Receptionist Accused of Stealing Parcel

Jerryjerryjerry

Hi all. I have been in my job as a Front of House Manager (glorified receptionist to you and me), earning a pittiful £1,160 a month take-home. I live in a large city in the midlands.

I start at 8.25 (They need me to come in early to air freshner the building) and I finish at 6.00 pm every night. So that's over 40 hours a week.

There are approximately 250 people in the building. Its a serviced office building with approximately 14 separate business operating here (some of which, have up to 4 different names they are known by) - great fun each morning sorting the post out! To make things even more exciting, a handful of the companies like to change their names every now and again but it takes years for their customers to catch up. This is all to give you the general picture.

Anyway, the reason for my post.

Last week, a parcel went missing. Now, I sign for all parcels that come into reception. I was mortified. After receiving several phone calls asking me about this parcel. Did I sign for it? When did I sign for it? what did I do with it? I went home and didn't sleep all night. I was worried beyond anything you can imagine. I have a large mortgage and can't afford not to work even for a day.

I rang the company in the afternoon of the next day and asked if they'd found the parcel yet. They casually told me that it had never been delivered in the first place. Would they have bothered to tell me had I not phoned? Who knows? My relief was such, that it didn't occur to me to be annoyed with them for not letting me know.

This incident has made me unusually on edge now. Every time a parcel comes in, I worry. Also, today, a parcel came in (from ASOS) for someone and it had no company name on. I rang the number on the parcel (whilst delivery man waited impatiently), and there was no answer, so I turned the parcel away. BOY have I had repercussions!

It was a personal parcel for a lady upstairs and she has now emailed my boss complaining that I should know who she is.

I have never been given a list of all the people in this building. I only have the odd names of some of the people/contacts in each company. I wouldn't have a clue which company she worked for. (I do now!).

Anyway, my boss asked her if she'd like him to collect the parcel from the depot for her. She said no. (her boss wouldn't be impressed with that, since it was a personal item, is my guess). So instead, she's piling it on, complaining about me.

I wish I could walk out of this job this afternoon. But I know I can't. I feel so upset.

My boss has not said much. He just forwarded emails onto me, with FYI on them.

I wish I didn't have to sign for parcels. As if any DID go missing, I don't think I could deal with the consequences. I'm not thick skinned enough.

Jerryjerryjerry

My boss has suggested that I ring around the biggest company here in the building to see if it is anybody in their office.

Thankfully, I don't have to phone all 14 companies while the courier waits here. I don't know if any of you have experience dealing with couriers, but to make one phone call is too long for them.

crazyguy

what are you worrying for you have not acted wrongly here, let the women moan and take no notice of her.

crazyguy

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

My boss has suggested that I ring around the biggest company here in the building to see if it is anybody in their office.

Thankfully, I don't have to phone all 14 companies while the courier waits here. I don't know if any of you have experience dealing with couriers, but to make one phone call is too long for them.

Normaly as they are under pressure to deliver a certain amount or they get penalised !

saintjammyswine

Sounds like you were acting very professionally and you have the backing of your manager who seems to be keeping you informed of what is happening.

scheming_gypsy

First one - the company probably weren't aware that you were so worried about it so they wouldn't have thought to let you know.

Second one - tell her to jog on. If she's having personal deliveries she should have the sense to let you know

Jarndyce

Presumably you work for some sort of facilities management company that provides services to the building managers/landlords on a service level agreement basis.
It is therefore your employer's responsibility to ensure that pocedures such as those for signing for and checking in deliveries are robust enough to stand up to checks when things apparently go missing - if they are, you will know that when someone asks for a parcel that isn't on the list you can say with complete confidence that it has not arrived.
If that is not the case, then the procedures need to be tightened up. Can you make a suggestion as to how they could do that? Its not your job, but it might earn you some brownie points into the bargain.

19lottie82

Regarding the first issue, I think you are being a bit paranoid. They didn’t “accuse you of stealing”, they were trying to track the parcel, and as the receptionist, you are obviously the first point of call for these type of enquiries.

However on the second problem, tell the moaning Minnie to beat it! You are busy, and don’t have time to track down every tom !!!!!! and harry that can’t be bothered to complete an address label correctly for their new party frock! If it was a work related item, fair enough, but it wasn’t. Are they even allowed to have personal items delivered to the workplace? I know a lot of places frown up on this.
When I worked in a large office block with multiple companies and a front of house receptionist, on the odd occasion someone was expecting a personal delivery, the correct procedure was considered to be, informing the receptionist that you were expecting a parcel, provide them with your contact details and ask politely (as they are doing you a favour!), if they would mind keeping an eye out for it and giving you a call to collect it, if it arrived.

tyllwyd

I think you should speak to your boss, and discuss the fact that a lot of your time has been wasted dealing with a personal parcel and ask if he can circulate a memo to all the companies in the building to ask them to remind staff that they should not be having personal parcels delivered to work.

Also, I think you should ask for all the companies in the building to supply a up to date list giving any names that they trade under, and one contact name per company who you can speak to if there are any queries. It's not much to ask for, and will let you do your job properly!

Jerryjerryjerry

Some really good ideas here. Also, you've put my mind at rest a bit.

I am glad I posted this problem here. Its put things into perspective.

Thank you.

smileylondongal

I can imagine why you're paranoid about it as this does seem like an extra responsibility when someone's shouting down the phone at you. BUT there are 2 things - firstly, you've done nothing against your job role and secondly, if this lady wanted her parcel, she should have had it delivered to a place she would actually be there to collect it from! At the very least, she could have said to you on her way in 'I'm expecting an important parcel...' but seeing as it's personal business and you're doing your actual job, I can't see that there'd be any comeuppance!
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