Possible return of unfriendly, bossy volunteer

Miss_Heartilly

Theoretica, yes we usually round at £1 as it is mostly a £1 shop, although some items are priced at £1.50, £2 and £3.

What this particular person would do is say something came to £2 she would ring in a £1 but just place the other £1 in the till in a different section. If she did this alot then as you can imagine all the £1's add up. She wouldn't get caught as money still matched the till receipt but she'd have loads left over when cashing up, which she could just pocket. Nobody would notice either as she was the last to leave and would take the money to the bank.

I think maybe a customer may have seen her do this and put two and two together,

Then obviously i have my suspicions, as since she left the takings went up drastically.

comeandgo

Yes, I have heard of this scam but why do you know about it and not take any action? Customers would see the till showing less than is being asked for and the receipts would not match the amount paid. I don't believe this sort of scam can be done to any level due to the involvement of customers.
If you are suspicious do something.

coffeehound

You could put a little surveillance camera somewhere to see over her shoulder at what is happening with the cash.

cool-dog

coffeehound wrote: »

You could put a little surveillance camera somewhere to see over her shoulder at what is happening with the cash.

Do not do this, it is not your shop, so you are not able to carry out surveillance like mentioned. You will face legal action if you do this, it is not worth a criminal record or fine etc.

cool-dog

Perhaps the takings are down on her days as she is a nasty person so puts people of buying.

Miss_Heartilly

Very true, but for some reason 9 out of 10 of the customers don't want the receipt. Or they walk away before you can give it to them. So probably wouldn't notice.

I don't take action as such, as I have no definite proof. It is just my guess she does this due to takings being very low when she is on the till and of course because a customer said to me once that she is a thief. Again, no concrete proof it's gossip or hearsay or whatever you call it. It just seems weird someone would say that though.

Because this volunteer has issues with me and doesn't seem to like me learning how to learn the till as she probably is used to running the shop her way, I don't want to go to management saying 'Oh, I think Maureen's being stealing money out the till as a customer suggested she did.' Surely, I would need more proof. Like maybe seeing her. I don't want it to look like I am getting at this volunteer because management are aware that we both don't get along.

Miss_Heartilly

cool-dog wrote: »

Do not do this, it is not your shop, so you are not able to carry out surveillance like mentioned. You will face legal action if you do this, it is not worth a criminal record or fine etc.

Yeah, the last thing I need now is a criminal record or fine. It's a good idea in theory but in practice may just cause more problems.

Mojisola

Miss_Heartilly wrote: »

she will probably ring the management and get him to come down

You could say that you are insisting on staying on the till because the takings are always down when Maureen is on and you are worried that she doesn't know how to work it.

Miss_Heartilly

cool-dog wrote: »

Perhaps the takings are down on her days as she is a nasty person so puts people of buying.

I did consider this also.

Until I realised, strangely that the customers seem to like her. Or at least the regulars do. All the time she's been off at least 6 or 7 people per day will ask "How's Maureen? I hope she's coming back soon.' or 'Isn't Maureen a lovely lady, she's so kind the shop is lucky to have her."

Urm, if only they knew the real Maureen.

The nasty bully that I have to work with, maybe they'd soon change their tune.

AdviceWanted

There's a lot of advice on how to deal with a work conflict that also apply to this volunteer situation. Find out definitely how others feel about her and ask if they'd be willing to also come and speak to management about it with you. Honestly she shouldn't be allowed to return if she's actually chased your out of the shop. Also it's important to keep in mind she doesn't have any real power unless you give it to her. So if she does return and tries to boss you around. Do as you did before and say you're going to continue doing what the manager said. Just don't get upset and leave. Speak to the manager directly if her behaviour escalates and tell them it's not acceptable to be spoken to like that in a work place (even a volunteer one).