Shop keeper deliberately short changed me

mayoman1973 · 15-06-2026 10:17AM #1

My kids always used to frequent a shop right beside their school up until recently.

What happened was about 3 months ago I had the youngest go in to the shop to get few bits and gave her a tenner. She came out gave me the change which at a quick glance was 5 short. So I went back in and the shop assistant said she gave her the correct change. So I figured its 5 quid, Must have gone into lining of her pocket or she dropped it or something. About 2 weeks later the older child , on the same mission, into shop , 10 in hand and comes out and tells me the shop keeper didnt give her the correct change and she pointed it out and the assistant corrected the "mistake". But the mistake didn't involve opening the till as I would expect but rather just handing over the 5 that was to one side of the till.

Roll on another month and the younger one is again in the shop but with 20 this time ( And well warned to count the change, and she was unaware of what happened with her sister previously with the €5 at the side of the till )

She comes out , exact same story. Didn't get the correct change. 5 short again. Told the assistant and lo and behold the fiver was sitting at the side of the till and didn't need to open it. Job done.

So now with two exact same scenarios, a third one where I'm 99% certain was a short changing issue. No need to open the till to get the change so the till is correct. Same shop assistant each time, all within space of 2 months. Same amount of €5 each time. €10 is just too much to go for as people prob more likely to notice. There is no doubt in my mind the shop assistant is systematically fleecing all the kids out of money. Very few people religously count their change, esp youngsters. Any one who does spot it gets the money at side of till handed to them and thinks nothing of it. But leave the shop and not notice then its €5 gone. I have started to wonder how to put this right. I rang the cops to see what I can do covertly as once she is aware that I'm onto her then she will stop doing it or at least take a break from it. Any one ever come across this carry on?

Stationmaster · 15-06-2026 10:23AM

You rang the cops?! What did they tell you??!!

elperello · 15-06-2026 10:24AM

If it was me I'd just use another shop.

dulpit · 15-06-2026 10:27AM

You rang the guards? Really?

If it was me I'd either (a) go to a different shop or (b) say it to manager.

ted1 · 15-06-2026 10:27AM

talk to the owner/manager….

Mrs OBumble · 15-06-2026 10:43AM

Give the kids child-Revolut cards to use. Take the cash temptation out of the equation.

Or just tell the store manager.

mayoman1973 · 15-06-2026 11:11AM

This is about more than just the €5. Kids have been going to that shop for years so god knows how many times they were done out of money. No sir, I am taking this all the way to mexico.

If I were to go into the shop every day and take €5 of food and if the shop keep spots me I leave it down, else I just walk off with it then I would expect repercussions if eventually caught. This is happening to every kid that goes into that shop. All 500 of them along with any adult that uses cash and not bothered counting it. Also, I hate been taken for a fool. Take €1000 off me in poker then fair play to you, take €1 out of my pocket cause you think I'm a fool and you will have yourself a new enemy.

So guards tell me it nigh on impossible to prove and so I would have thought and couldnt be bothered wasting their's or my own time. So I went on chatGPT :) Easy peasy

Go into shop and if short changed say nothing.
Come back in after an hr when shop is quiet and tell different cashier you were short changed. They will or prob should check till. Assuming its correct you accept that you must have mislaid it.
Ring the cops and tell them you had money taken from you ( wasnt a mistake as the shop keeper just confirmed the till is ok )
As I know I was short changed and I know the exact time it happened they can then request a viewing of the till video at 8:52 and see what happened to the €5 that was set aside.
Have some one in shop explain where my money has gone to if it is not in the till and not in my wallet.

Xterminator · 15-06-2026 11:36AM

i have been short changed in a shop. i have been given too much money back in change in a shop.

these things do happen.

But your 'proof' is non existant. What you have described is as easily explained as incompetent as it would be by malice. Thats talking you at your word. Hanlons razon " Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

So the question unasked is what does a normal person do here. it is quite simple. (A) you shop elsewhere if you dont want the hassle, or (B) you inform her manage that there has been 2 mistakes in a short period of time. If she is a thief the manager may have his suspicions already. If she is bad at her job it is likely this may not be her 1st time being reported. Perhaps better training could be provided.

So my advice dont assume malice with no evidence it was malicious. Report her and have her manager take approprate action.

PS your whole rinin g the police and wanting to operate a sting operation. Complete and utter overreaction on your part. Police as busy enough and you suffered no loss. That really is bordering on wasting police time on your part. you want the police to mount an operation that will cost 1000's of euro in police time alone to attempt to incite someone to steal a fiver while being recorded. You dont think the police should be catching smugglers or somenthing like that in that time?

ted1 · 15-06-2026 11:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552083#Comment_124552083

If the money is been kept out of the till, its clearly malice… if it's a small local shop, there might not be other shops that are convenient. The owner needs to be made aware, it sounds like its habitual

Allinall · 15-06-2026 11:45AM

Did it ever occur to the OP that their children might be pocketing the money and blaming the shop?

Jim2007 · 15-06-2026 12:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552018#Comment_124552018

Well you'd better hope everyone else is on chatGPT and have the same script as you!

I have been involved in a few cases like this when I work in insolvency decades ago and the Garda are correct, it is almost impossibe to prove these things, espically from the outside like you are suggesting.…. In fact on one occasion I spent nearly 10 months trying to catch a barman and failed! I was absolutley convinced he was on the take, but I could not get tangib le evicence for a court case. At that stage the owner decided it was cheaper for him to do the random checks on his own and after another 18 months the barman cracked! He was not caught, he just cracked under the pressure of all the random checks.

You have no evidence that would hold up in court beyond your suspicions. Even the €5 being out of the till is easy to expalin away…. As for chatGPT, it is making assumption about the situation and the systems being used that may or may not be true!

You also need to keep in mind that everyone is entitled to their good name and when you accuse someone of theift in their workplace. You can expect there will be comeback and you may end up having an award against you as they will be able to show monetary damage and you'll have no defence beyond your suspicions.

Report the matter to management and leave the detective work to the professionals. And perhaps shop somewhere else.

Yeah Right · 15-06-2026 12:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552106#Comment_124552106

How would it end up beside the till if the kids were taking it?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552083#Comment_124552083

Again, if it was a mistake, the cash would be put away in the till. Nobody 'accidentally' leaves you short and leaves the cash on the counter.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124551915#Comment_124551915

This is the only real course of action. Gardaí won't give a flyin' fcuk about anything like this. Vote with your feet/wallet and let everyone else know.

We were out for a meal in the Snailbox in Ashbourne for a meal. Used to go there for all occasions and family events. Visited one time with family and my eldest brother likes to pay for the bill without letting anyone know. He went to the bathroom, so we decided to to do what he always does, and pay before he came back.

Called the maître d' over and paid him in cash (incl. a decent tip), telling him not to breathe a word to the brother. He comes back, we finish up and go to the bar side for a quick pint. As we're leaving the bro says "good thing the bill was paid"……and we all turn and say "we told him not to mention it to you". He's completely puzzled by this and asks what we're talking about. Turns out he had paid by card BEFORE going to the toilets, and before we tried to pay in cash.

We call the maître d' back over and ask him what the story is. He cries ignorance, didn't know we were at the same table etc. We ask about being reimbursed. He proceeds to pull out the exact amount that we had given him in cash from his pockets, then disappeared almost immediately. Caught red-handed. We haven't been back since.

mayoman1973 · 15-06-2026 12:59PM

No 1000s to be spent on a sting. Very easy. If shop tells me I have been given correct change and till proves it and I have to stand and there and accept that mistake was on my part then guards will be called. That will have been 4 times in as many months the same stroke has been pulled on me. Guards and apple green had no issue with the time it took to track my wife down a few years ago when she left a petrol station and forgot to pay for fuel cause had the kids to sort and was side tracked. That was one occasion. If someone was "forgetting" to pay for their fuel 4 times in space of a few months then I would expect guards to be involved in a more indept way. Solution is easy. Dont try to screw me out of money.

kiffer · 15-06-2026 02:14PM

I'm largely with you on this.

However! AGS have little to go on with this, as it's a he said she said sort of situation.

As people have said, you vote with your feet and stop shopping there. However, if the owner isn't aware of why you aren't shopping there anymore they won't look into the situation.

If it's happening to you, I then it's happening to others and the cashier is probably stealing a large amount of money.

When this was happening in a place I worked the pair who were up to it had a "system" and their tills were always perfect. Which actually was a bit of a red flag to management at the time. Everyone else would have days were they'd be a few small coins down. But not the pair who were dropping money into a bag between their legs.

Inform the owners that you suspect that their staff pulling some sort of short change scam. Don't mention it to the cashier. Stop shipping there until that person is gone.

Hooked · 15-06-2026 02:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058439739/shop-keeper-deliberately-short-changed-me

a fiver here n there, 6/8 times a day is 40 quid. 280 per week. Almost 15 grand a year.

Ignore those above telling you to just go somewhere else. All the way to MEXICO! Thieving cnuts.

witchgirl26 · 15-06-2026 04:32PM

OP main problem I see with what ChatGPT has told you to do is that the till will be balanced if the €5 is left to the side. For example - Items cost €3 with €20 handed in. Cashier hands the customer back the €17 correctly - till balances with the €3. Cashier hands the customer back €12 but leaves the €5 to the side of the till (or in their pocket or wherever). Till still shows €3 correctly & there's nothing showing the customer was short changed or where that €5 went. See the problem? The only way that works is if the €5 goes back into the till, which you're saying it isn't, and then the till would be €5 up.

Honestly if it's just a cashier as opposed to the owner of the shop, your best bet is to have a word with the owner & say it's happened a couple of times. The owner isn't going to want that type of thing happening so will most likely act on it.

CramCycle · 15-06-2026 05:00PM

Tell the owner, say it has happened a few times, and count your change as you should do anyway. Anything further than this is a horrendous waste of time. The owner won't want it getting out and will either warn the person, start checking the over till cameras (most shops I worked in 30 years ago had over till cameras, no idea if they worked though).

cml387 · 15-06-2026 05:01PM

The scary thing about this is running to Chatgpt to figure out what to do. Is this the future?

mayoman1973 · 15-06-2026 09:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552863#Comment_124552863

When I have shop keeper telling me the till is spot on, and I know I have been short changed. The evidence that I didnt get my change will be on video. The assistant taking the money from the till, leaving it to the side and later putting it in her own pocket should be obvious. If I were to hand in a counterfeit €5 I would certainly expect that a shop could produce video evidence to law enforcement of me handing over said money. Or if accused of shop lifting then I would imagine it would not be beyond the realms of possibility that a shop would have video evidence of such. If I'm standing outside a shop, and I know their employee stole money from me, I know when they stole it, I know it's on video, then the cops would simply have to request a viewing of security camera over the till at time 8:52 or whenever. Not take that long. If CCTV in a shop can be used to prosecute shop lifters then same video can be used to implicate a shop assistant in a crime. And attempted theft (doesnt have to be actual theft ) is a criminal offence. But to give the shop keeper the benefit of the doubt when it does happen the next time, and I know it will, I will simply tell the shop keeper a few hrs after the event that I have been stiffed out of money, and expect it to be put right. If they imply that I'm just chancing my arm and only one click above a common thief cause the till is spot on then all bets are off.

mayoman1973 · 15-06-2026 09:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552953#Comment_124552953

You better believe it. AI is not the answer to everything or indeed the answer to anything. But it has its uses. You would be very foolish to dismiss it

Pauliedragon · 15-06-2026 09:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552953#Comment_124552953

This. Is boards getting full of bots these days. OP if you feel you had money stolen you contact the police. Shops have cameras on every corner of the shops especially on the tills. Let the courts deal with it after that.

893bet · 16-06-2026 07:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552953#Comment_124552953

20 years you would have said “do you have to run to the forum/facebook for every question”.
Embrace it.

Op your only move it verify there is a camera on the till of you can. Let it happen again. Get the exact time. Tell the whole story to the shop owner. They won’t want a thief working there.

BP_RS3813 · 16-06-2026 07:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552592#Comment_124552592

The Moon. Not Mexico.

Hooked · 16-06-2026 08:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124552018#Comment_124552018

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124554099#Comment_124554099

I was quoting the OP.

event · 16-06-2026 08:30AM

Sounds like you have cracked the case. I'd say this goes all the way to the top.

witchgirl26 · 16-06-2026 10:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124553559#Comment_124553559

But the till will balance if the person at it is keeping the money themselves & not putting it through, what are you missing with that? Both things can be correct - the till can be balanced & you can have been short changed. And I clearly laid out how that would happen. It won't be obvious just going on trying to balance the till as the till will just show how much money should be in it & how much there is. If the assistant is removing the excess for themselves, the till will always balance.

Does the shop have CCTV covering the till? Also prosecutions on shoplifting are not hugely commonplace unless they are for sizable amounts because it costs more to prosecute and it often isn't deemed in the states interest to put forward the man hours for it. Yes you're down €15 (I think you said it happened 3 times) but it would cost many multiples of that for the gardai to investigate, spend time looking at the CCTV & for the DPP to prosecute.

Also why would you wait a few hours to tell the shop keeper if it happens again? Tell them straight away! Otherwise they could claim you lost it. And you have no evidence to show that you didn't leave the shop with the correct change. Unfortunately as this is more a civil matter, the burden of proof is on you, not the shop keeper or the assistant.

CramCycle · 16-06-2026 11:35AM

Tell the owner, do not be accusatory, just say it has happened more than once, and possibly retraining is required
Count your change every time you get it, not sure how this is not normal practice, miscounts are easy mistake, so much so that several retailers systems actually tell the server what to hand back
That is it, move on, tell your friends and family as a comment that the staff there can't count, make sure to check their change, do not say they are stealing.
That's it, how did this need a thread.

Jim2007 · 16-06-2026 12:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124553559#Comment_124553559

And when it is not on video and you have no evidence, you'll do what?

If the person is smart enough to keep the till in balance, you can bet they are not doing it on camera. The camera could be off, pointed in another direction or it only keep a rolling record for say the last 15 - 30 mins or whatever.

And if the assistance seeks legal advice - they will be told to take you to court to protect their good name and prevent them from getting a bad reference etc….

You are going to do what you are going to do, so you might as well get on with it.

JVince · 19-06-2026 01:20PM

Forget the gardai - it would be near impossible to prove.

Write to the owner of the store with the details and the times and days. Likely it will be one particular staff member. Owner can then take action.

If the person is the owner, then let locals know of what happened during any conversations or of you find the owner does not take action, lets others know of the issue - including the school.

If the store is part of a franchise such as spar/centra, daybreak etc - write to them and let them know that it happens and means that you and friends of yours no longer shop there.

The person probably is not clever enough to think of cameras and will guess that no-one will notice. Many modern cameras are very good and can give very clear images. They tend to hold 30 days footage on a rolling memory

BorneTobyWilde · 19-06-2026 11:48PM

It's a win win crime, till is not short, if a customer notices, say '' oops, sorry about that''

Shop keeper deliberately short changed me

Comments