I work as an assistant manager at a small liquor store. Lately, our inventory numbers haven’t been matching up. We’ve had more theft attempts recently, so I thought it was just that. But, I was checking something unrelated and ended up looking at the voided sales log in our POS system. I noticed some strange patterns. After checking the cameras, I saw one of our employees scanning items, taking money from customers, manually opening the cash drawer to give them change, letting them leave with their bottles, and then voiding the sales. He’s putting the cash back in the till and using his phone, typing something after these events. I even caught him with the calculator app open on his phone in one camera shot. This all happened on a day when no other employees were in the store.
The problem is, I can’t find footage of him actually putting anything in his pockets.
So yeah, this looks pretty much like theft, but without solid proof of him actually pocketing anything, I’m hesitant to accuse him.
I know it’s my boss’s call and I should report this to them, but they’ll probably fire him without asking any questions. If there’s a chance this is innocent, I don’t want to get the guy fired.
What do you all think? And just to clarify, I’m posting here instead of other forums because I want to avoid getting advice about HR, loss prevention, or my own manager. We don’t have HR, I handle loss prevention, and my direct manager is the business owner.
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Here’s a suggestion: He might be keeping track of any cash overages and taking the total at the end of the shift. Try checking the voids mid to late shift and see if there’s any discrepancy. You can also take the drawer to be counted to avoid giving him a chance to take anything extra. This is assuming he’s doing it every shift.
It sounds like he’s stealing. I know it’s kind of you to look at other possibilities, but this is most likely your boss’s responsibility. Let them know your concerns and tell them you don’t have direct proof, but the situation looks suspicious. He might be taking the money at the end of the day when balancing the till, keeping it all in line to avoid getting caught.
Do you have footage of when the drawer is balanced? There should be extra bills in there at that point. Maybe try balancing the drawer yourself more often?
Afton said:
Do you have footage of when the drawer is balanced? There should be extra bills in there at that point. Maybe try balancing the drawer yourself more often?
When I was younger, I knew exactly where the camera blind spots were and how much cash needed to be removed to keep the drawer balanced…
You work there, can you think of any innocent explanation for what they’re doing? It’s obviously theft. Are the same ‘customers’ coming back multiple times? Even if you can’t figure out the details, it’s still pretty suspicious. Ideally, you should loop your boss in and have a meeting with the employee to confront them.
Is he taking more expensive bottles at the end of the day? Maybe he’s selling the smaller items and voiding the sales, but at the end, he’s making up for it by selling himself a more expensive bottle. He can cover the missing cash by taking that home without anyone noticing.
This is clear retail theft. If he wasn’t taking the cash at the end of his shift, the register should show an overage. He’s probably keeping a running tally so he knows how much cash to steal when no one’s looking.
Try matching the voided sales times with the shift hours. If the same employee is there during those times, you can talk to them without directly accusing. Just mention that you’ve noticed something odd in the system and ask them if they know anything about it. It’s a good way to warn them without jumping to conclusions.
@Dakota
If you catch footage of him taking cash without processing sales, that’s solid proof for firing him, at least in Australia. You can call for a formal inquiry and present your evidence. See what happens.
Is your POS system tracking voided sales and giving specific codes to cashiers? That would make it easy to see if the same employee is involved in multiple voids. It’s hard to assume innocence after seeing these repeated patterns.
It’s definitely theft, even if you don’t have hard proof. But if you want to be sure, you can keep looking at the footage or even audit his register to see if the totals add up. If you confront him, ask about the voided sales and overages – his reaction might give you the information you need. In some places, they would’ve fired him already based on this.
I’ve been in payments for 15 years, and this is theft. You don’t need to catch him in the act, these actions speak for themselves. Go to the boss ASAP – you don’t want to wait too long while more money disappears.
Has the register been balancing correctly? If it’s balancing, then the cash from voided transactions is likely being taken. There is one other explanation: maybe the owner is asking him to do this to generate unreported income. Is the employee related to the owner?
You’ve got enough evidence to fire him. With all the voided sales and him using his phone to keep track of the voided amounts, plus the missing product, there’s no excuse. It’s time to act.