Suspicion of theft **Cleared**

[Pusillanimous]

The other till that I went to was out of sight of the first till.

 

If the till was left unattended, do you think someone got their fingers in your till, while you were busy with the other one? Would you have been able to tell? Is there a policy about unattended tills at your employers?

[Marco73]

And its an important point about how the manager was notified, either the till would have to have been opened after 5.02, or someone may have taken the money earlier, waited for you to make a transaction, and then told the manager that money was missing.

 

And is the manager herself above suspicion? Would it have been physically possible for her to have taken money from the till at the end of the day

I hear what you're saying there. I didn't think about someone possibly "stalking" the till until I made a transaction then reported the missing money. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

 

As for the manager being a suspect, although any member of staff off 6 floors could possibly access any till within the store, it would be unlikely. The interviewing manager was a manager off a different floor because I think a floor manager cannot investigate discrepancies off their own floor.

[Marco73]

If the till was left unattended, do you think someone got their fingers in your till, while you were busy with the other one? Would you have been able to tell? Is there a policy about unattended tills at your employers?

Although I left the till to make the transaction on a different till, the till drawer was never opened because the transaction had been cancelled and also, it was a card payment and so the till never opens when payment is made by card. A customer simply puts their card in the reader, enters pin and a receipt is then generated. If a signature is required, the customer signs the receipt, the sales adviser checks this with the card and a button is pressed to confirm successful details relating to, in particular, the card number (on the card) and the card number (on the receipt). A receipt is then given to the customer and the confirmation copy is put through a small opening in the till drawer.

[Marco73]

Transient that is why I questioned if it could have been incorrectly rung in as it seemed a high total for the type of business

All activity on any till, which includes, no sales/cancelled transactions as well as actual transactions are immediately sent to the cash office. If a sum had been incorrectly entered the cash office would have details of it and certainly this would have been brought up at the meeting.

[Marco73]

UPDATE:

I had another interview today and on questioning the CCTV footage, I have been told that the CCTV is inconclusive. Apparently, the camera is behind a sales adviser and so it only shows the back of anyone making a transaction or any activity on the till!!.....I have questioned why this is as obviously, this would make it undetectable for anyone "dipping" in the till. I was then told that it is because the store is old!....I find this unacceptable for a multi-million pound company.

On questioning how it was known that money was missing, given that my last transaction was the last transaction, I was told that a sales adviser had opened the till after my last transaction to issue a temporary store mastercard. I was under the impression that a sale had to take place and be completed before the till drawer opened. (Clearly not). I then learned that the temporary store mastercards are only kept in the said till. I have put forward my intention to request all CCTV footage on that till for that day and also, all transactions/activity on that till for that day. The reply was "You can't as it breaches the privacy of others!

On goes the "trial". I will update when I know more.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Marco73

[Binary1]

Thats the spirit! Persue this to the bitter end. It seems they have CCTV installed around the till area which is a waste of time. Its not your problem they have CCTV that records the back of the assistant doing the transactions. I hope you prove them to be wrong and get the apology you deserve. am I correct that the person who 'opened' the till to put the Mastercard transaction in the drawer noticed the money was missing?? How on earth did that person know there was money missing, or if thats when the money went missing did they take the money and you are getting the blame. It looks like there are ways to open that till that you didnt know about, and thus others could have had a field day tucking in and letting you take the blame!!. The plot thickens.... Keep us posted how it pans out.

[Binary1]

Also, if they wont let you view the cctv or all transactions/activity on that till for that day, how the hell are you supposed to prove your innocence? If they wont let you see that evidence, surely they should still obtain it and view it themselves, thus proving your innocence and catching the culprit. I would have thought it was the first thing they should have done. This whole thing sounds like a bit of a set up. How unprofessional of them to come out all guns blazing at you without even checking the evidence they have to hand? Good luck and keep us posted

[Marco73]

Also, if they wont let you view the cctv or all transactions/activity on that till for that day, how the hell are you supposed to prove your innocence? If they wont let you see that evidence, surely they should still obtain it and view it themselves, thus proving your innocence and catching the culprit. I would have thought it was the first thing they should have done. This whole thing sounds like a bit of a set up. How unprofessional of them to come out all guns blazing at you without even checking the evidence they have to hand? Good luck and keep us posted

My only thought now is that it is a set-up. I also made a point of saying that even though the camera is behind an assistant using the till, £760 has been taken and given that this would be a "wad" of cash, it should still be able to be seen or at least it should raise the question of "why is this assistant spending unnecessary time at the till. Another thought is that the money could have been taken in small amounts and then reported. This way, no assistant would immediately notice the money was missing. (apart from the staff member who reported it).

[Marco73]

UPDATE:

Hi folks, I have now been cleared of any involvement of the till discrepancy.

I was handed a letter just before xmas stating that I am no longer part of the investigation with a half-arsed apology.

On returning to work this morning 3/1/13, I was shown (by a staff member) a still CCTV image of a man who is suspected of dipping in tills. I am annoyed that this wasn't followed up initially therefore preventing innocent staff being dragged through the mire!...It is unclear as yet how long security have had this information but i will find out!

 

Thank you all for your advice and input

[Pusillanimous]

Marco73, you must be so relieved! Good job the CCTV had a film in it. Horrible to be under false suspicion.

[Marco73]

Marco73, you must be so relieved! Good job the CCTV had a film in it. Horrible to be under false suspicion.

 

The image is from another camera on a different floor. Apparently this guy has been dipping in other tills (God knows how) and I am assuming that they suspect this guy??

[Sidewinder]

Good news for you and hopefully you can get back to normal

[stu007]

Hi Marco

 

I am so glad of that outcome for you as I was about to give you some more advice.

 

Ok I will anyway just in case

 

Having read your posts again something that stick out like a sore thumb to me is

 

you mention that all till transaction are electronically registered with the cash office now this is interesting as later you mention the cctv issue and them stating its because the store is OLD.

 

1. The till transaction is registered automatically in the cash office therefore stored on a Main Server. My question would be when was the last maintenance check of all till, Main Server as cash office equipment carried out.

 

2. When was the last time an IT maintenance check of the software was carried out.

 

Who is to say their was not an electronic glitch on that equipment especially if they aint upgraded the cctv how old is the equipment in use and is it regulary maintained.

 

Now just for future refernce if required on CCTV these PDFs may be of use:

[transient]

I assume he was a fellow colleague who worked in different depts and therefore used different tills as and where he was required?

[Binary1]

Thats great news you have been cleared. But I would be furious they had suspected me without going down the 'normal' routes first.

I would want a grovelling written apology and it also in writing that they made a grave mistake by suspecting you when they had not carried out a proper and full investigation first. It probably hung over you with the with the lead up to christmas and put a damper on your life.

I would also want them to put in writing that they have now updated their procedures re missing money etc before going in all guns blazing and accusing innocent staff.

As the saying goes, how very dare they !!

[Emmzzi]

suspension during investiagtion is a neutral act.

 

why should they issue an apology?

 

justice has been down and that is what is important - not winding your boss up by misunderstanding employment policy!!

[assisted blonde]

really wouldnt dwell on it now, op has been cleared and employer has made a sort of apology, tbh employer had to take action he thought fit until guilt or innocence was prooved, theft is a major problem and suspension although not nice is better than dismissal, dont wind the employer up.

[Marco73]

I assume he was a fellow colleague who worked in different depts and therefore used different tills as and where he was required?

 

The suspect is a member of the public. Until he is caught nobody will know if he is or was a staff member.

The CCTV footage apparently shows this guy "doing something" behind a till on a different floor. He has then managed somehow to open the till without swiping on. Security are baffled as to how he has done this.