Friend Stealing In Job

smellybiker

Not sure if this is the right place for this topic but here it goes...

A friend got pissed at the weekend and confided in me that she has begun stealing money at work. She currently works two jobs - in one job, they have a very basic till with no cameras in store. She told me she avoids putting in some items that can not be traced (such as coffee and tea) and then keeps the money. Last week she stole €100 alone from this one place. In her second job, there are cameras everywhere and so, she would not dare steal from the till there. However, she has started to short change customers - she keeps a euro for every transaction and could come out with ten euro a night - depending how busy it is! I was completely outraged when i heard this - i'm an employer and couldn't stress enough the trouble she could get into with Guards etc etc

I'm not looking for advice here on how to get her to stop because i don't believe she will as she's got severe money problems and owes debt to alot of banks and not the nicest of people. What i'm looking for is suggestions on things that woud help her make more money on the side - something that she could work at as a side to these other jobs. I've suggested some work from home ads i see in the local newspaper every week but she's tried alot of these and they were all scams. I've suggested doing odd jobs like ironing or cleaning for people but she wouldn't have time in the day for this. Does anyone have a suggestion for what she could do - she finishes at 9 every night and so, could work in the nights doing something or has every sat off - because she's splitting her taxes between two employers, she really would need something that is cash in hand but if she couldn't find this, some job that pays good might counteract the tax she will need to pay with three jobs!!

I really need to help her get out of this robbing malarchy as i'm sure she'll be caught any day so i would welcome any suggestions?

cowzerp

She wont stop as its too easy for her..and morally she doesnt seem to care either..

Mountjoy Mugger

Remind her that she confessed something when she "had a few". See what she says...if she owns up - tell her what you think.

dogerster

can you offer her work cleaning offices etc. or maybe you know other business owners who could do with a saturday cleaner it s about €15 per hous going rate ?

Rhonda9000

Would just love to have her taking care of my office.

smellybiker

cowzerp wrote: »

She wont stop as its too easy for her..and morally she doesnt seem to care either..

but you see she does care and that's why she got so drunk - she feels horrible for what she does but when there are people knocking the door down to either collect money or break your legs for not having it - you can understand why she's started this. I've given her some money in the last few weeks but if there was another way for her to make some money (other than stealing) she would take that option and stop stealing - this girl is a good friend and she's so honest and moral - that's why it's so difficult to believe she's doing this!

smellybiker

dogerster wrote: »

can you offer her work cleaning offices etc. or maybe you know other business owners who could do with a saturday cleaner it s about €15 per hous going rate ?

I'm not in a position to offer her any work at the moment - if i could, i really would. I had a chat with other people who have restaurants etc and no - one is looking for staff - with kids off school, they've all got a ready supply of staff on hand!

cowzerp

smellybiker wrote: »

this girl is a good friend and she's so honest and moral - that's why it's so difficult to believe she's doing this!

Very Funny.
she's borrowed money from leg breakers, dodgy
she's stroking the till in work- dodgy
she's ripping off customers- dodgy
And you say she's Honest and moral!

is she going to pay back all the people she ripped off when her bills are cleared? i doubt it..

she might be sound but she's not honest.

Big_Mac

If the poeple she owes money to are unsavoury, then perhaps a loan from a bank to pay them off would help? That is considering that she can actually get a loan.

If the people that she owes money to are legit, then perhaps she should speak to MABS? they should be able to offer support in this situation and guidance on how to clear debts

most collection agencies are happy enough once they know someone is willing to make a payment arrangment and stuff like that.

smellybiker

cowzerp wrote: »

Very Funny.
she's borrowed money from leg breakers, dodgy
she's stroking the till in work- dodgy
she's ripping off customers- dodgy
And you say she's Honest and moral!

is she going to pay back all the people she ripped off when her bills are cleared? i doubt it..

she might be sound but she's not honest.

she didn't borrow the money - her bf did - he was killed two months ago - debt doesn't die with him! have you never been in a situation in your life where you couldn't get out if it but there was one option and that option meant screwing with other people - but if it saved you - would you not even consider it - coz i'm telling you, there's plenty of people in this situation - it doesn't make them bad people - it just makes them desperate!

littlebitdull

Would she try her local credit union. They have people trained to help people get out of the exact situation she has found herself in. She is able to show that she has income from two jobs, so she has a chance of paying back the credit union.

How Strange

She will get caught eventually because the amounts she is stealing will increase until she's creaming €400 a week or more. Then she'll have no job, mounting debts and no references and lucky not to be prosecuted by her employers.

My uncle owns a shop and theft of money from the till is very common. A few of his employees have done it over time but he caught them all eventually because they got so greedy that the loss of money was blatantly obvious.

You can humanise the story all you want but bottom line is she is digging a bigger and bigger hole for herself. She doesn't have to resort to stealing. Lots of people get into debt and get back out of it legally. She mightn't be a bad person but she's definitely no saint. She's ripping off her employers and customers.

Mountjoy Mugger

How much does she owe - or did her late b/f owe?

Kimbot

smellybiker wrote: »

she didn't borrow the money - her bf did - he was killed two months ago - debt doesn't die with him! have you never been in a situation in your life where you couldn't get out if it but there was one option and that option meant screwing with other people - but if it saved you - would you not even consider it - coz i'm telling you, there's plenty of people in this situation - it doesn't make them bad people - it just makes them desperate!

If it was her B/F's debt would it not transfer to his parents/siblings before it would go to her??
Also from the tone of what you have provided so far I take it the people she "owes" the money to are the likes of criminals??
If so then its extorsion to get her to pay the money when she didn't borrow it so should she not contact the gardai??

She might be a decent person before this but we are only hearing 30 odd % of this story, if the b/f was taking loans from loan sharks etc and she turned her back on it then she knew full well what was going to happen.

smellybiker

i've given her more money for this week and she's promised me she won't steal anything this week but i won't be able to give her more money next week and so, she'll go back to doing it again. i know she'll get caught and that scares me coz this place is so small and everyone will know so does anyone have any suggestions other than credit union and MABS - anyone know of any job they had before that they made good money in - work from home stuff or leaflet distributing??

How Strange

smellybiker wrote: »

does anyone have any suggestions other than credit union and MABS - anyone know of any job they had before that they made good money in - work from home stuff or leaflet distributing??

No, probably not because MABS are there to protect the vulnerable when they're in debt so really the most sensible thing she can do is visit them and try to get this mess sorted out.

How much money do you think she'll earn cleaning offices or stuffing envelopes? Paying loan sharks in dribs and drabs is probably like p1ssing against the wind so you should be advising her to talk it through with MABS rather than throwing her a few quid every now and then.

craichoe

Last week she stole €100 alone from this one place. In her second job, there are cameras everywhere and so, she would not dare steal from the till there. However, she has started to short change customers - she keeps a euro for every transaction and could come out with ten euro a night

Round numbers, guaranteed the employer already knows about it. Biggest mistake is to take denominations like that as when you do your till at the end the night 50 or 100 off is a big tell tale sign of theft.

smellybiker

bf had gambling problem - she didn't know anything about the money he owed until two weeks after he dying. they money he borrowed was all wasted on poker and the rest - he owes ten grand to the wrong types of people. the other debts are a combination of her own (10 grand for a car - she's now sold that to get it down) and 5 grand (for a holiday they both went on). these are both with the credit union and they have backed off somewhat as she went to see them last week - it's the other debt that has her (and me) most worried. she's given them 1000 euro in the last two weeks and they're expecting another 1000 euro by the end of next week - majority of this will be covered by her wages - she steals what she needs to make up the total they expect

seamus

Her boyfriend's debt shouldn't transfer to her unless her name was somehow otherwise on the loan agreement.

Of course if he borrowed from leg breakers, then they just want their money and will get it from whomever.

Regardless of who she owes money to, she needs to talk to MABS or a similar company.

She needs a single loan, stretched out as long as is necessary that she can afford the repayments, and she needs to use it to pay off all of her high-interest debts: Leg Breakers, Credit Cards, store cards, etc.

There's no quick-fix for this. No magical well-paid job that'll get her out of it because surprise surprise, the well-paid jobs either require a lot of time, a lot of education or a lot of law breaking.

Assuming that she's in good standing with her bank, she should be able to get a ten grand loan inside of a week and get the loan sharks off her back. Has she talked to her boyfriend's family to tell them what he was at and see if they can help?

smellybiker

craichoe wrote: »

Round numbers, guaranteed the employer already knows about it. Biggest mistake is to take denominations like that as when you do your till at the end the night 50 or 100 off is a big tell tale sign of theft.

yeah you're right but i have my own coffee shop, i might bring in 1000 euro today and 600 euro tomorrow - i'd have no idea of staff theft here and that's why i've got cameras - in her coffee shop, it's the same but the owner doesn't have cameras - i can see her getting away with it for a while - couple of months most but i don't want her to do it at all ever again and that's why i need to come up with a good solution for her

also, she's not putting alot of untraceable items through the till and so, i wouldn't be at all sure if her boss has copped it yet!

slumped

I have to say I wouldn't give her a job as a friend - knowing what she does!

Try and convince her that it's not the brightest thing she has ever done.

Also - get her to believe that eventually stock levels and takings will not match and questions will be asked etc.

RedXIV

Ok, this is not something i'm proud of but there is a moral to the story, i assure you. When i was 11 i moved to wexford and was thrown into a school i knew nobody in. I went from group to group, looking to fit in until a found a few guys that agreed to let me hang around. These guys were big into stealing stuff and taught me the trade. And i became VERY good at it. I could steal stuff from shops while having a full on conversation with the shopkeeper, Places like tesco and aldi were like heaven to get stuff out of, i could literally think of a way to rob anything once it was suggested to me. But as all theives do, i got caught. Now i got caught by my dad (the local copper) because i had nowhere to stash everything i'd stolen. Coz believe me i had alot. He put me on the guilt trip of a lifetime and made me go pay EVERYONE i had stolen from, be it cash or labour. I genuinely thought my dad would never speak to me again and my mother was in a worse state. Worst time of my life, without a doubt. I swore never to do anything like it again and i haven't.

The point i'm trying to make is, while i was stealing, and before i got caught, i pretty much thought i was untouchable, so anyone saying "don't do it" just didn't make sense to me. I'd been doing it this long without getting caught, why stop now?

It's possible she needs to get caught to get her out of this mindset that stealing is an option.

Clink

Could she maybe approach the late bf's family and ask them for a dig out? Seems so unfair that she's the one who has to take total responsibility for his debts.

craichoe

smellybiker wrote: »

yeah you're right but i have my own coffee shop, i might bring in 1000 euro today and 600 euro tomorrow - i'd have no idea of staff theft here and that's why i've got cameras - in her coffee shop, it's the same but the owner doesn't have cameras - i can see her getting away with it for a while - couple of months most but i don't want her to do it at all ever again and that's why i need to come up with a good solution for her

also, she's not putting alot of untraceable items through the till and so, i wouldn't be at all sure if her boss has copped it yet!

Cash from the till is easy to spot, you tot up your till amount against the amount taken in ... the cameras are to see WHO is doing it. Taking items is alot harder to detect as you wont notice it without looking at cash/stock purchases.

Employer already knows.. if the till is say 67 euros off then i wouldn't really think much of it, but if its 50 or 100 above or under then i'd know someone is fleecing cash.

Pigletlover

craichoe wrote: »

Cash from the till is easy to spot, you tot up your till amount against the amount taken in ... the cameras are to see WHO is doing it. Taking items is alot harder to detect as you wont notice it without looking at cash/stock purchases.

Employer already knows.. if the till is say 67 euros off then i wouldn't really think much of it, but if its 50 or 100 above or under then i'd know someone is fleecing cash.

I think you're missing the point, she's not actually putting the items through the till so it's like they've never been sold, therefore the till isn't short at the end of the night.

How Strange

Pigletlover wrote: »

I think you're missing the point, she's not actually putting the items through the till so it's like they've never been sold, therefore the till isn't short at the end of the night.

Yes, but stock would be down so at some stage the owner will figure out that profits are down.

Most businesses now use a automated stock control system so every time 1 item is sold the stock is reduced. It's only a matter of time before the owner realises stock is missing.

craichoe

Pigletlover wrote: »

I think you're missing the point, she's not actually putting the items through the till so it's like they've never been sold, therefore the till isn't short at the end of the night.

Right .. then stock is disappearing by its not coming up on the days takings .. and your point is ?

Any owner of a premises or even his accountant would have noticed it, it sticks out like a SORE THUMB

mikemac

It was her boyfriend that was killed, not her husband.
Let the boyfriend’s family pay the debt.

Nothing to do with her, it's not as if they were married and shared the same surname

AnonoBoy

craichoe wrote: »

Right .. then stock is disappearing by its not coming up on the days takings .. and your point is ?

Any owner of a premises or even his accountant would have noticed it, it sticks out like a SORE THUMB

OP stated that she was not ringing up things like teas and coffees. A small coffee shop would not keep an accurate track of how many cups of coffee they get from one bag of coffee beans.

But that is all off topic anyways.

As others have suggested she should go and talk to someone about it. See if she can get a credit union loan to pay off the unsavoury characters and then go about paying that loan off, safe in the knowledge that her legs will remain intact.

craichoe

AnonoBoy wrote: »

OP stated that she was not ringing up things like teas and coffees. A small coffee shop would not keep an accurate track of how many cups of coffee they get from one bag of coffee beans.

But that is all off topic anyways.

As others have suggested she should go and talk to someone about it. See if she can get a credit union loan to pay off the unsavoury characters and then go about paying that loan off, safe in the knowledge that her legs will remain intact.

He said 100 euros .. thats alot of tea and coffee.

MysticalSoul

Even speak to one of the solicitors in Citizens Information, as to how she could handle this.

smellybiker

OP stated that she was not ringing up things like teas and coffees. A small coffee shop would not keep an accurate track of how many cups of coffee they get from one bag of coffee beans.

This is the main problem - the fact is that she could carry on stealing from this place for a long while and it would go unnoticed as she's not ringing in a certain amount of teas and coffees - say €20 worth each day. the owner would have no idea how many bags of coffee or teabags she would use during the day and so, she could continue this for a long while.

Ok, this is not something i'm proud of but there is a moral to the story, i assure you. When i was 11 i moved to wexford and was thrown into a school i knew nobody in. I went from group to group, looking to fit in until a found a few guys that agreed to let me hang around. These guys were big into stealing stuff and taught me the trade. And i became VERY good at it. I could steal stuff from shops while having a full on conversation with the shopkeeper, Places like tesco and aldi were like heaven to get stuff out of, i could literally think of a way to rob anything once it was suggested to me. But as all theives do, i got caught. Now i got caught by my dad (the local copper) because i had nowhere to stash everything i'd stolen. Coz believe me i had alot. He put me on the guilt trip of a lifetime and made me go pay EVERYONE i had stolen from, be it cash or labour. I genuinely thought my dad would never speak to me again and my mother was in a worse state. Worst time of my life, without a doubt. I swore never to do anything like it again and i haven't.

The point i'm trying to make is, while i was stealing, and before i got caught, i pretty much thought i was untouchable, so anyone saying "don't do it" just didn't make sense to me. I'd been doing it this long without getting caught, why stop now?

It's possible she needs to get caught to get her out of this mindset that stealing is an option.

I too, have stole before - money from a till like what she is doing now and i got away with alot of money - only to be caught, fired and have people talk about me for years to come. I don't want this happening to her coz it's awful and even though, she might have to get caught in order to stop her, i wanna do everything i can to stop her now before it gets that far.