Should Ricky kick off about pocketed cash?

brokeinwales · 25 November 2009 at 1:29PM

This EXACT THING happened to me a few months back! (It must be more common than I imagined). It didn't even occur to me to pocket the money myself. (I feel keeping a fiver you find in the street is different from keeping one you find in a machine where the owner may well realise their mistake and come back).

The assistant looked at me like I was absolutely crazy when I handed it in. Went "er - thanks" and put it straight in his pocket in front of me. My non-judgmental head really wants to believe he handed it to the boss laterm and was only holding onto it temporarily, but in all honesty it didn't look that way.

But I digress. I agree with the person who said to go back and say they'd hand it to customer services instead - adding "It'll save you the trouble of giving it in yourself.". Hopefully that would m,ake them feel a bit guilty if they were planning on keeping it!

Countertenor · 25 November 2009 at 1:34PM

Yes; simple as that!

roseygrech · 25 November 2009 at 1:36PM

Ohhhh Yes! Most definitely. It's stealing - ok, so it may take a few extra moments to get the till total to show it when you put it back in but to stick it in your pocket shows NO intention of being honest.

wensmcg · 25 November 2009 at 1:49PM

I think you'll find most large retailers have a "any money in your pocket = theft" policy where no shop assistant is allowed to carry money and there are random searches leaving the floor.
I believe in karma, not handing in the money would be bad for mine, them getting done for having it would be justice.
No I wouldn't keep the money, but I doubt I would complain - they may be intending to do something about it but be on their way to do something else, I think I'd leave it to the natural balanace of things, if they didn't hand it in they'd get theirs one way or another.
Wx

TrinityBoy · 25 November 2009 at 2:00PM

Well done for the suggestion that the note should be recovered from the shop assistant and taken to Customer Services in exchange for a receipt.

The act of pocketing someone elses money is theft!

full-time-mum · 25 November 2009 at 2:01PM

Definitely complain.

In fact, just this morning, I collected £10 I found in Tesco. I handed it in (OH called me a mug) and was given a receipt and told to come back after a specified amount of time. I'm now £10 better off and my conscience is clear.

Cloudane · 25 November 2009 at 2:13PM

Hmm I don't know. It's wrong of the assistant obviously, and I'd be a bit annoyed that my own honesty had just funded someone else's dishonesty.

But I think for the sake of a tenner I'd probably not say anything. For all I know they automatically put it in their pocket for safe keeping whilst still intending to hand it in, or various other reasons I might not have thought of. I wouldn't like to deprive someone of their job over it (theft usually leads to instant dismissal) - even though they'd done wrong, I'd still feel guilty especially if I wasn't 100% sure they were stealing it.

In any case it's the shop's responsibility to keep an eye on their employees, not Ricky's, and indeed he should've handed it in to CS and asked for a receipt.

It'd be different if it was a big wad of cash or something, but for a small amount... it's sort of pointless fighting against small-time dishonesty. It's too widespread. Chances are his superior would just tell him to be more covert in future, take it off him in exchange for keeping his job and pocket it for himself. I'd just end up being seen as the @hole for grassing him up.

rosepink1984 · 25 November 2009 at 2:14PM

As someone who used to work in a supermarket, the cashier should have immediately rung for their supervisor who would then fill in the found property book and the money would have been taken up to the cash office until the owner came back to claim it.
We were not allowed to carry cash on the checkouts, so if the cashier pocketed the money they could get into serious trouble. It would definitely be worth mentioning to a supervisor, as pocketing the money could indicate a dishonest person and who knows what other dishonest things they are getting up to?
I agree with the person who said earlier that finding money in a till is different to finding it in the street - in the till they might come back for it, in the street, unless you can see who dropped it, finder's keepers!

TaZmAn · 25 November 2009 at 2:38PM

IMO there's no way to know who that money actually belongs to, even if someone tries to claim it later, they could easily be bogus or claiming through coincidence. After reading this thread, I don't think I'll be handing it in to staff if I find some cash. If it's a wallet or something potentially identifiable then definitely you should hand it in without question, but cash I'm not convinced it's the best thing to do.

If you don't want to keep the money, just give it to charity and sleep well at night knowing you did. The person who lost the money in the first place also needs to learn to be more careful - so giving the money to charity is a win-win situation for your conscience.

I definitely agree that the shop worker should be reported for pocketing the money as what he did is definitely stealing and totally out of order.

Broke_and_sinking_quickly · 25 November 2009 at 2:38PM

of course he should complain - that sales assistant has just stolen some-ones money, and that is a gross disciplinary offence. It should be properly recorded, so that when the customer returns, it can be returned to them.

That SA should be sacked!!

Should Ricky kick off about pocketed cash?

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