Stolen Bottle of Champagne

[NameChangeAndLifeChange]

A bottle of champagne, worth about £70, has been stolen from the office.

Our manager said that if it's not replaced then the four staff members will need to pay for it between us.

I've got an idea who may have taken it but I can't be 100% sure.

I'm simply not prepared to pay for it. Why should I? Everyone else thinks we should!

Apparently I may get a written warning for not contributing (whilst that thief walks free)!!!

That would infuriate me, too. Why punish everyone for the bad behaviour of one person? Reminds me of teachers who would threaten the whole class with a punishment in an effort to make an unknown culprit confess. The kind of person who steals won't care if others pay for their bad choices.

If the job is easy to replace, a change might not be the worst thing.

Just ignore the whole thing it’s a complete non-issue. The fact it’s happened at work is irrelevant as they have no legal right to dock your wages so really no different to it happening with a bunch of friends. Someone nicked it but you don’t know who so just shrug your shoulders and get on with your job.

It might have been one of the four (or the manager) but probably there are other people with office access such as landlord, managing agent, cleaner, security, building manager - any of them are equally likely I think?

What was going to happen to the champagne? Shared between you at Christmas? It's rubbish if one of your colleagues is a thief but the manager can't make you all pay (you are already out of a quarter of a bottle of fizz).

Tell the manager you didn't steal it, you are not at school where class punishments seem to be common and you won't be contributing anything.

The bottle could be mislaid, it could have been stolen. It's not for you (or your co-workers) to prove you didn't steal it, it's for your manager to prove it.

If an employer wants to give you a formal warning they have to follow due process and have evidence of wrongdoing. A manager deciding that someone has stolen a bottle of fizz but not knowing who does not meet those criteria.

Fuck that!

And I’d also be asking why the manager isn’t contributing the cost of replacement?

No way would I pay. Someone is happily saying let’s all pay because they’re going to get a £70 champers for less than £20. It won’t deter them from doing it again, so how many times will you all have to pay?

Fuck no don’t pay, I don’t know but that doesn’t seem legal. So you pay to then drink a bottle of champagne in the office after work? That sounds like fun.

This is insane. OP, I'm with you. If I didn't desperately need the job, I'd be prepared to walk over this. Some things are worth drawing a line over and this is just abysmal.

@NameChangeAndLifeChange

I would advise you ["Namechange"] to call the police [101 rather than 999 probably] and simply say that there has been a theft and - at this stage - ask what can be done. The bully should - of course - have done that already.

It will bring it out into the open

The boss stole it.

I'd bet my house on it!

As frustrated as he might be, he needs to let this one go and next time lock it up.

It was a gift.

Not the point but, is the cash he's demanding even going to be used to buy a replacement?
I agree with you op, I wouldn't be accepting a group punishment for something I haven't done, especially when if everyone on the team is under suspicion then this manager is not above suspicion so should be chipping in also.

Ridiculous when no one is actually out of pocket anyway.

on a much smaller scale, some good kept going missing at my work. Management said it was either me or two other colleagues as we were the only ones who had stayed late and the finger was pointed at all 3 of us. Like you, I was innocent and it turns out to be one of the colleagues - I was so surprised. No idea how they found out… maybe she admitted it

"I'll co-operate fully and freely with any criminal prosecution you might want to pursue, but I won't be contributing to replace this item"

There's no way I'd contribute. Why is the manager more bothered about replacing an ultimately worthless shared gift than finding out who the dishonest employee is? Is there someone higher up than this manager you can talk to?

Exactly this. This is actually outrageous OP. He's essentially blackmailing his employees because they are worried for their jobs. I would take this very seriously.

I wonder if manager has swiped it for some reason and now needs to replace it?

Fuck that for a game of soldiers. Boss needs to grow up.

needsomewarmsunshine · Today 16:54

I wonder if manager has swiped it for some reason and now needs to replace it?

We're of a similarly cynical mindset!

I’ll give you some free legal advice (not that you need to be a qualified solicitor to figure this out as many other posters have surmised); your boss simply can’t demand payment or otherwise garnish your wages to pay for your “share” . I think offering to support a police investigation is a good way to call his bluff.

That's coercion, and if you resign as a result of this, you can take him to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.
Suggest you give the citizen's advice bureau a ring on monday

Last and only time it happened to me as a team we got read the riot act.
It was a bit more serious as it was stock going missing.
The boss gave us a talking to a few times.
I was Saturday staff (remember them?) and the boss let three go and blamed us.
Went in a week later, new boss.
Yep, it was the boss who was light-fingered.
I was at a school careers day years later and she was giving a talk on how to be a good employee.
Don’t know how I kept a straight face!

I would speak to the boss, tell them you had no part in taking the bottle and your're not willing to contribute.

YANBU OP! Report report report.
The most ridiculous thing about this is that none of your colleagues are out of pocket. The champagne was a gift. No sane person would ask people to pay for it, you might as well keep your money and individually buy yourselves glasses of wine lol
Bet the manager took it.