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Original poster

Probation period extended after I discovered a theft

211 replies

flixer · 14/10/2019 23:24

Long time lurker, seldom poster, name changed for obvious reasons... I really need some hand holding tonight.

I took a finance role 3 months ago. As part of my role, I found out that a staff member took the company card while out on a post-run and made an unauthorised purchase, a gift to a leaving member of staff. This was only picked up when I saw the bank statements. It was a director who had given her the card.

I informed the manager discretely. However, my interaction with said member of staff specially when dealing with finance things became a little strained.

Today I had my probation meeting... and my probation was extended on basis on my interaction with her!

I don't even have words... Manager said he cannot have conflict within the team....

OP posts:
Tennesseewhiskey · 16/10/2019 19:55

if they seriously think that's a good excuse then they aren't great for of real shit does go down. Or having your back.

Having a poor relationship with team members, is a perfectly valid and good reason for extending probation.

FelicisNox · 16/10/2019 20:16

@flixer I understand why you think the blame has unfairly been shifted to you but it looks like it hasn't.

  1. according to management there was no theft. Regardless of your personal feelings she has been cleared of any wrongdoing and the original exclamation of "I can't believe Anna is a thief" appears to be a proclamation of disbelief rather than an acknowledgement of wrongdoing.

  2. you are in trouble NOT because you found a discrepancy but because of your subsequent behaviour towards "Anna". You have yet to acknowledge this fact so start by doing yourself a favour and acknowledge it, think about YOUR actions and what YOU can do to improve relations going forward.

You have 2 options as I see it:

  1. accept the situation, apologise to Anna and say you don't want her to think you were accusing her of anything, you were just a little over zealous as you are in a new post.

  2. look for another job. If you have genuine reason to believe she IS a thief and she has got away with stealing she will have more power to see you out the door, especially if she finds out about your extension.

2stepsonthewater · 16/10/2019 20:18

I bet the director is shagging Anna. Hence the bad atmosphere etc. You've done nothing wrong.

EarPhones · 16/10/2019 20:20

Yep! pumping OP with more assumptions is going to help make her case Grin

Hesafriendfromwork · 16/10/2019 20:37

I bet the director is shagging Anna. Hence the bad atmosphere etc. You've done nothing wrong

Yeah, that really explains why OP has been contributing to that atmosphere. Confused

Even if that was true, and the director told her to buy something. There would have been authorisation. Which the OP is sure there wasnt.

Cloglover · 16/10/2019 21:16

I'm a bit confused by it tbh. So your probation wasn't extended because of raising the financial query - it was the fall out from the way you raised it? What exactly went wrong between you and your manager? What happened? You haven't really explained and that's the most critical part isn't it?

manicmij · 17/10/2019 09:27

Not exactly theft, is it. If the purchase wasn't authorised then more like a misjudgement. A Director handed over the card you say when a postal run being undertaken. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume buying a gift when out could well have been approved. Has anyone given you info on whether or not it was sanctioned. If not, start looking for a new job. A company should be pleased financial transactions are questioned if not run of the mill, isn't that the person's job.

Riv · 17/10/2019 17:08

am I the only one who is amazed that there are companies out there that would write off such expenses if they are under £100!
As a teacher I have to provide detailed VAT receipts for any authorised item I buy even if it only costs 5p if I want to be refunded for it. (All items that are not ordered centrally but are needed have to be purchased up front out of my own money, which just may be refunded a few months later.)

Jack80 · 17/10/2019 18:40

I wouldn't have approached the subject as theft, I would say there is a discrepancy and see what was said to that.

EarPhones · 17/10/2019 18:45

With my employer, you can mark an expense with an option of receipt missing. Under £25 is not questioned unless someone goes crazy with it. Around £100 - £200 expense with missing receipt is marked as an exception but still reimbursed. But we usually file expenses around 2k every fortnight so such small amounts are not worth wasting staff time on. It is easy to lose paper receipts and genuinely go missing sometimes.

EarPhones · 17/10/2019 19:08

Having said that if the audit team is not satisfied with an expense, they ask you to reverse the claim and it gets deducted from your next submission. No one calls anyone thief, like ever!

chocorabbit · 18/10/2019 10:37

It seems that so many people in this thread are so pious, by-the-book and perfect that they would find it so strange that Anna can just be cold. It MUST be the OP's fault. Do all of you work with professional and responsible people who cause no problems?? That take every criticism on board?

I don't know, it could be the OP's fault as well but unless I see otherwise it can very well be Anna not liking having being found in the wrong.

It reminds me of the times when I have complained to DH about MIL's horrible behaviour. He has complained to her and instead of her taking it on board or feeling embarrassed about it she has been cold or even vindictive. There you have it, human nature for many. TBH I am waiting for a reply from the OP about how she treated Anna but in the absence of it..

daisychain01 · 18/10/2019 12:05

The normal tenets of justice ought to have applied. Anna was innocent until proven guilty, and it wasn't for the OP to be judge and jury on it. A reasonable approach would have been to politely enquire what the expense was, in the course of the OPs duties, directly to Anna, so the OP "could allocate to expenditure to the right budget code" or a similar explanation, rather than leaping to reporting it to management as if to become the heroine of the piece by catching the thief red-handed. Sounds a bit like telling tales! And for such a trivial amount!

When you're on probation, you play everything safe, and don't rock any boats. Show you are on top of things, by all means, but do it with a healthy dose of emotional intelligence and diplomacy, given the longevity of the employee concerned and the high likelihood of allegiances about which the OP has zero visibility.

Hesafriendfromwork · 18/10/2019 12:46

It seems that so many people in this thread are so pious, by-the-book and perfect that they would find it so strange that Anna can just be cold

Except op admitted she was now cautious around her. No one said Anna was perfect.

OP, seemingly, presented it as theft. Took a managers disbelief as confirmation that it was theft. And is now there is tension.

That tension comes from OP insisting (even when writing this thread) that anna is a thief.

Ita not beyond the realms of possibility that OP is a major contributor to the tension, given she presented information as a theft and still thinks she is a thief.

Looking at your own behaviour is exactly what this thread about. It wouldnt shock me if Anna was off with her. But given op is wrong about her being a thief, that's not really surprising. I wouldnt be warm and fuzzy with someone that accused me of being a thief.

Hesafriendfromwork · 18/10/2019 12:47

Anna not liking having being found in the wrong.

Anna wasnt found in the wrong.

PremierNaps · 18/10/2019 12:48

I highly doubt your probation would be extended over finding Anna stealing.

What you haven't told us is how your interaction with Anna went after. Was Anna horrible to you? Did you retaliate?

ShirleyPhallus · 18/10/2019 12:53

I feel like there is something missing here - are you sure probabtion has been extended only because of this interaction and not something else?

Honeyroar · 18/10/2019 16:47

OP why did management extend your probation period because of this?

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 18/10/2019 16:51

As a teacher I have to provide detailed VAT receipts for any authorised item I buy even if it only costs 5p if I want to be refunded for it. (All items that are not ordered centrally but are needed have to be purchased up front out of my own money, which just may be refunded a few months later.)

Is it a State school though or a charity? Those will have vastly different rules about reimbursement.

Ahundredpercentthatbitch · 18/10/2019 17:00

Similar happened to a friend of mine. She spotted some anomalies in the company finances and was fired before the end of her probation. She was baffled and furious. It didn’t seem to make any sense.

It later turned out the CFO was committing massive fraud, which he’s since gone to prison for.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 18/10/2019 23:17

Funny how the OP hasn’t returned since people pointed out the massive hole in her story...

daisychain01 · 19/10/2019 04:28

None of the story stacks up. Back to my original point upthread, why would they bother to extend the OPs probation, that's a contradictory act.

Extending probation is saying "we like you, but you're not quite hitting the mark, so we're giving you some extra weeks to sort it out". Why would they do that in this situation? They would surely just want to get rid of the problem by parting company completely legally, getting rid of a new employee who is willing to accuse a member of staff of theft, with very little actual evidence to back up their accusation.

Monty27 · 19/10/2019 05:01

OP thought she was kissing ass but was just really speaks out of turn. Or extremely inexperienced and/or naive.
I expect a flaming for this.

Bluntness100 · 19/10/2019 06:09

So your probation wasn't extended because of raising the financial query - it was the fall out from the way you raised It

I'm surprised there is so much confusion on here. People raising similar situations which are nothing remotely similar.

The card misuse is a red herring. The company have an issue with the way thr op handled her interactions with Anna after she found it.

The op has refused to extrapolate on this, simply saying the relationship became "strained" and she was probably more "cautious" and instead preferring to focus on Anna's misuse of the card.

When her management have been very clear with her, the ops issue. And why they have extended probabtion is because of how she treated Anna after.

Bluntness100 · 19/10/2019 06:16

And as for the poster who said she bets the woman never got the jewellery, this seems to be what the op is insinuating, and would explain why the manager said she couldn't believe Anna was a thief.

It's likely this was just a situation she didn't get approval first, but it was the done thing to get the leaving gift on the company card, to the value spent, and the woman did get the Jewellery, hence why Anna isn't in any real trouble, but the op is.