Best stories of people on the take.
Discussion
I run a busy city centre bar. It's a young team of staff I have and in a cash handling environment, it's easy for them to take advantage of their position.
I've recently had to fire a few people and am in the process of rehiring some new barstaff.
Over the years, I've seen it all. Over pouring drinks to their mates, handing free drinks out, utilising refund and error correct buttons on the till to cancel transaction. The list is endless.
Do you guys have any stories of people on the take? The more ingenius, the better...
I've recently had to fire a few people and am in the process of rehiring some new barstaff.
Over the years, I've seen it all. Over pouring drinks to their mates, handing free drinks out, utilising refund and error correct buttons on the till to cancel transaction. The list is endless.
Do you guys have any stories of people on the take? The more ingenius, the better...
Just standard fare from me, a mate used to not bother ringing through the till. Used to clear nearly a ton on a weekend. Also used to put out short measures too so he could 'have the extra'. After a shift he'd join me in the dive pub in town, put a fiver in the gambling machine then double the take on a lucky night.
Where I work there was a store man who did overtime on a weekend. He would go in and not open the store so everyone thought there was no one in. Even better, he would cut up lengths of 55mm copper cable and put them in his bag and take them home to weigh in. Free time and a half and a copper bonus to boot.
He ended up getting caught when a supervisor opened the store as something was needed in a hurry and found him hacksaw in hand and the rest came to light when the copper was stock checked and found to be 500m short. Yes indeed, 500m! He had been doing it for 2 years!
He ended up getting caught when a supervisor opened the store as something was needed in a hurry and found him hacksaw in hand and the rest came to light when the copper was stock checked and found to be 500m short. Yes indeed, 500m! He had been doing it for 2 years!
I've heard of managers buying boxes of coke syrup from the smash and carry, putting them in the cellar and then refunding themselves the 300 or so pints of coke it makes from the till to make some easy money.
An incredibly rough woman tried to persuade me into fixing the "chip" on her windscreen by offering me a "blurjob". Someone had thrown a snooker ball at her windscreen. No amount of "blurrjobs" would have fixed it. That's the closest I've been to being on the take.
An incredibly rough woman tried to persuade me into fixing the "chip" on her windscreen by offering me a "blurjob". Someone had thrown a snooker ball at her windscreen. No amount of "blurrjobs" would have fixed it. That's the closest I've been to being on the take.
Edited by MikeOxlong on Monday 28th April 17:45
An ex colleague of mine took £500 cash as a deposit on a van order, a few months down the line and tee customer enquired about the delay as he hadn't seen his van; my colleague had failed to put the order through to admin to actually order the van so the guy cancelled and requested his deposit back, eventually my colleague transferred it back to him from his own personal account, the guy queried it with management and my colleague was sacked.
Another colleague sold paint protection to someone who purchased a car however he requested a supplementary invoice for it, he took £300 cash for the paint protection however a month or so down the line accounts queried the supplementary as it hadn't been paid; my colleague pocketed the money with every intention (I believe) of paying it back before he was found out as he had major cashflow problems, however things snowballed and he forgot, he did pay it back in the end but it was too late and he was sacked. He wasn't a bad guy as such just a mess and had major money issues.
When working at Sainburys as a student a friend of mine who was on the tills stole money from the till, it started off a little here and there and he eventually got greedy, he would put the money in his tie at the bottom where there is that bit of lining, it took them ages to work out where he was hiding it.
I've probably got a few more I'll have a think.
Another colleague sold paint protection to someone who purchased a car however he requested a supplementary invoice for it, he took £300 cash for the paint protection however a month or so down the line accounts queried the supplementary as it hadn't been paid; my colleague pocketed the money with every intention (I believe) of paying it back before he was found out as he had major cashflow problems, however things snowballed and he forgot, he did pay it back in the end but it was too late and he was sacked. He wasn't a bad guy as such just a mess and had major money issues.
When working at Sainburys as a student a friend of mine who was on the tills stole money from the till, it started off a little here and there and he eventually got greedy, he would put the money in his tie at the bottom where there is that bit of lining, it took them ages to work out where he was hiding it.
I've probably got a few more I'll have a think.
As a youth. Used to work as a waiter in a busy nightclub. Add 10 or 20 p to each order adds up over a night. Big orders at Xmas party night's might have a pound or 2 added. Watch for people who just put their change in their pockets without checking and some coins may have slipped out of sight on the tray. When you're earning 2 or 3 quid an hour it was easy to treble your wages.
Shoppers in a North London suburb would push full trolleys up the ramp into the multi story car park and collect tickets. Then load up the car and drive out using the trolley ticket apparently having parked for 5 mins.
There was a similar scam at a (I think) Heathrow airport car park in the 70s. Passengers would collect their car after a week and pay a large bill. The staff would discard the passengers 2 week ticket and put their own ticket from the previous day into the system together with 1 days cash. The remainder would go into their pocket. Their car hire scam did not end well for them however.
Very very common trick in Boots was for staff to swipe their own loyalty card on a customers transaction if the customer didn't have a card. Ludicrous reward/risk ration but they still did it.
Another story I liked was a colleague who was reputed to have reversed the connections on his gas meter to reduce his bill, but miscalculated and had to open all the windows and put the heating on full blast in order to get out of negative consumption.
There was a similar scam at a (I think) Heathrow airport car park in the 70s. Passengers would collect their car after a week and pay a large bill. The staff would discard the passengers 2 week ticket and put their own ticket from the previous day into the system together with 1 days cash. The remainder would go into their pocket. Their car hire scam did not end well for them however.
Very very common trick in Boots was for staff to swipe their own loyalty card on a customers transaction if the customer didn't have a card. Ludicrous reward/risk ration but they still did it.
Another story I liked was a colleague who was reputed to have reversed the connections on his gas meter to reduce his bill, but miscalculated and had to open all the windows and put the heating on full blast in order to get out of negative consumption.
A fat, useless, unreliable, East European 
I used to work with (I worked, he smoked fags when he actually bothered to turn up for work) went to work for Asda after he left us a year or three back. He hardly ever worked Mondays and would very often have another day or two off in the week. When him and his day went to Asda he used to stay at home while his dad went to work and clocked the both in.
I used to work with (I worked, he smoked fags when he actually bothered to turn up for work) went to work for Asda after he left us a year or three back. He hardly ever worked Mondays and would very often have another day or two off in the week. When him and his day went to Asda he used to stay at home while his dad went to work and clocked the both in. When pay as you go phones first came out, my mate used to sell them, he worked in a warehouse and would liberate phones and sell them for 50 quid each, the best part was he kept one for himself, every phone he sold had a voucher for 20 quid talk time, he ran his own phone for two years without spending a penny, every phone he sold he kept the voucher.
Where I used to work a colleague had his wife on the payroll despite her never working there. Helped he used her maiden name and every week about 20 hours would go through the books. Senior management never clicked (no surprise there) and he got away with it for about a year.
Audit department were a bit cleverer though in the end and he lost his job...
Audit department were a bit cleverer though in the end and he lost his job...
Think theres a recurring theme here, in the end they usually always get found out as they become too greedy and carry it on too long.
Cant remember exact details but i use to work with a guy who got sacked from a large DIY retailer for buying kitchens in his credit card, collecting the points, then refunding himself but keeping the points.
Also my best mate lost his job for stealing a light bulb as one had blown at home.
Cant remember exact details but i use to work with a guy who got sacked from a large DIY retailer for buying kitchens in his credit card, collecting the points, then refunding himself but keeping the points.
Also my best mate lost his job for stealing a light bulb as one had blown at home.
When I work at Pizza Hut some of the front of house staff would do a trick that was known as buffet fraud.
Basically they would serve a table of 4 for buffet and make sure they payed cash. They would then sit the next set of 4 down in the same seats and use the receipt from the first table of 4 tricking the system into thinking one family had taken a long time. They could make 100s but the managers caught on eventually
Basically they would serve a table of 4 for buffet and make sure they payed cash. They would then sit the next set of 4 down in the same seats and use the receipt from the first table of 4 tricking the system into thinking one family had taken a long time. They could make 100s but the managers caught on eventually
My last job was for a company supplying Disposables....cups,plates,napkins,cling film,cleaning stuff etc.
Turns out the warehouse manager was coming in out of hours and taking stuff and then handing it to a mate
to sell at car boot sales.
The owner of the company also liked to frequent car boot sales and recognised some of our stuff
in its unique packaging.
He was fired !
No idea how long this went on for but the owner reckoned £1000s were lost.
Turns out the warehouse manager was coming in out of hours and taking stuff and then handing it to a mate
to sell at car boot sales.
The owner of the company also liked to frequent car boot sales and recognised some of our stuff
in its unique packaging.
He was fired !
No idea how long this went on for but the owner reckoned £1000s were lost.
A couple where they weren't caught:
Some years back a guy I know managed to forge a £5 note well enough that it would be accepted by council parking meters (god knows how as he was thick as st). He visited every meter he could find that gave change and bought as many £1 (or lowest fare) tickets as he could until the machine ran out of change. Never visited the same machine twice. Then blew it on coke.
A mate of mine while in college used to work in a local golf pro shop and was often managing the shop on his own most of the time. It didn't take long to realise that buggy hire, trolley hire & green fees were usually always cash transactions where it was easy not to ring them through the till. He made a st load from it with seemingly nobody the wiser.
Some years back a guy I know managed to forge a £5 note well enough that it would be accepted by council parking meters (god knows how as he was thick as s
t). He visited every meter he could find that gave change and bought as many £1 (or lowest fare) tickets as he could until the machine ran out of change. Never visited the same machine twice. Then blew it on coke.A mate of mine while in college used to work in a local golf pro shop and was often managing the shop on his own most of the time. It didn't take long to realise that buggy hire, trolley hire & green fees were usually always cash transactions where it was easy not to ring them through the till. He made a s
t load from it with seemingly nobody the wiser.Edited by Sargeant Orange on Monday 28th April 19:49
Dr Jekyll said:
Very very common trick in Boots was for staff to swipe their own loyalty card on a customers transaction if the customer didn't have a card. Ludicrous reward/risk ration but they still did it.
n.
I read about a pharmacist at Boots who did just this, Boots fired her and reported her to the General Pharmaceutical Council who struck her off.n.
Career over
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