry you had to go through that.  When I worked as a cashier, we were told to NEVER give change other than for the purchase.  I've witnessed "quick change artists" at work and intervened a few times when I was a head cashier.  They are very slick.

I'm sure you will never let anyone trick you like this again.

Hope this won't spoil your birthday!

Thanks guys. It certainly was a tough lesson to learn, but I'll definitely make sure it never happens again.

The problem is, they're really not very good at training new employees at this grocery store; they just reprimand you when you slip up, and you learn from experience, which is fine except when large sums of money are involved.

I'm eternally grateful to my friends for donating the $180 to pay back the store, but after thinking it over, I've decided that if they take me off the register and put me in a lower-paying position, I'm just going to quit, because the hours suck anyway. I have a friend (the same one who warned me about getting scammed) who works at MailWorks, and they're looking to hire extra part-time employees for the busy holiday season and to possibly stay on after. The pace would be much lighter, and I wouldn't be handling such large amounts of money. I'm almost hoping that I get fired now. Of course, having an incident like this on my record can't be all that encouraging to any prospective employers...

I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how things go once I explain everything to my manager and pay back the money.

Cairn, I had something very simlilar happen to me years
and years ago when I worked as a cashier in a retail
store, I accidentally accepted a check from a customer
that was written up for us not to accept, I was distracted by the way they were acting at the register
and forgot to look at the list of "no checks from...."  
anyway I got chewed out but I was a good employee
so I think they knew that,  your friends sound wonderful!  Have a happy birthday.

Thanks Babyfine  :)

Thankfully my boss is letting me keep my cahsier position, but didn't seem interested in taking the money my friends had given me. I think he was planning on taking it from my paycheck.  :-/ He said he'd think about it - again.  ::)

Wow Cairn, that's quite an ordeal you've been through! How do you feel about it now that your boss is lettin you stay in the cashier position? (You mentioned earlier that you'd hoped he'd fire you!) I suppose now though, this gives you the room to leave when you want and not have it look bad on your CV!  :D

That's strange yer boss didn't take the money you gave him. I wonder what his agenda is.

Most companies would not deduct the money from your check and many states in the US have laws that would prevent them from doing so.  Businesses have insurance to cover major losses.  They also know that there will be register shortages and build that into their prices.

If you are not happy with your job, now would be a good time to start looking for a new one, so that you can control when and how you leave.

Hello Cairn!
  Just wondering how things panned out for you, what a terrible situation to be put into!  I too work with the public in handling money, and it's odd how some people can be so honest, and some so deceitful.  For example, over last Valentine's Day, one man came in and he bought some flowers and a balloon for his granddaughter, he paid for his stuff and he left, deal done.  Three days later he came back in the shop and he said he felt so guilty because he realized that I forgot to charge him for the balloon, after looking back, yes I did forget to charge him, but I told him not to worry about it-it was my mistake.  Well, there was no way- he put a $5 on the counter and insisted that I take it-no change, and the balloon was only $3.  What a consience!  Then on the other hand, just a few days ago I waited on a woman who wanted a bouquet of flowers and a pack of candles (worth about $6).  Well, once again, in my haste, I charged her only for the flowers and not the candles, and I'm quite sure she realized it as she quickly took her change and her items and fled the store before I could say anything.  Not a big loss, but it bothers me more so to know that this woman would do something like that in a small shop that struggles for every penny earned!  Fortunately (I guess?) for me, I have no one to answer to but myself, but I am only hurting myself by making mistakes such as that, too.  I guess this might make more sense to you if I had mentioned earlier in the story that I own a small flower and gift shop!  So, anyways, just wondering if you kept your job, or headed off to a new venture, let us know! :)

Well, I'm still at my job and things are going just fine. While I wouldn't have minded getting fired, I do need the money, and staying where I am is easier than trying to find a new job.

It is amazing how inconsiderate and how generous people can be. If you want to learn about human nature, being a cashier is a great way to do it. I'm taking a psychology class in school, and my job is actually a great supplement to the class, as far as being able to observe how customers interact with me and with each other, especially parents with their children.

wrote on Nov 10^th, 2004 at 9:12pm:

It is amazing how inconsiderate and how generous people can be. If you want to learn about human nature, being a cashier is a great way to do it. I'm taking a psychology class in school, and my job is actually a great supplement to the class, as far as being able to observe how customers interact with me and with each other, especially parents with their children.

That is so true Cairn.  I'm in a people watching phase and I love to watch people interact with each other.  Then I sit and wonder why certain people react the ways they do and try to figure out what people think of my from the way I interact with others.  Although I don't miss working face to face with people in customer service, I'll be doing it during tax season soon.  I'm sure I'll get a lot of fun 'case studies.'

...OK, now I'm really p.o'd....just a few moments ago a woman came in and was just "browsing", the little %$@#@*! stole an ornament off of my display tree!  She was fussing over it and saying how cute is was, and now there's an empty spot where the ornament once hung, like 5 minutes ago!!!  I hope her tree falls over when she hangs it up!  That's not nice, is it?  Well, neither is stealing, so.....tiiiiiiimmmmbbbbeeer!

You're already selling Christmas ornaments? Way to get an early start on the season.  :)

How horrible of that woman...It's even worse when you know there's nothing you can do about it, isn't it?

Yeah, it does stink, but there are people out there like that.  There has been two flower shops in the area here that have been robbed in the past week, and that really scares me.  The one was done at night time, when the shop was closed - which is bad enough, but the other was done during business hours and the woman running the shop was hurt pretty badly.  The man came in and said that he wanted to order flowers, she said OK and went to grab her order pad, and the man hit her over the head with a lead pipe and knocked her out!  He took her wallet and whatever was in the register, he only got away with $50, hardly worth it.  I don't think he's been caught yet, very, very scary.  What do they really think that they're going to get from little shops like ours?  It really worries me. I just pray that he's caught, and that no one else gets any bright ideas.