WOW!!! ‘Fairly shy about Pitting other Dopers’, my ass!!! 
I thought someone would comment. It’s always different when it hits close to home, and I have no bears in my family.
That I know of.
The friend isn’t the only cashier is he? Then what’s going to happen when some customer goes through the same drive through the day after being scammed by your friend? “Hey, yesterday this same order cost 25 cents more. Why is that?” That may be how your friend gets caught.
By the way, I went through the Taco Bell drive-through yesterday, and there was a display at the cashier window that displayed the total and said “If you’re charged more than this amount, please report it to management.” So clearly your friend isn’t the first one to think of this.
What’s funny to me about this thread is how incredibly stupid the plan is. It seems designed to maximize risk while minimizing reward. During every single transaction, you not only have to overcharge a customer and hope he/she doesn’t notice that what they paid doesn’t match the receipt and/or posted price, but you also have to put money in your pocket. Every single time. Shit, you think a manager might notice a cashier shoving money in his pocket? You think they might actually watch for that sort of thing? Naaaahhh!!
It’s like robbing a bank for a roll of nickels. Stupid.
I’ve been the (assistant) manager of a small-cash business before (large corporation, small stores). Rest assured, all of us worth our salaries know what it looks like when someone is stealing. And while people like your friend are quietly pocketing money, we’re quietly writing down the time of day for security tape review.
Unfortunately, when one of my subordinates were caught stealing, all that happened was a firing. My coworker (that also managed another store in town) had an official policy of asking the police to lead all thieves out handcuffed, in front of employees and customers alike, all the way through the mall.
I was underpaid too. I could have stolen money, easily, through much smarter schemes than stealing from customers. Nearly untraceable ways. I didn’t, though, because stealing from the company that pays the bills and puts dinner on your table is stupid. You hurt no one but yourself like that.
Instead of stealing from the company that provided for me, I found a better job, where I make a difference and help people, all while making more money for less work than I did before.
No, it won’t work. It will backfire, at some point, probably soon. I can’t see him getting away with it for more than a week.
I’m a devout Hedonist, and I’ve (got this friend who has) come up with a plan: Create a list of people who want to make more money. To get on this list, all you have to do is give $10 to everyone on this list, then put your name on the top & drop everyone else down one slot, removing the person at the bottom. Do you think this would be a good plan?
Tell the guy to give you half or you’ll rat on him. If he get’s caught it’s his word against yours. Anyhow, he’s a Muslim.
Your friend’s a stupid douchebag.
You may possibly be one too, but I don’t know enough about you.
And might I say, SDMB threads in which every single poster agree on something are quite a feat. Bookmark this one, kids.
According to free market theory, the OP’s friend is a rational actor maximizing his income in a relatively safe way, and will do well in the world.
Not necessarily…if the guy is “smart” about his stealing, he’ll employ a technique called “Till Tapping” (it probably has lots of other names, but this is the only term I’ve heard used in a professional capacity). For every quarter he charges extra (or dollar, or five dollars, depending how greedy he gets), he will place a penny or some other sort of “marker” into a separate compartment of his money tray. When he counts out at the end of the shift, he’ll add up the pennies, remove the proper amount of money he overcharged, and very quietly pocket it all at once.
We caught someone doing this at my Starbucks when I was a shift supervisor. Funny thing is, the location where you count out your drawer is on the security cameras, so the asshat should have known he would have been caught…
In view of START’S family bereavement maybe we should let this thread drop?
I was thinking that myself, Violet..
My god! Why do you guys file in here, one by one, to say the same exact thing as someone else has? It has been said dozens of times how that this is illegal and wrong. I don’t know too much about you START, but it seems like you know this. Like many have also mentioned, this is not clever because this is not a new scam.
First, if this kid’s stealing really bothers you, then you should stop hanging out with him. If you feel his positive attributes outweigh his negative ones, and you wish to continue being his friend, then you should tell him how stupid his plan really is and try to convince him not to do it. You could rat him out, but I wouldn’t advise it. First, being a snitch is bad (in most cases) in my opinion. Second, you will have made an enemy by telling on him. I don’t know the guy, but you might be in for a swift asskicking. Some will say you are a coward for not doing so, that is bullshit. Is a priest who protects a crime a coward? Is a mother who doesn’t want to rat out her son a coward? What about a therapist who protects a klepto? Usually they aren’t. Your relationship with your friend certainly isn’t as strong, but it’s guided by the same principle. It should be a cost/benefit analysis. That is something you will have to do yourself after weighing the circumstances.
You are a person with obvious flaws, but keeping quiet doesn’t make you a coward, or an asshole or anything else other then a guy who kept his mouth shut. It’s certainly not the greatest thing you can do, but don’t listen to these people calling you names. Most of these people are trying to speak from a moral highground they don’t actually occupy. Sure, the content of their message is noble, but most of them are probably hypocrites. Unless these people have never told lies, done drugs, cheated, etc. then their hands are unclean too. As they say, “judge not, lest ye be judged”.
My advice is that you shouldn’t take this (the name calling) personally. I’m sure most of these people are well intentioned. But, you and I apparently live in a different world. They live in a world where doing one bad thing will always leads to future bad acts, and where not doing the right thing every time makes you an asshole. I can assure you that most people don’t think that way. Most rational people realize that people have flaws, and that those flaws don’t make them assholes or cowards.
You just have to realize that this board apparently only attracts non-racist, non-homophobic, non-prejudiced, caring, intelligent, attractive, egalitarian boy/girl scouts that have never made a mistake. Your friend is doing something wrong, and will likely get caught and punished. The ironic part is that his punishment will not be nearly as bad as the disappointment on the faces of the people he works with and the people who own the restaurant. But, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that. I don’t particularly understand why these people find value in coming in here to tell you you’re an asshole, but I would advise you to not let it bother you.
You know the right thing to do. If you care about your friend, try to get him to see how dumb his plan is. That’s all.
One of the pupils at my School designs web pages and makes about $150 an hour.
“Tips”? Is that criminal jargon for stealing?
Security cameras, alert customers, fellow employees - how clever your friend must be to have calculated the risk of getting caught. :rolleyes:
You do? How long did it take you to work it out?
See, I think you’ve missed a lot of the outrage over this- it’s not the friend’s actions that are reprehensible (though, they mostly are, and should earn him an asskicking at the least), but rather the OP’s disingenuous tone over the whole thing. It reads like a long justification of his friend’s actions, all the while claiming he has no real concept of basic morality, and no power over the situation. If you’ve read any of his threads, you’ll know that a goodly number of them are either:
- the world is against me ( follows story of him being an ass and getting called on it)
- was I so wrong? (follows story of him being an ass and getting called on it)
- my friend is doing this (x bad behavior), is this cool or what? (follows story of his friend being an ass and his vicarious enjoyment of it, and then we all call him on it)
Yes, I know he’s young, but unless he’s functionally retarded in some way, this sort of thing is not acceptable, and he should know it. (theft, wrong? who’d a thunk it?) It seems his only reason for sharing is to get a rise out of people. If I thought there was any real search for wisdom, I’d have a very different response for him.
Haven’t you heard the old story of the infamous womanizer going to Confession? After listing to his litany of sins for some time, the priest stops him and says, ‘Son, you aint confessin’, you’s braggin’!’
And yes, I am sorry for his loss, and I think that kicking someone while they’re down is tacky, so I’ll refrain from further comment. But I think that there needed to be some clarification before you just label all of us Pharisees.
brickbacon, at least START is young. What’s your excuse for being such a fucking dumbass?
Please, let’s just drop this thread for the time being.
Honor and integrity and common sense are sorely lacking in today’s society.
Honor and inegrity demand that you inform his employers of his actions. He is stealing, period. There is no justification for theft.
Common sense dictates that you get a whole lot of gone between you and this individual, and set your standards for friendship higher.
Guinastasia, you think its appropriate that the thread be dropped for the time being but you think it is appropriate to call someone a fucking dumbass immediately before that? Give me a break!
I don’t see one thing that brickbacon said that makes him a fucking dumbass. Could you point it out? I personally found it to be a well written post that pretty much summarized how I felt after reading everyone else’s posts in this thread.
You insult me, then say we should drop this thread?
I’m not a dumbass. Actually, I’m very smart by all objective standards (I’m also young). If you disagree with me then that is fine, but I’m tired of hearing people being insulted just because they disagree with people on this board or have done something “wrong”. I promise you that anyone looking into your past would fine plenty of things to make you look like an asshole. Doesn’t mean you are one.
Perhaps some of you guys are basing your opinions on prior interactions you’ve have had with START. I can see how that could effect your opinion. If that is the case, then my rant isn’t directed at you.
I think what Guinastasia was getting at was the fact that brickbacon’s post came right after this.
Maybe a Mod could close this thread for the time being so that people don’t keep dumping on START without realizing what he has just gone through.