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

KiKi

SarEl wrote: »

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.

I have to say that I disagree that work friends are not friends - that's not always the case. I have six excellent friends from my previous place of work; we still see each other socially and are friends in the real sense of the word.

Three of them - on separate occasions - were my boss. And one of them once pulled me aside to give me feedback on my approach to something which wasn't working. But I pick my friends very very carefully, and we were mature and sensible enough to deal with the working relationship.

However, I would NEVER expect them to quit their job just because I was unhappy or had done something wrong. In fact, I'd expect friends to pull me up and tell me where I was behaving inappropriately. JMO, but although I'd expect friends to support me, that support does not necessarily mean standing by me, agreeing with everything I do and quitting in protest! I hope they *would* take the other side if I had been found out for fraudulent behaviour!

Just a different perspective on friendships - but as I say, when I say 'friends', I do mean true friendship, not people who you get on with at work but don't really know - who are mere acquaintances.

KiKi

patman99

So the OP was to stupid to figure-out that by entering the maximum number of re-used bags that she would not get caught. If she had entered a random amount between 1 and 5, she would probably got away with it, as this is usually the average used.

The Greedy always get their come-upance.

dmg24

mrcow wrote: »

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.

I am intrigued as to what help you feel any of the above would be in such a cut and dried situation?

lorac3

Oh dear, no sympathy from me . This happened at the co op store where I worked a few years ago. We had a loyalty card which was 4 numbers long ie 3456 this gave us points which were redeemed as money (ie 4 points = 4 pence ) One lady I worked with was putting her number in if the customer never had/used a card. Management found out I do not know how but she was called in and sacked on the spot. It is classed as theft and she never had a leg to stand on. Good luck but do not be suprised if you get sacked.

jumpycheese1

joanne_d wrote: »

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 ?

I did disclose my dyslexia and my eye condition on a medical form which I filled in either on day 1 or 2 of starting work for my employer, which included my emergency contacts as well. They just need to whip that out of my file saying that Jumpy did disclose and signed the form when she first started working for us.

jumpycheese1

whitewing wrote: »

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.

They only flagged me up as I use my staff discount card at the same time. If it wasn't for this, they presume I'm a normal customer, not a employee customer.

I reckon many more employees at other stores do exactly what I did. What I have done has probably only scratched the surface of a major, major problem.

I am going to mentioned how angry I was being bullied into writing colleagues' names down. I know one of my friends, her dh uses the same loyalty card. If he puts down more bags than he used, are they going to sack my friend for her dh's actions?

I was wrong, I did wrong and regretted my wrong doings. I am totally ashamed of what I have done.

mrcow

dmg24 wrote: »

I am intrigued as to what help you feel any of the above would be in such a cut and dried situation?

Maybe it seems cut and dried to you, but I can assure you that misconduct situations are rarely as simple as you state.

The OP should contact all of the above. I have known all of them to offer advice that has contributed to large payouts at tribunal stage after sacking for gross misconduct. An employer or general outsider may think that a case is open and shut.......but they'd be fools to think so. It's never over until it's over.

dmg24

mrcow wrote: »

Maybe it seems cut and dried to you, but I can assure you that misconduct situations are rarely as simple as you state.

The OP should contact all of the above. I have known all of them to offer advice that has contributed to large payouts at tribunal stage after sacking for gross misconduct. An employer or general outsider may think that a case is open and shut.......but they'd be fools to think so. It's never over until it's over.

Please elaborate on what is not simple in this case?

SarEl

That may well be the case. But if she contacts a legal adviser and the union find out then the union will dump her. You cannot have two representatives and unions automatically withdraw any support if you seek other legal advice. The same does not apply to ACAS or CAB although I agree with the previous poster - neither will be able to help her.

bigheadxx

The real question is how much you are worth to your employer. If your employer thinks you are easily replaced then that is what will happen as it pulls other employees into line with no loss to the employer.