to ask you to help me figure out who is half inching money from the till at work…

[SlamLikeAGuitar]

I work in a small, family-owned establishment.
On the payroll, there’s me, 6 other staff, the owner and his bookeeper.
Then there’s the owner’s DP and a few of their family members who come and go from the living space upstairs.
Every week for the last few weeks, there’s been notes left from the bookeeper stating that the till was short the previous day. Sometimes it’s clear that someone has just made a mistake while ringing through an order - £4.30 short for example because someone hit the button for a pint of cider twice. It happens.
But more recently, the till has been short by some pretty even figures Like over the weekend, it was an even £20 short. And the week before, an even £30 short. Nothing on our food menu or in the bar costs a round figure, except bar snacks. So unless someone’s been ringing through 30 packets of peanuts and not taking for them, my gut instinct is that the cash has been nabbed.
Now it’s not me. And 3 of the other bar staff have been working there for years and it’s never been a problem until now, so I don’t think it’s any of those 3.
My suspect pool are the 3 newer staff and the family members (a few of them teenagers) who come and go.
It’s bugging me. It’s putting the management in a bad mood because they are being stolen from. And it makes me a little nervous about my own belongings while I’m working. The owner of the place is the kind of guy who would move the Earth to help any of his staff out if we needed it, so the idea of someone stealing from him is horrible.
Do I go all Sherlock Holmes and try to catch whoever it is out? Or just drop it and hope they get caught

Can you count the till and bank some of the takings for the day in the safe part way through the day (before someone comes on shift), then rota it so that people are paired up to work together so you can eliminate them from the suspect list?

Some kind of ring doorbell set up over the till area?

@SlamLikeAGuitar

I work in a small, family-owned establishment. On the payroll, there’s me, 6 other staff, the owner and his bookeeper. Then there’s the owner’s DP and a few of their family members who come and go from the living space upstairs. Every week for the last few weeks, there’s been notes left from the bookeeper stating that the till was short the previous day. Sometimes it’s clear that someone has just made a mistake while ringing through an order - £4.30 short for example because someone hit the button for a pint of cider twice. It happens. But more recently, the till has been short by some pretty even figures Like over the weekend, it was an even £20 short. And the week before, an even £30 short. Nothing on our food menu or in the bar costs a round figure, except bar snacks. So unless someone’s been ringing through 30 packets of peanuts and not taking for them, my gut instinct is that the cash has been nabbed. Now it’s not me. And 3 of the other bar staff have been working there for years and it’s never been a problem until now, so I don’t think it’s any of those 3. My suspect pool are the 3 newer staff and the family members (a few of them teenagers) who come and go. It’s bugging me. It’s putting the management in a bad mood because they are being stolen from. And it makes me a little nervous about my own belongings while I’m working. The owner of the place is the kind of guy who would move the Earth to help any of his staff out if we needed it, so the idea of someone stealing from him is horrible. Do I go all Sherlock Holmes and try to catch whoever it is out? Or just drop it and hope they get caught

It's not up to you. Let the owner deal with it

Secret camera

When I worked in retail we had to cash up each shift change so any shortages were attributable to (usually 1 person) on the till at the time - do you have anything like this or does the bookkeeper just check weekly or something? The obvious answer is to get everyone together and tell them what is happening and what will be done to sort it out - I don't think there's an easy way for you to solve it single handed - and no-one will probably thank you for it anyway - especially if it is a family member.

This is an issue for the owner. Why are you involving yourself? How exactly can mn help you to find out who has taken money , if indeed somebody has taken money. We don't know you or the business .

The owner needs to contact the police, we had this and they set up a covert camera showing who was going into the safe, combined with some of the rota/cashing up timings mentioned above. We caught the culprit and you don’t know if it’s one of the new people, that’s your assumption that could be wrong.

This isn't for you to fix. You could recommend a camera to the owner, and cashing up a few times a day until this is resolved.

Not for you to work out unless you are also their accountant. But if the owner wants to know, then the way to do it is a) balance the till after every shift change (which requires multiple cash boxes) and b) stop having family members drift on and off the till.

I would stay out of it and let the owner catch them. If it's a family member they won't thank you for catching them.

You may have already done this but mention to the team that people need to be more careful with ringing up items at the till as it has been noticed that it is short on several dates and will continue to be checked, if you don't want to rock the boat it's a low key way of highlighting it has been noticed and that you are noting the days and may be sufficient to make someone too wary of trying again (which staff and family have visited).
Also agree with pp that a partial day cash count and bank plus cctv will assist as a deterrent.
Don't rule out the staff that have been there for some time on that basis, it may be that they have gained confidence that it would not be taken seriously or that their circumstances have changed and they are too proud to ask for help.

I would agree it's not your responsibility, but surely the owner can put up a hidden camera to catch the culprit. I would suspect the family members who might think they're 'entitled' to take from the till.

I would ask the owner to consider a camera. More so to protect yourself against any allegations.

People don’t want to believe a family member could do this so could end up accusing others, including you!

I wouldn't care for this, as while its ongoing everyone is a suspect and that's not great for team spirit and morale. You are narrowing it down yourself and suspecting people, all of whom but one will probably be innocent, and thats a horrible atmosphere. In your position I would raise it with the owner and explain the impact on trust and ask if he has plans to address it. Under no circumstances would I play detective.

Agree with PP: cash up the till at the end of each shift. Should narrow it down a bit, then they can start looking at cameras and stuff like that with more focus on specific times / potential thieves

yup camera

Advise all staff monies have been going missing and camera is for security and assurance that it is preventive.

Also consider restricting till access to those with a key/valid reason ie actually working there

I'd stay out of it entirely as it could very well be a family member.

I used to work in a family run business and the kids of the owner were always "borrowing" £20 out of the cash box on their way out to see friends, because they saw it as no different to asking their dad for £20.

That is, stay out of it if you're just one of the employees. If you are the manager then you need to discuss with the owner what strategies to put in place, some good ones suggested on this thread.

If the OP is the manager then it may well be her responsibility. The new plastic notes are terrible for sticking together. It's possible incorrect change has been given in error.

Cashing up at the end of each will narrow it down then interview each staff member individually and see what they have to say. Just ask them if they can think of anything that may have resulted in there being an error.

Leave it to the owner - especially if it’s family!
You can’t rule out long-standing staff, people get desperate or complacent.
As well as cashing up after each shift, owner needs to look at access. Is it easier to just open it? Seems so if you’re including teens in your suspect list. That needs to change. Money left in till overnight sometimes and cashed up only in the morning?

It’s a long time since I worked a til, but years ago I worked in a cash office and could see the time of any “open without a cash sale” moments. Doesn’t help if the money is palmed during a genuine sale, but does if it’s a teen sneaking down after hours.

It's not really your place. I think you speak to the management about it, suggest CCTV or a system of check so that it can't happen - he will see you want to help and know it's not you

Are the teenagers working there? If not, why do the have access to the till?

If you're the manager, report it to the police and ask for their advice. If you're not the manager then just leave it for the owner to deal with.

A lot of small bars near us have gone cashless. I suspect this is one of the reasons.

Me and my ex husband used to run pubs and we had a member of staff
that we were sure was stealing out of the till. We were certain it was him.

Just before his start we cashed up the till and put in a new till with just the float, nobody else was allowed to touch the till until the end of the night when it was cashed up.

You can do this to the staff you suspect and it narrows it down to days, as in Mondays the till was down, X was working and XX relative was there, Tuesday the till was fine, Wednesday the till was down and so on. It a pain to keep a fresh till with just the float in and having to cash up but its the only way.

Maybe set up a surveillance camera to see who is going into the till when they shouldnt be near it

I used to work for a supermarket back in the day when everything was cash payments. One of the mangers would when it was busy/till shift change over would come to one of the tills and ask for £20-30 of change for one of the other tills. Of course whoever was on the till was distracted, would give him the fivers or whatever he’d asked for and then he’d pocket it, and the next till person was none the wiser it was missing. He got away with about £10k.

Look for distractions on the CCTV.

As it stands at the moment, the owner cashes up once a day after closing, and some days there’s been 3 shift changes in between.
A camera above the till is the only way to know for sure I suppose isn’t it?
It also could be happening outside of opening hours if it is one of the family members, because the door between the living quarters and the business isn’t always locked up at the end of the day.