I work as a night manager for a small local bakery/cafe. I’ve been here three years while attending college classes during the day. During this time I’ve outlasted several General Managers (the person who runs the show, and I directly report to).
My duties include all of the cash management for the sales of the day. Every evening I count all drawers, the safe, and petty cash box. I bring the deposit to the bank, and close the store for the day.
A few months ago when my new GM arrived I immediatly suspected him/her of foul play. Until recently I have never been able to confirm my own suspicions, but now I am confident (that is, WITHOUT A DOUBT) that he/she has indeed taken money from the store.
As stated previously, this is a local buisness. My GM reports to the owner, who has other financial interests and is otherwise very uninvolved with my store. The evidence I have, while solid to ME, is by no means concrete. I have not SEEN my GM take money, nor has anyone else. The paperwork that could be my evidence has been destroyed by my GM when I approached him/her about my concerns (ah, sidenote: I played stupid when approaching my GM, and acted as though I had made a mistake and was looking for clarification).
Now my problem.
Should I do anything about it? Other than a paycheck I have no financal investment in this company. Due to my seniority I am receiving more pay than I would be able to receive in any other low-skill employment. Being that I don’t have concrete evidence (nor do I wish to aquire any, i have plenty to do allready being a full time student/worker) should I approach the owner it will be my word against the GM’s. Honestly I only see this creating more problems for myself (perhaps even discharge). Not only that, but my current GM is a very nice person, and has gone above and beyond to help me with my personal life.
Agreed. The owner respects me to the point where my word would carry enough weight for him to investigate. However, my GM is one hell of a clever person to be doing what he/she is doing. Like I said, it has taken me MONTHS to figure out just how the paperwork has been manipulated. The past evidence is no longer in existance, and should my GM get wind of an investigation, I doubt he/she would continue (for a while, at least).
So than, I look like quite the fool crying wolf. I have alienated my GM, and my work environment suddly becomes QUITE uncomfortable.
I think I have answered my own question by putting it in words here…
I don’t see any moral ambiguity here at all. This is a “do the right thing” situation if I’ve ever seen one. I would think that the owner may already have suspicions. There has been a drop in money that goes to the owner, and he/she is likely wondering why. Or vendors are getting stiffed, or something. The books are being cooked. Or your records are being cooked - that could come back on you. The money is not coming from nowhere.
If your GM was taking a loaf of bread home every night to his/her thirteen starving children, there’d be some ambiguity there. Not here.
Don’t accuse the GM directly. Just express concern that somehow the finances don’t seem to be adding up right, that you brought the problem up to your GM, and, oh, by the way, the paperwork seems to have disappeared since you discussed the problem with him.
Tell the Owner exactly what you know, and how you found out, and why your are sure without physical evidence. Tell him what a nice guy the GM is, and how much he has helped you with your personal problems. Be thorough, and be specific. Tell him you really don’t want to loose your job, but the truth is what it is.
You, know, the owner might be willing to help this guy come back around to living honestly. That’s one of his options. But you have, if you do nothing become complicit in the crimes if they continue.
You owe it to yourself to be honest with the man who has been your ultimate employer since before the current GM came.
First off, you have no proof, so you can’t outright accuse him. Might it not be his secretary or someone setting him up? So you go to the Boss and express your concerns and mention the manager’s issues with paperwork.
BTW when is your next audit due? A word with the auditors might work wonders.
I would suggest that you act carefully in this delicate situation. First, as you mentioned, you do not have any proof.
Secondly, you only know that the books have been cooked, but you don’t know that the GM has actually pocketed the money himself. Maybe the owner suggested to the GM that his tax bill is rather high and asked him to do something about it.
If it is the first case, I would wait and see. The GM knows now that you are suspecting something and might have realized that he is not so clever as he thought he is and stops. If he doesn’t, I think that you will be able to get your hands on more evidence so that you can approach the owner with a solid case.
Well, if I were in your position, I would be absolutely compelled to do something. If you feel you owe the GM something, you could approach them directly, let them know that you are on to them, and you need them to stop, or you will go to the owner. If you go this route, do not mention that you have no hard evidence. If the GM wants to play hardball, they could go to the owner first, blame it on you, and they’d be screwed. If you allude to “evidence” that you have, that may safeguard you from that.
My preference would be for follow Triskadecamus’s advice. Go to the owner, be completely up front about what you suspect and why. Make it clear that you really like the GM, but you could not ignore this.
If you do nothing, and it does eventually get discovered (which it will), it is as likely to fall on your head as the GM’s, if the GM is as clever as you’ve said.
I think this is a situation in which you have two choices:
Tell the owner what you’ve seen, or
Run the risk that when the GM’s theft comes to light (and it will), you’ll somehow escape any suspicion of having swiped from the till a time or two.
If the GM’s as clever and unscrupulous as you say he is, he’ll find some way to evade blame for the whole thing. A convenient way to do that is to find someone else to accuse. And, since you work beneath him, you’re a pretty good target to pick.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t consider the ethics of the situation. But lots of other posters have already commented on those already. No matter how you feel about this morally, it’s really to your advantage to talk to the owner.
If I were you, and I didn’t trust my GM, I’d talk to the owner before I spoke to the GM. This way, the GM can’t call the owner and say he suspects you of stealing before you can talk to the owner yourself. And when you talk to the owner, you might not want to accuse the GM outright of theft. But give some pretty clear evidence that the GM is in fact responsible for the store’s recent revenue loss.
Why not talk to the GM directly? It seems like you have a fairly friendly relationship anyway, just mention that you’ve noticed some funny stuff and will have to go talk to the big boss if it doesn’t clear up. Then it’s his choice. Of course, if you think he’s the type who’d murder you and feed your dismembered corpse to his dogs to keep his secret, this might not be the best option.
whatever you decide to do–keep in mind one thing (that scribble also mentioned above): it may be YOU who ends up being accused of the theft.It’s not just a moral question here–there are practical issues too. You need to protect yourself.
Keep written records of everything you do. If you can’t photocopy receipts each night, then write down the cash amounts as you count them . Can you also keep count of supplies and inventory ? Write down whatever you can remember, with dates and numbers.I’m no lawyer, but whatever evidence you can keep may help you later if you need to defend yourself, whether it’s against criminal charges or just an internal investigation .
To me, going to the GM would make it possible (potentially, depending on the segregation of duties - which, if one person is handling the cash and doing the deposit, is not ideal) for the GM to find a way to set up What Is Schwa. Sure, you could say, why hasn’t this happened before this then, if he (or she, I don’t know) has been there for several years. Well, they just saw an opening with the change in GMs and took advantage of it (that could be the answer that’s given, but may not be.)
If the company is small and local enough (and, I assume, not publicly traded), they may not have auditors - but I’d bet the owner has an accountant who does the taxes. Talking to the owner could lead to the owner having them come in and doing an audit. Also, even if there’s not any direct proof, the missing documents could lead to the right questions from the accountants.
Also, talking to the owner means that What Is Schwa can voice his concerns and make it clear that he feels like something isn’t right - but to have to work directly with a boss who you have openly accused of theft by confronting them can make things very difficult.
Related risk, if the GM gets caught and somebody else does some back figuring, they may wonder “What Is Schwa should have noticed this going on. Why didn’t he say anything to us about it?”
If your GM is stealing from the business then the GM is a crook. Even if you don’t have proof to present to the owner I think you should contact the owner, let them know what is going on and why there’s no evidence. The owner can then take steps to investigate, tighten up procedures so that evidence can’t be destroyed, etc. The GM may not get caught and busted but that particular method of stealing will be closed off, and the GM may realize that they need to cut it out and fly straight from now on.
I know of a case where an employee at a major home improvement chain was caught stealing. He had friends pose as customers coming around the side door to pick up purchases.
He was fired. And so was everyone else in the store who knew about it, but didn’t say anything to management.
You should take action, not just because it is it the right and moral thing to do, which it is. If you know about it and don’t come forth, you’re an accomplice.
