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AIBU?

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Original poster

Disiplinery

102 replies

Bazmum · 05/12/2019 17:26

So to cut a long story short I'm a cleaner and my managers came in today saying they were doing an investigation cos a customer complained I'd stolen something from her obviously I had no idea what they were talking about but they said they had me on cctv which showed me picking what i thought was rubbish up off the floor and putting it in my pocket til I was near a bin turns out the rubish was in fact a packet of cigs that belonged to a customer I don't remember doing this as I work in a busy supermarket and I'm forever picking things up now ive got to have a disciplinary surly I can't get sacked for something as trivia as this please help

OP posts:
yips · 05/12/2019 17:31

So a customer dropped their pack of cigarettes in the supermarket, saw you pick them up and then complained to management?

Aquamarine1029 · 05/12/2019 17:31

How ridiculous. All you can do is stand up for yourself and be forthright. You DID NOT steal anything. FFS. I can't believe they are putting you through this.

churchandstate · 05/12/2019 17:32

Do you always put rubbish you find on the floor in your pocket? I can see why they find this a little odd, to be honest.

TheReluctantCountess · 05/12/2019 17:35

A customer complained that you picked the cigarettes up and put them in your pocket?

PriscillaTheHun · 05/12/2019 17:37

I can see why they're suspicious. I can't imagine it's normal to put rubbish in your pockets?

bridgetreilly · 05/12/2019 17:38

If you thought it was rubbish, why didn't you put it in the bin?

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 05/12/2019 17:38

Do you smoke.?

Did the customer approach you or your manager on the day to ask for the cigarettes back?

How long have you worked for the company?

Is there CCTV of you binning the cigarettes?

pictish · 05/12/2019 17:39

What did you do with the cigarettes once you realised it wasn’t rubbish?

And is picking something up off the floor ‘stealing’ anyway?

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 05/12/2019 17:40

I can't imagine it's normal to put rubbish in your pockets?

It’s quite common for cleaners to put rubbish in their pinny’s if they don’t have the trolley, waste bag at hand.

pictish · 05/12/2019 17:40

I put rubbish in my pocket if there’s no bin around too. Not odd or suspicious at all!

bridgetreilly · 05/12/2019 17:40

As to whether they can sack you, it depends a lot on your contract and how long you've been there. If it's less than two years, then yes, for any reason. If it's longer than that, they will have to go through a proper disciplinary process, and then it will depend on whether they believe you were stealing or whether it was a genuine mistake. We can't possibly tell you that.

churchandstate · 05/12/2019 17:41

pictish

You’d imagine, though, that they would know if their cleaning employees had no immediate access to bins. They’d be carrying kilos of rubbish...

bridgetreilly · 05/12/2019 17:41

And is picking something up off the floor ‘stealing’ anyway?

If I dropped my purse on the floor and someone else picked it up and took it home with them, I would certainly consider that stealing, yes.

Likethebattle · 05/12/2019 17:42

Was the item retrieved? Was it definitely a full pack, they could be lying.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 05/12/2019 17:42

And is picking something up off the floor ‘stealing’ anyway?

Yes, it could be construed as deception as OP did not find the true owner of the item or hand the item to lost property.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 05/12/2019 17:43

*Did not try and find

churchandstate · 05/12/2019 17:43

Anyway, I think the CCTV would be hard pressed to show that the item was a full pack of cigarettes. If you say it was rubbish and was empty/opened, I can’t see that they can reasonably sack you.

Luckingfovely · 05/12/2019 17:45

So: did you put the cigarettes in the bin, or did you take them home and smoke them?

And: how did you not realise it was a full pack of cigarettes - they clearly weigh more than a bit of screwed up paper or similar.

Unless the cc tv shows you putting it in in the bin, I think you're going to have a hard job defending this, I'm afraid.

churchandstate · 05/12/2019 17:46

Luckingfovely

I doubt it. The onus is on them to show that what she picked up was a full pack, not an empty one. I can’t see how they would be able to tell that from a box 🤷🏻‍♀️

ScreamingValenta · 05/12/2019 17:47

You're saying you binned the cigarettes thinking it was an empty fag packet? Quite an easy mistake to make if the packet wasn't full (I have done this myself with my own cigarettes before & had to retrieve them from bin).

Do you smoke? It might help your argument if you don't, as you'd have no use for the cigs and also, you'd not be used to noticing the difference in weight between an empty and full/part used packet.

Dogno1 · 05/12/2019 17:48

Well as cigarettes are nearly £10 a packet now. Did the customer who dropped them witness you pick them up, and go report it vs approaching you and saying 'I dropped that'? The customer must be exceedingly stupid in that case.

Frenchw1fe · 05/12/2019 17:50

Surely the customer would have said excuse me I think I dropped the cigarettes you just picked up.
Sounds an odd accusation to me.

Soontobe60 · 05/12/2019 17:57

OP, what did you do with the packet? All the cleaners I've seen in supermarkets have a cleaning trolley with them. I think you're I need to explain further what happened after you picked up what you thought was rubbish.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 05/12/2019 17:58

What happened to the cigarettes after?

Original poster
Bazmum · 05/12/2019 18:00

I'm a cleaner I work in a very busy supermarket and if I don't have a dustpan and brush handy any rubbish I find in my way around goes in my pocket til I find a bin I don't smoke and to be honest I didn't even realised I'd picked any cigs up until I was pulled into the office by my manager

OP posts:
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