It sounds to me like they wanted their $150 back.
Haj
That last post came out a little too harsh. What I meant was that it sounds like Macy’s thought that $150 was stolen from them. I, of course, wasn’t there so I can’t tell you what happened but they probably wouldn’t make such a claim unless they had evidence from a security camera along with a short register.
Haj
Might that “theft” have been a coverup though for something else?
If Macys treats all their employees this way it will bite them in the ass (if it hasnt already) via employees that really really hate their jobs, the customers and the organization.
My mom was 40 or so and managed the Gap, she got driven out by some secondary bs (ala the drawer is a nickel short, youre fired! or sometihng), but in reality its pretty obvious they thought she was too old to work at the Gap. She could have fought it but decided to do what she wanted to do with her life and became a teacher.
Something similar happened to my ex at his old job at a movie theatre.
Apparently they (well, actually his openly homophobic supervisor) discovered a small discrepancy in his cash.
Of course, they had a security camera, which they reviewed. It showed him not stealing anything.
They grilled him for a half-hour and fired him anyway. He called me in tears to come pick him up because he was having a panic attack (ambulance was called and everything).
:mad:
I should clarify: they fired him for theft anyway.
I don’t work retail but I would imagine everything would have been kosher had she took a 5 dollar bill from her register, put it in the other register and then taken OUT $5 in change. That way both would have balanced. No note necessary.
I would also imagine there’s a difference between “Took $2.77 12/10 Owed from Register 13” and “Took $2.77 12/10.”
Because without the “Owed from Register 13” it reads like you are giving yourself a cash advance…something which is undoubtedly a big NO NO when you’re working a register.
Either way, it sucks if she truly made an honest error.
There are a number of differences between your story and the OP. In your story we have a known ignorant homophobe who was looking for anything he could to get rid of a gay man in his business.
In the OP we have a person who has had problems at more than one place of employment, a $150 charge and a threat of prosecution. This a major corporation with very specific policies. I find it difficult to believe that they would threaten prosecution without hard evidence. That store would have had cameras all over the place. The $150 “fine” is the thing that sets off alarm bells for me. The story, as told, doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Haj
I read and re-read the OP, and I think Hajario’s on to something. I tend to agree with him.
I was wondering why she didn’t call a floor manager over to get her more change. The fact that she did not seems very odd. When I used to work in retail, cashiers swapping money from one till to another on their own was a major no-no. Admittedly, it’s been a long time since I was a cashier/store manager, but something just doesn’t sound right about this scenario.
I hope I’m wrong. Sorry. 
How did she even get in the register? Aren’t they locked until someone types in their little code so they know who was working which register and what transactions they made?
I can’t keep thinking about this, because my blood starts to boil every time. Thanks to everyone who validated my indignation.
My sister is considering whether to pursue this any further, but the most likely scenario is that she’ll just look for another job and try to put this behind her.
What bothers me is that it would have been so easy to give her a warning. They could even have put a reprimand on her record if they thought it was such a serious offense. But to fire her over such a small amount of money - this says to me that there was some other reason and they used the :rolleyes: theft :rolleyes: as an excuse. I have no reason to suspect that she left anything out of the story, but I know that some people enjoy making things difficult for people they don’t like. Maybe she got on someone’s nerves and they decided to make things difficult for her out of spite. Or maybe Macy’s wanted to make an example of someone to discourage anyone who was thinking about stealing. Or maybe they hired a couple too many people in anticipation of a big season and needed to trim the staff to improve the bottom line. Who knows?
And what really hurts me is that my sister is not an objectionable person! She is really smart, and she doesn’t try to “dumb it down” and act like an airhead for other people’s benefit, and some people are intimidated by that, but she’d never hurt anybody or act dishonestly! She had coworkers who were rude to customers, would come back from break stoned off their asses, and yet she was the one who got fired?!?!? Something’s not quite right.
And regarding the “fine”: Who knew it was so easy to “fine” someone? With no trial, no public hearing of any kind, and with no oversight from any government entity? Whoopee! I’m going to start fining people left and right! Cut me off in traffic? Fifty bucks. Bad taste in music? Seventy-five smackeroos! What the hell, I mean it’s completely arbitrary anyway, right?:rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes: :mad:
My point exactly.
It’s not. In fact, it can’t be done, not legally anyway.
You’re justified in your frustration and anger but are you really angry at the right person? Why is sis so ready to put a highly illegal act by Macy’s behind her? Did the problems at her previous places of employment have the same sort of ending? By that I mean a vast conspiracy of unfairness where she was set-up or let go for a minor breach. I hope I’m wrong but I think your sister may have problems that she isn’t revealing. You obviously love her very much and you should investigate this.
Haj
What happens if she doesn’t pay the $150 fine? They can’t fire her again, can they take legal action?
Boscibo, one presumes they could deduct it from her wages.
When I worked in retail many years ago, I am pretty certain that it was against the law for a company to “fine” an employee for a shortage in their cash drawer. Now this isn’t exactly the same situation, but I’d be hard pressed to think that docking an (hourly) employee’s paycheck as a penalty for something is a legal practice. I could be wrong though.
I have read the posts from people who believe things happened as the OP stated and I have read the ones from people who are skeptical.
I have only ever had two “real” jobs (I’m just a spring chicken) and both of them were in retail.
The posters who say ; “Why didn’t you sister do this, or this?” aren’t empathizing the way I can. I can think of many times when I had to make snap decisions behind the till, and they weren’t always completely logical or the best way to handle the situation. I don’t want to generalize too much, but in my experience retail is highly unpredictable and fast-paced and there is alot of pressure to serve customers quickly, especially during busy seasons (like this one). I know that I personally freeze or panic under pressure sometimes, especially when confronted with a situation for which I haven’t been trained.
This led me to make some doozies.
I also have experience with companies that have inflexible rules and draconian policies. It makes a lot of sense to me that a big, faceless company like Macy’s would have a blanket policy that allows employees to open the till only under certain circumstances and no others. This is easily rationalized by citing security reasons. If Macy’s thinks of their employees as easily replaceable, then it wouldn’t bother them at all to fire someone for one violation of policy.
Or, they could have just been wanting to get rid of her, and found a reason that wouldn’t really justify firing her unless you pumped it full of hot air. Which is what happened to me last week.
I wonder what would have happened had she not signed Macy’s papers against her (affirming that she was not signing under coersion).
It’s hard to predict what one would do under hypothetical circumstances, but I think I would refuse to sign. (What are they going to do, fire me?) What’s gained by agreeing to the employer’s false charges? Wouldn’t it be better to continue maintaining innocence?
I can see how the situation might have intimidated her into signing falsely. But that seems to be the worst thing she could have done, admitting that she stole and accepting the fine for it.
And yes, if anything’s fishy, that is. Someone said the fine amounted to a bribe and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The “company” I work for (which is actually a governmental entity) will deduct stolen funds from your last paycheck as they fire you, but there is no additional fine involved, just the amount you took. This is invoked most often in cases of bogus travel expenses.
I hope the OP is not offended at people’s trying to sniff out the whole truth here. My inclination is to believe him and his sister unreservedly, while trying to fill in the gaps in the story. I was just having a conversation with a non-SDMBer, a person who assumes any story told on the Internet is completely made up. I had the pleasure of explaining the SDMB’s high truth standards, and how if anyone is not convinced of factual truth, they will speak up, and then we will try to get to the bottom of the story. But it must be rough on the OP anyway. Sorry about that.
intimidation; fatigue; fear of bureaucracy; basically all the good things that make workers’ rights and workers’ protection a joke for anyone who’s not unionized.
If she violated company policy by taking money from one drawer from another they were within their rights to let her go, and she may be ineligable for unemployment.
Justy my two cents