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Petty Theft in the Workplace
I'm a 20 year old female college student. Please bear with me as this is going to be very long, but I'm in desperate need of help!
I've been working full time at a restaurant similiarly setup like a Chuckie Cheese (pizza & games) for almost a year. I was recently fired by my boss for theft.
To explain the situation, I was considered a lower level manager. I generally worked front counter, however occasionally I worked at the ticket redemption counter in the game room. Everyone I work with manages to come home with handfuls of tokens on a nightly basis. Not neccessarily on purpose, but generally everyone carries tokens with them in order to have access to fix/test games and to give out to children who have fed tokens into a game only to have them not work.
Needless to say, when I would wash my clothes I would always manage to have tokens on me that I would throw on my dresser or into my purse after I got home. Never thought twice about it. Employers there constantly play games with those tokens, add tickets to their accounts or give away tokens to family members when they come in. No one ever mentioned it, and it wasn't something anyone really tried to hide.
One night my boyfriend came into work to eat, and as I was almost finished with my closing duties, he decided to just wait for me to finish and let me take him home. He asked if he could have the tokens from my purse that I had collected, and I told him sure. He played games for a while, and managed to take tokens when I wasn't back there (I was unaware of the fact). He won tickets, and me and a fellow coworker counted them, and fed them into the system like we would with anyone else. The end...or so I thought.
That same night the register came up short on night shift 100 dollars. The person responsible for the money had to either be me, the lower level manager that night, or the dish boy. Needless to say my manager spent all week looking into it, going through paper work and videos trying to find out what happened with the money.
I wasn't worried about it, because I knew it wasn't me. I'm not a thief and I respected my job way to much to ruin it by taking 100 dollars. I would NEVER do that! Turns out, the 100 dollars was my fault though. A person gave me a 100 dollar bill, and for some reason and with serious lack of judgement, I handed the 100 back to him as well as his 90some change. I have no idea what I was thinking, and I knew right then and there I would be fired when my manager showed me the video.
However my manager claims that was not the reason I was fired. She fired me over the tokens in the game room. I find this absolutely ridiculous, but what's done is done. My question is, how much trouble am I in over little fake tokens? She said she's not even shown the tapes to the owner, and she has no idea what he will do. My boyfriend called her and told her that between the two of them if she would drop the situation he would pay her back for the tokens he played games with. She said okay and she appreciated it. I asked my manager before I left if I could use her as a good reference and her exact words were "Yes. You were always on time and never called in. But theft is theft and I can't keep you."
What's going to happen to me? Should I use her as a reference or will she tell prospective employers that I am a theif? Will I go to jail? What should I say on an interview if they ask why I was terminated from my last job? Helppp!?
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Hi, I'm old enough to be your grandfather. I hope the wisdom that comes with age and life experience will be helpful to you.
As an employer I am more interested in your College Resume, not your part-time employment. Under the section of for job listings I would simply write year to year - numerous part-time jobs to fit school schedules, references available if desired.
Employers who employ part time workers rarely keep more than payroll records on any of these employees. So references form these employers and not much to go on. The fact that you worked, went to school and were able to maintain a good to high grade point average is what I look. This tells me more about who and what you are as a person. This and our face to face interview is how I make my decision on who I am going to hire or recommend for a given position. When interviewing for entry level positions; which are generally the ones college students are applying for; I believe most if not all interviewers use the same technique.
One thing that would stand out and I would recommend that this be shown on you work history is; If you have an internship or part-time job that relates to your major course of study. In my view this is a flag and a major point in your favor with many interviewers.
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I don't think anything will happen to you, as long as your boyfriend payed the company back for the stolen tokens. I would use her as a reference. You can ask her not to say anything about the theft ans explain it was a misunderstanding on your part. You won't go to jail. If your future employers ask why you were fired say there was a mix-up while you were on register duty because that was the main reason she was going over the tapes anyway. You should definately try to point out that other than that mix-up you '...were always on time and never called in....'
Good Luck-Maeā„
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