Almost cost me my job

[Anakah]

I must be the BIGGEST moron in the world...

Anyway, yesterday was a particulary busy day and I admit it, I was rushing. It was never ending people and I let myself slip away from being careful.

All was well until I was counting my drawer and discovered that I was $800 short!

Well, the supervisors began searching for it. They sent me home and told me not to worry about it.

The next day I come in and my supervisor pulls me into her office and my heart felt as though it was going to pop out of my chest. It turns out, I went $800 short because I REALLY over paid someone...

The woman's ticket was $1199.99. She gave me $1.00 to make it even. Well somewhere in my head I saw $2000. In the real world outside my twisted and careless mind, it was 1200. I've never felt so stupid in my whole life. It's not a small mistake.

If I don't get a perfect drawer for probably the rest of my life there, I'm gone. I'm so sad too because I love this job. I love the people I work with, I make great money and I am happy.

I realize it was my fault but I wish the woman in my window would've been honest and told me my mistake.

To all: If you know that someone has overpaid you, please say something... It could cost someone their jobs.

I can't forgive myself. It was dumb and in my line of work something like that is the end. I'm so glad they decided to keep me. But I still feel really horrible.

[0oAmericanGirl]

Ouch, that's a biggie. It sucks that people aren't honest!! It's completely easy to make mistakes like that especially when you're doing what seems like the same thing over and over and adding to the equation that you're busy. Just try not to let this get to you too much because you'll feel bad and could make another mistake.

I was once $600 short in my drawer and I couldn't figure out why or how I could have done somthing like that. Nobody had touched my drawer and all my checks balanced out. After I quit that job and moved away I got a phone call from one of my friend that worked with me and she told me that one of the back office girls had just been busted for stealing large amounts of cash out of people's drawers and making them short!

[Anakah]

Though for me everything is on camera. They watched me be a dumbass on camera. I'm so scared that I'm going to mess up again. I can't afford to get fired... Now I'm actually dreading going to work (more than usual) and I was so nervous today my hands were shaking with each transaction.

I don't know how I'm going to be okay again. This is the biggest mistake I've made in money yet.

[Becks]

Damn, that sucks.

It'll be ok, I'm sure of it.

:comforting pats: there, there™®

[SuperDan]

If you like the job in general though, usually most places will transfer you to a non-cash-handling department if the errors were actual errors and not theft or other dishonesty, rather than fire you for being bad at math.

It may also help you on large transactions like that to leave the ticket and any paid-in cash out until after you've paid out the customer. That way you can a) avoid quick-change artists, and b) look away from the screen and take a deep breath before you count the customer's money back to them, so your mind is clear (or clearer anyway) of any nervousness you may have gotten because of a transaction that huge and you can take one last look at the ticket to make sure you counted the money out right before you pass it out the window.

[JustaCashier]

Wow, Anakah! Hang in there! I can understand your being nervous, but in time you'll regain your confidence.

And props to your Company for keeping you. No matter how great the Company, and how great the Employee, and the innocent the mistake, many employers would likely punish for an error of that extent, up to and inckuding, termination.

A few months ago, I handed a Customer back change for a $100.00 bill, on an under $20.00 purchase. The guy says, "Man, I can't do this to you. I gave you a twenty." I actually laughed, thinking he was jokingly doing a reversal of the "I gave you a hundred, not a twenty" thing. I lifted my till tray, and looked underneath where I had put the bill, sure enough there was a twenty under there!

I hope I thanked him sincerely enough. I was so shocked, I don't remember if I did or not.

Even though it worked out for me in the end, I kept stewing over the incident for some time, as I usually do, and was still picturing in my mind that the bill was a hundred, when recalling putting it under the till tray!

Mike

[myswtghst]

See, that's the thing about your story that upsets me. The customer couldn't have mistaken that she was being given WAY too much change ($800 is a noticable overage), and that's just incredibly sucky to not say anything about it. It's sad that people aren't up front and honest anymore.

I'm equally vocal if I'm given too much change, or if I'm shorted. I figure I shouldn't treat either instance any differently, as either way, the cashier made a mistake and someone is getting the short end of the stick.

[Cia]

Anakah, since they have you on tape giving the woman $800 then they should have her picture and can charge her with theft or petty larceny.

[BuhMule]

If you've been there long enuf--they'll probably take preventive measures against it happening again....and NOT punative {{{{{hug}}}}}

Not quite the same, but....in the Hotel I worked, they were very $$-stingy. Coming up $0.25 short was reason for the night auditor to leave you a nasty note. After $1.00, the cashier-cage put a note in the night envelope to the manager, and the night auditor got to actually talk to you. This means, of course that any time you're short by a nickel--everyone in the hotel/casino knows about it.

I once came up $20.50 short on my drawer. That was cause for the Hotel Manager and the Casino Manager to pull me aside at the start of my next shift. We went through all my paperwork...and finally found $10.00 of it. Paranoid me offered to even put the other $10.50 back from my pocket!

(I *think* the 2nd $10 is from a cash customer that I counted their phone fee wrong.....but to this day, I have no idea where that $0.50 is.)

Didn't get fired, but about a week later Hotel Manager chose to lower the amount our drawers started with to $75.00 (down from $250.00).

[ladodger34]

To all: If you know that someone has overpaid you, please say something... It could cost someone their jobs.

I think the last time I actually kept the change when someone overpaid me, I was 12 and I wasn't going to walk back to the store to give them back their money. I didn't realize I had more money than I should have until I got home.

As an adult, I'm happy to say that every time I've noticed that I've been given too much change, I make sure to point it out.

[Anakah]

Even though it was clearly my fault, would it be possible for the woman (who I know knowingly knew about the money mix up) to get into trouble for just walking off with it? They do have her on camera.

[Becks]

That's a tough one. Any lawyers in the house?

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

<snip> had just been busted for stealing large amounts of cash out of people's drawers and making them short!

OMG I had this same problem. I always worked with another employee on one register in my restaurant, even though my name was the one signed in. My drawers only came up short when I worked with this one particular guy... come to find out he had been lifting copious amounts of money from my drawer when I wasn't looking.

That asshole almost cost me my job. Management didn't even apologize for accusing me of stealing, even though they fired him on the spot.

[MadMike]

Management didn't even apologize for accusing me of stealing, even though they fired him on the spot.

I probably would have sarcastically told them, "Thanks for the apology. I really appreciate it." But that's just me. I'm not good at handling confrontation, but if I get angry enough, watch out.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

I did say something, when I quit 3 weeks later. I kinda left the management stunned in silence (picture three overweight sweaty managers going all at the same time) because I didn't say anything about it that whole time. It was part of a 5 minute rant I gave as my exit speech-screw a letter, cuz I sure didn't need their recommendation at that point. That restaurant sucked ass anyway.