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

joanne_d_3

[/QUOTE]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.

Now off topic i know but it isnt un-heard of for me to do this at tescos lol . If i find a receipt without the clubcard points added , i take it to cs and add them to my own card lol

SarEl

LittleVoice wrote: »

(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.

I have got to admit that I am bemused by a union rep who knows this sort of thing happens and doesn't warn their members not to get involved.

But that dyslexia thing? If you knew anything about dyslexia then you wouldn't even try it. Dyslexics function better with computer screens - that is why the most common adjustment for their condition is to provide them with a computer! The function in the brain that translates information pertaining to the written word is sidelined by the function which deals with hand/eye co-ordination used in computing. And also? Dyslexics confuse letters not numbers, and 9 is a number.

Jumpy, you are not doing yourself any favours here, and that is what people are trying to point out to you, even if it isn't always with any sympathy. There is no excuse for doing what you did, and you did wrong. The simplest and the easiest defence is "I did it, I am sorry, I was stupid, I didn't think about it, and I will never do anything to let you down if you give me another chance". All these excuses will do you no favours with the employer. The tills may be open to this fraud happening - if I accidentally leave my purse on a table in the staff room, is it my fault that you stole a tenner from it? No, of course it isn't.

Every excuse you give is an attempt to say that this isn't important and I think you are making a fuss over something stupid and little. It's not my fault, it's everyone elses, it's yours, it's my eyes, it's my dyslexia, it's a tuesday.... By the time you have whinged your way through all these excuses your employers will likely be totally exasperated and entirely !!!!ed off with you. In that mood, do you really think they are going to be tending towards lemiency? Believe me, employers have heard ever excuse in the book - the most refreshing and unusual defence is almost certain to be the "hands up I did it, please don't sack me". Apart from anything else, by this time in a couple of days, they will likely have a bunch of people all making the same excuses! You have already confessed. The game is up. So stick to something simple like please don't sack me. It may not work - but I really doubt the other stiff will work and it may actually have the opposite effect.

Errata

I doubt a UR would admit to any employer they were aware that fiddling was common practice amongst workers as they would be seen to be colluding it. Make no mistake, UR's will always ensure they do nothing that puts their own employment at risk.

SarEl

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.....

Well said Joanne. I tell people this all the time and they never believe me. Their friends are real friends. The truth is that people at work are not friends, they are allies - and if the tide of the war changes they will often be found on the other side.

patman99

Perhaps if you work for a retailer who has a loyalty card scheme, you should be banned from applying for, or using said loyalty card, but instead be given an employee card onto which the points accrue with the exception of re-used bags.

SarEl

patman99 wrote: »

Please excuse the spelling mistakes. The cataracts in my eyes make reading the screen rather hard. Roll-on September October, when I'll be able to see again!!.

According to 'Mysupermarket.co.uk', this week my shopping bill at Sainsburys was £3.61 cheaper than at ASDA.
[\QUOTE]

I hope that you claimed your points for re-using the bags at Sainsburys - and that your eyes didn't prevent you from claiming the correct number

Damn, sorry - I should have resisted that but my will was weak!!!

globetraveller

It does seem to be such a trivial thing to lose your job for. I do feel sorry for you- but, oh dear, I can't believe you gave names of other colleagues who also did this. Even if you don't lose your job, how on earth do you think you could continue to work alongside them?
Husband works in the oil industry and has told of other employees who were sacked for taking office materials. The employer probably thinks that if they were capable of this then what else could they have resorted to.
I do agree that whinging and making excuses won't make your employer sympathetic towards you. Take union advice and hope that they are lenient- perhaps they will make an example, frighten others but you might end up losing any staff concessions you have. How much is a bag re-use- 1 point/pence? Sacking does seem pretty extreme.

whitewing

If a lot of staff do it, then the 'store' should identify them and punish them all the same. I don't agree with making an example out of jumpy.

If the store sacks a lot of staff for this reason then I would think the 'store' was pretty stupid and badly managed for not noticing earlier and dealing with it promptly. And if it has self-scan as a business reason because it doesn't want to pay staff then it can hardly moan that people abuse it.

(I use store as a collective term for whoever is responsible at whatever point of the process).

However, each of us has to take personal responsibility for our actions in life, and what jumpy did was wrong and shouldn't have been done.

patman99

Actually, I provide the transport and money. My oh does the shopping, and I take myself off to the instore for a cup of tea. Saves a lot of agro.

As for my cataracts, they don't stop me being able to clearly see the screen on the sst's, only the size 12 fonts on my laptop (unless I hold it up to use it)

mrcow

JC, you've had a lot of advice and opinons, but just to clarify - as well as your union rep, there are three other points of contact that you should be making use of ASAP. All will be able to offer different opinons on the situation. Don't assume that you've "got it all covered" or that your union rep has all the answers - get a variety of advice.

The three points of call are:

1. ACAS - call them on Monday
2. Check on your home insurance if you have legal protection - if so, then you can speak with a solicitor. They often can and do offer differing perspectives on situations like this.
3. The CAB. Some reps are useless, but on the other hand, I've known for some to be very helpful in your type of situation.

Get onto this ASAP - before your next meeting.