Tweet
The Store got stung earlier this week.
And not even in the way you'd expect. We didn't sell tobacco to a minor. We didn't sell alcohol to a minor. We didn't sell booze to someone who was acting drunk, or fail to card an entire party, or do a wire transfer for someone who was acting suspicious.
It was far more banal than that.
One of our cashiers had a customer, who was actually an undercover WIC auditor, sign a WIC check before said cashier had written the dollar amount of the transaction in the appropriate space on the check.
As it turns out, this is a major violation that has earned the Store a fine, because I guess some unscrupulous grocer could get someone to sign a blank form and fill in some imaginary sum of money in order to bilk the state out of a few dollars on the price of bread and milk and eggs. We're now at risk of multiple re-inspections which, in the event of failure, could cost us a six-figure fine or the suspension of our WIC license (either of which would be a massive blow and likely cost our boss his job). In any event, the word has come down from the store manager's overlords that, until such time as we can have an employee meeting and do some retraining, every WIC transaction is to be overseen and approved by a supervisor so we can ensure that the form is filled out in the right order.
Lemme tell you, I never realized how many WIC transactions we do in an evening until I personally had to be present to approve every single one of them. I'd be at one register watching the clerk put through four checks for a customer, while two other registers were flagging me because they had multiple checks to put through. I wonder if it might be better for us to just designate one lane for WIC transactions and direct all those customers to that lane so that someone we trust can put them through - except that for every one person who finds that lane there'd be five other people who wander into other checkstands because they couldn't be bothered to read the signs.
It's gonna be a long "first of the month" this month.
And not even in the way you'd expect. We didn't sell tobacco to a minor. We didn't sell alcohol to a minor. We didn't sell booze to someone who was acting drunk, or fail to card an entire party, or do a wire transfer for someone who was acting suspicious.
It was far more banal than that.
One of our cashiers had a customer, who was actually an undercover WIC auditor, sign a WIC check before said cashier had written the dollar amount of the transaction in the appropriate space on the check.
As it turns out, this is a major violation that has earned the Store a fine, because I guess some unscrupulous grocer could get someone to sign a blank form and fill in some imaginary sum of money in order to bilk the state out of a few dollars on the price of bread and milk and eggs. We're now at risk of multiple re-inspections which, in the event of failure, could cost us a six-figure fine or the suspension of our WIC license (either of which would be a massive blow and likely cost our boss his job). In any event, the word has come down from the store manager's overlords that, until such time as we can have an employee meeting and do some retraining, every WIC transaction is to be overseen and approved by a supervisor so we can ensure that the form is filled out in the right order.
Lemme tell you, I never realized how many WIC transactions we do in an evening until I personally had to be present to approve every single one of them. I'd be at one register watching the clerk put through four checks for a customer, while two other registers were flagging me because they had multiple checks to put through. I wonder if it might be better for us to just designate one lane for WIC transactions and direct all those customers to that lane so that someone we trust can put them through - except that for every one person who finds that lane there'd be five other people who wander into other checkstands because they couldn't be bothered to read the signs.
It's gonna be a long "first of the month" this month.
I guarantee our store would have failed this audit. As it was, the cashiers were reprimanded for not filling out the checks JUST SO. Because WIC would reject oodles of checks and the store would eat the cost. Things like crossing a seven (which is how I write my sevens) was enough to reject the check. 
Comment