Suspended from work - I've seen colleagues and customers what I have done

Torby

it's strange how these supermarkets ALWAYS appear to jump on staff for misuse of loyalty cards etc, but they happily turn a blind eye when items come in cages to the storerooms, but aren't on the stores stock/price system, so they sit for a few weeks, then get reduced to a ridiculously low price and staff grab them all up, or what about the thread recently where a customer was about to buy cakes, the bakery reduced them , but didn't display and another member of staff claimed them right in front of a customer.

There are even cases when stock has been returned to suppliers but the staff members forget to "sign off" on the hand held terminals, someone else comes along and starts afresh, ££££££'s lost in the system...but goes unpunished....

seems in this case (with a definite paper trail), the store wants to try and make an example to discourage other staff....sadly...you appear to be the one who will take the fall.

jumpycheese1

steve1980 wrote: »

Oh dear. What other medical conditions are you going to have?

I'd be checking your contract very carefully as I would assume that within the size of that particular supermarket you would have to declare any medical conditions that could stop you from operating electronic equipment.

I did mention my eye condition and dyslexia on the medical form when I started work there. I have been using computers since I was 6 and been diagnosed with the eye condition since for 3.5 years. Its only the ss tills I have a problem as the screen is fixed. Only use the ss tills as when i finish work, there are only 2 tills operating and long queues. I just want to get shopping done and get out asap, likewise with other colleagues.

joanne_d_3

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

I did mention my eye condition and dyslexia on the medical form when I started work there. I have been using computers since I was 6 and been diagnosed with the eye condition since for 3.5 years. Its only the ss tills I have a problem as the screen is fixed. Only use the ss tills as when i finish work, there are only 2 tills operating and long queues. I just want to get shopping done and get out asap, likewise with other colleagues.

So you raised your concerns about your eyes with your employer BEFORE all of this happened ? Or did you only mention this when you had been pulled in ?

To be honest i dont think using you medical complaints is going to get you out of this one !

I sympathise with your situation but to be honest i dont think theres much more you can say or do until the investigation is complete , at which point you will be invited to a disciplinary hearing .

Once you receive the outcome of this hearing maybe you should post back and tell us what they say , maybe then we could help you further.

Hammyman

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

As I need to do some shopping between now and Thursday - not at my store. I will produce receipts at the investigation to prove that I shopped at these stores and look no rebag reused points (unless I go through a manned till)

And you expect that to do what exactly, prove you don't fiddle it?

At the end of the day, you fiddled the company and you were caught. The fact that loads of others do it doesn't make it any more right.

You are guilty of an offence which at pretty much any company would be a gross misconduct which leaves you liable for immediate dismissal without notice or pay in lieu of.

You've left yourself open to prosecution by the police if they were called in, immediate dismissal, sanctioning by the DWP when you claim Jobseekers allowance once you're sacked and you're going to have a reference which basically screams "this is a dishonest person not fit for employment" and for what? A few poxy points on a stupid bit of plastic.

And your sudden discovery of a medical condition isn't going to help you either. None of what you've posted results in someone putting through the maximum number of reused bags. You're not only continuing to dig yourself a hole, you've hired an excavator to speed up the job.

dmg24

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

I did mention my eye condition and dyslexia on the medical form when I started work there. I have been using computers since I was 6 and been diagnosed with the eye condition since for 3.5 years. Its only the ss tills I have a problem as the screen is fixed. Only use the ss tills as when i finish work, there are only 2 tills operating and long queues. I just want to get shopping done and get out asap, likewise with other colleagues.

If you know that you have a problem on these tills, why use them?

LittleVoice

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

(a) I have spoken to my union rep on the phone and met up at a pub carpark. . . . . She is a fighter and wants to prove that what I did was wrong and will never do it again.

(b) She understands that the ss tills are open to fraud like that and sees it done all the time, both by colleagues and customers.

(a) she doesn't need to prove that what you did was wrong and she can't prove that you will never do that particular deceit again (unless they have already changed the system on the self-scan tills)

(b) so she knew that others were stealing and didn't feel any responsibility to try advise her fellow union members not to do so or report staff for doing it? (I'm talking of the past, before you were caught.) Luckily for her, it would be only your word that she knew what was going on.

iclayt

Really, the issues of being dyslexic, of your issues with the till being the cause for this, sounds to me like clinging to anything to get you off the hook. The simple fact is that you knew, and you have admitted, that you would press the maximum number of reused bags, and that you did this enough times to get caught.

If you KNEW you were doing this, and it was genuinely because of the dyslexia and sight problem, and with the full knowledge it was fraudulent, it then became your responsibility to highlight this to your employer: "I am having issues with the SS tills, pressing the wrong buttons because of the lights and my conditions". And I say this as someone with a specific learning difficulty myself that would often add an extra 0 to someone's bill by mistake in one of my first jobs, and would need a manager to rectify it. If it was the genuine cause of the issue here, it should've been addressed before now.

But you didn't, and never would've done, because you were getting away with something for free, like all the other people that do it.

Which is why you need to stop dwelling on WHY you did it because it really doesn't matter!

You said of your UR "She is a fighter and wants to prove that what I did was wrong and will never do it again". She isn't going to have to fight very hard to prove what you did was wrong is she? The job will be convincing the employer you are worth keeping on, and after commiting fraud against them, I wish you the very best of luck with that.

I say again: stop dwelling on what you have done, start co-operating, be truthful, be the hitherto model employee that you are obviously proud of being, and improve your chances of at least a neutral, agree-to-disagree reference.

lucylucky

jumpycheese1 wrote: »

Update:

I have spoken to my union rep on the phone and met up at a pub carpark. When she first heard the case about the loyalty card fraud. She thought I stole someone's card or found one in store and just bought some shopping and used any points on the card to pay for it. She is a fighter and wants to prove that what I did was wrong this has already been proven and will never do it again. This cannot be proved

She understands that the ss tills are open to fraud like that and sees it done all the time, both by colleagues and customers. I hope the Union rep does not bring this point up as they will then be seen to be complicit in ongoing fraud Its probably not just my store, but other supermarkets that use loyalty cards and rewards customers for reusing their bags. I also mentioned that I have dyslexia (please no posts saying just another excuse) and with the numbers positioned differently to a keypad on the manned tills and the touchscreen keypad on ss tills, I get confused. What did management say when you told them that you thought working on self service tills was not a suitable post for you? Also the manned tills, I can adjust the angle etc of the screen whereas, on the ss tills I can't. There have been a few customers complaining about the angle of the ss screens with the lights - all from elderly customers.

Whilst talking to my union rep, guess who walked past and stopped? One of my friends! She knew something wasn't right as I was supposed to be at work. She was thinking 'what the bloody hell is jumpy doing in a carpark with (union rep)? I said I can't talk. The UR said just say jumpy has a virus and is very tired and has no energy if anyone asks about me at work. That will work! You could see in my friend's face that she's distraught over the fact I couldn't tell her anything or she could help me. I told her I will phone once I am able to contact colleagues again. It was very painful for me and wanted to burst into tears. Then she says will be friends whatever happens. Good luck with that.

I just want to say I know the seriousness of this incident and aware of any consequences

I think that things are not looking good for you at all, and as has been suggested all you can hope for is a neutral reference.

patman99

Well, at least when you get dismissed, you can return as a customer and rack up the points by repeating the process without risking your job.

as an added points-earner, why not do what my former work colleague does. When he takes his partner shopping, he goes off round the empty trolleys looking for till receipts without loyalty card points on them. Then he heads-off to c/s and gets them credited to his card. Earns about £250 a year.

joanne_d_3

[/QUOTE]I don't want to be dismissed as I am so worried about not getting a job. I have a mortgage and colleagues who have become great friends will feel upset and something will be missing from the team. I can see if I get the sack, some colleagues will be leaving as a protest.

Jumpy , please dont take offense at what i am about to say.

The sentence which you stated - as in the quote above - i read it and actually laughed out loud . I hadnt noticed this part of your post before.

Please , tell me that you dont actually believe that this will happen ?

We found ourselves in the same situation....my husband had worked alongside this one colleague for 15 years , they had a great friendship , got on the very best , went out for a pint on occasion....

When my husband was suspended , this colleague telephoned my husband on a daily basis ( i know...that wasnt allowed but hey lol) had a good old !!!!! about the situation...told my hubby that he was right behind him , he was going to tell management that they were in the wrong etc etc....

This same colleague even attended my husbands disciplinary hearing with him and voiced his concerns over the way my husband was being treated by the company (but made it clear that this was being said on an "off the record basis"....

This "support" lasted right up until the appeal when management then asked this so called "friend" to put down in a statement everything he had said in support of my husband ....

The friend then decided that maybe he should stay out of it as it was non of his business after all , wouldnt put anything down in writing to support my husband and told management that he had nothing further to add to the matter and didnt want to be associated with the matter any more .

The phone calls stopped and when we approached him (by letter) to ask if he would attend the tribunal hearing we received a reply saying that he was sorry but there was nothing he could tell the tribunal as he wasnt aware of any of the allegations/points my husband had raised !

Just telling you this jumpy to make you aware that people may promise to stand by you , work "friends" may offer you all the support in the world , but trust me , when it comes down to it they are not your friends , if its between helping you or saving their own skins then please just be aware of the route they will take.....