So I got my first job in October and I’ve had it since. I haven’t really ever messed up and called in only a couple of times. I stay longer when they ask me and I’m always doing something. My problem is now, I really messed up today. Bad! I didn’t do a minor mess up or anything. I was suppose to keep a slip of paper that a customer gives, that I have to scan and the piece of paper tells me how much money to give back. I failed at this and totally spaced out that I keep that piece of paper. Since I gave it back to the guy, my drawer is now short. I’m so scared. Do you think this will get me fired?
I don’t think so; you’re not the first person to make an error on cash. Have you explained to your supervisor what happened? Of course, if your company has a “no errors on cash allowed” policy, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
I told a CSM as soon as I could. She got me all paranoid. She made it seem like no one has EVER done this. So I wrote a note explaining my misunderstanding and my mistake and stuck it in the drawer.
Write down all the details while you remember, like the exact amounts of the transaction and the approximate time it occurred. Tell someone right away what happened, don’t wait until your drawer is discovered to be short.
If you’re a good employee you should be OK, everyone makes mistakes. Most places won’t fire someone for one mistake and if they would you probably don’t want to work there anyway.
That’s basically what I did. I wrote the amount that i remembered. $29.57 and explained it to a CSM as soon as I could and put a note in the drawer explaining to the person who discovers it.
I’m not sure if I’m a good employee but I know I’m not horrible. I try my best. It’s Wal-Mart so I surely hope they won’t. I really enjoy working there.
Heh, I got fired from Arby’s. I worked the drive through. I kept giving people their food and forget to take their money. I’m sure those lucky customers got a real kick out of me.
Sometimes it’s really hard to focus on all of it at once isn’t it? What did you do after that? You made me feel better. Like the rest of the people in here. I guess I was freaking so bad cause the CSM really freaked me out. Thank you. I’m sorry if that makes you feel bad in any way, but still Thank you!!
I just finished working a temp job at the auditing department for a large retail store - there are people making mistakes with transactions all the time. Your CSM may have been trying to impress on you that you shouldn’t make mistakes with cash, but it does happen.
I’m surprised that Wal Mart has a transaction that isn’t somehow backed up by a computer through the cash register.
Once when I worked in the cash office at Kmart I turned off the computer too soon and crashed the entire store’s cash register system for a loooong time. I didn’t get fired. Also people messed up the cash all the time in every way imaginable.
Maybe. I really try not to make mistakes but I understand her concern. It just made me really stress out. With all of your guys’ advice and help, I have calmed down a lot. I feel so much better. I hope I’m not the first to screw up this bad. At least I’m not stealing right? Heh.
I found it odd that Wal-Mart didn’t put that in the system that money was being taken out from the piece of paper I scanned. It records everything else, you know? Did you get yelled at? This makes me at east so much more. I hope others messed up on this same thing. I guess we had to keep the piece of paper AND receipt which kind of doesn’t make sense to me.
They will do this on purpose to keep you from making the error again. You should have nothing to worry about.
Since your expressing worry and fear for losing your job, they will not let you go. Your the perfect employee for an employer… Don’t become a victim though
Oh I definitely know now that I will NEVER make this same mistake again. One my first day I messed up a Wic Check pretty bad. I never messed up another one since. Now I’m really good at them. I didn’t express the fear and worry like I am to you guys but I’m pretty sure she could see it in my eyes and how I was taking deep breaths to make sure I was calm and not shaking. Victim how? Thank you. I hope I’m good.
you’ll probably be fine. most retailers have policies in place for this sort of thing. they know cashiers will screw up occasionally, especially newer ones. in my many years in retail, i never saw anyone fired for being short cash. sometimes they were transferred to different jobs that didn’t involve handling money if they made a lot of mistakes, but not fired. don’t make a habit of it and you ought to be ok.
As soon as I saw CSM, I knew you were talking about Walmart. I was a cashier there for about a year at the end of high school - it was my first job. I definitely made mistakes. Not tons, but I know my drawer was short a couple of times. At least you know exactly what you did, I had it happen a couple times when I had no idea how I could have screwed up.
The fact that you understand what you did wrong, owned up to it right away, and haven’t made many mistakes pretty much guarantees that you’ll be fine. Especially since it’s not a huge sum of money. Honestly, you have no idea how terrible some Walmart cashiers are, and they usually don’t get fired until they do multiple things (unless it’s really egregious).
Having said that, I was surprised by how taxing being a good cashier was. There are a million things going on sometimes, and you’re trying to work with people asking you tons of questions and sometimes yelling at you. It’s not the simple task that many people assume it is. So don’t be so hard on yourself - sounds like you’re doing pretty well at it overall.
Aww honey, I think you’ll be just fine! You sound conscientious and hard-working.
If this’ll help, I like to tell the story of how I worked at ticket sales for a big amusement park back in the day. I’d sell $60,000 worth of tickets on busy days, and be off by $20,000. This happened more than once. But because I was so incredibly honest and incredibly stupid, they didn’t fire me.
I’m still bad with numbers.
I won’t make the habit. Now I know exactly how to handle the situation. I won’t ever mess this one up again if I get to stay and all.
I really hope I’m fine. A girl that use to work there that lives where I do says its a possibility that I may be. I really hope I don’t. I hope you’re right. It was really busy yesterday but the CSM just makes it so huge so I’m really scared. It seems like I never see cashiers screw up. I feel like the first. Thank you so much. I really enjoy this reply. Thank you. Not as simple as everyone thinks, not at all. Very true.
Thank you, I hope they are able to see it. I hate when it gets busy and the CSM can’t go help so you have to kinda assume things on your own. Or they are so busy they go and tell you real quick and leave without you being completely finished with them. Thank you. This helps.
Is that all with the story? What happened to the 20 Gs.