Cashiers-short till ?

[dawson5]

OMG! do you realize almost nobody does this any more? I truly haven't noticed if they leave my payment visible, but in the last two years, one cashier has counted my change back. One. I was shocked. Usually, it's "Here's your change".

My grandmother taught me how to count back change when I was 14 and started working at their DQ. I try to make sure my kids understand money. My youngest questioned the gal at Subway and she tried some faulty math on him and he still showed her where she went wrong. They've since fixed that issue. (It was for the add on of chips & drink.)

When we lived in Battle Creek, during the book sale, they let the kids be in charge. I thought it was a great, but missed, opportunity to teach kids how to handle money. They let the kids loose with money and a calculator, but there was no supervision. They had them adding up the totals, figuring out sales tax confused3) and handling the money all without adult supervision. I would hate to balance that money box at the end of the day.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just curious if this is the norm, requiring that you pay out of pocket if the till is short?

NO. Not normal. Possibly not even legal.

 

[HM]

OP, your daughter's job doesn't sound very appealing. I think I'd be looking for something else, rather than deal with that boss.

 

[Diegosmom]

I worked at McDonalds when I was in HS and they would write you up if you were .50 over or under. Do you know how many people drive away saying keep the change...and we were not allowed to personally keep this change. But if you put too much in your drawer you would be writen up. So I would always make the change and put it on the top of the register (there was a flat spot). If someone owed a little over and was searching for change I would just say oh I got it dont worry. At the end of the night I would put anything remaining in the Ronald McDonald fund.

I was written up once for being $14 short. I had no idea why and was really mad at myself...I am very good with numbers...it wasnt till weeks later that I realized I was taking gift cert. (when McDonalds used to do the $1 coupon type gift cert) as cash and apparently there was a separate button for that...I was so happy to realize my past mistake but it was too late to un-write me up...

 

[usnuzuloose]

They changed the way they do the accounting of our registers so I have no clue if I have ever been over/under (HEY...if the till is OVER does the manager hand the cashier the overage? since they are requiring them to pay right there & then if it's short?).

I have worked many, many retail jobs handling cash and basically none of them have ever told me if I was over/under.

I wouldn't want to be a cashier in that store either.

There are ways on the registers to know who was cashering, I was greatful for them to be accountable for their own drawer. No one was allowed to use each others register. I learned how to figure out what would happen to most of the money. If people leave behind money alot of cashiers will put it off to the side and think it is theirs, I had one whom I caught doing that and asked why they had money sitting in the extra spot and they told me and I said no it is not yours reguardless and I would put it back and keep an eye on them. I only had one boss who did the counting of the drawers and I was very uncomfortable with that. All cashiers should know how to balance there drawers and to answer what happend to the money.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I cashiered at 2 large retail chains, and one would write you up and have you sign that the register was short. Now, I signed it, but I also signed it under protest, since we shared tills. If I had my own register and no one else used it then I wouldn't have an issue. If it's a shared one..then all bets are off honey! Bugged me to no end!! But to answer the question, no, I didn't have to pony up missing money.

 

[RitaE]

hint hint

In this state, harassing and unreasonable demands on an employee (forcing to sign a document accepting responsibility for customer shoplifting and demanding money from her purse) would be grounds for a "reasonable grounds for voluntarily terminating your employment" unemployment compensation claim.

I knew a lady once who took an evening job at a convenience store/gas station. The owner/her boss tried to make her responsible for the cars driving off without paying. She called me in tears one morning because he was demanding over $50 from her. Like she was supposed to just run out there and throw her body in front of the car to stop him. She ended up reporting him to the State. The really funny thing was he was too cheap to even install cameras out at the pumps to catch license plate numbers of drive-offs, so the police couldn't even do anything.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I did manage a gas station, and the chain co said we had to automatically turn the pumps on. People would drive off and we would be short. All managers complained and they still kept it that way. I cant tell you other things that were just like, making people answer things that were just unavoidable, and not for cash handling. It got to the point of micro managing. I finally had to leave.

 

[tvguy]

We had an "over and under" coffee can in the safe.
It was there before I started , and there when I left, and always had about $30 in it. If you were short, you took it out of the coffee can, if you were over, it went in the coffee can. I guess we short changed customers more often than we short changed the company.
But that was 32 years ago.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

One day last week I was $20 short at my bank-out. Both the coordinator and I recounted the money and I still had the shortage. It was the first time on about three years that I was over/short more than $1.

I know a note was put in my records, but clearly I do not have a pattern of shortages and so it will have no effect on me. Now if I had a history of large shortages that would be entirely different.

 

[dngnb8]

If your till is short, do you have to pay out of your paycheck to make up the difference?

DD19 has worked at a franchised teen girls clothing store in the mall for a year now stocking and running the fitting room. They just started training her as a cashier. She has never wanted to be a cashier because of the way the owner treats the girls if they are short (yelling, humiliating them, asking for cash on the spot from their purse).

The only place I cashiered was at Target as a teen, and we never even knew if our till was short!

Just curious if this is the norm, requiring that you pay out of pocket if the till is short?

If it is deemed the shortage is because of the employees mistake, yes, they must pay the shortage.

It is part of the hiring paperwork. If that isnt acceptable, then dont take the job

 

[deegack]

She should report the store to the dept of labor for the state. If you want to operate a store in the us you have to abide by the laws and regulations in place.


I've worked at several retail chains and never paid underages. One time I was $19.99 short and was written up. It turns out the head cashier was skimming from the drawers. He would take $20 a day from different people.

 

[sasywtch]

When I worked for the sheriff's department, there was a business owner that was from another country. He would do the same type of stuff and say, I don't care what the law is type of attitude. Finally a few employees went to the labor commission, his business was shut down along with two others close by (all owned by friends). It blew us away how they could care less what the laws were here. The sheriff's dept only got involved because he refused to lock his doors on the day he was suppose to. I'm a firm believer, wherever you move to, you need to adapt and not expect others to adapt to you. (goes if I moved to France--I wouldn't expect to say, well I don't care, that's how they do it in the US).

When I worked for AAFEES (for those non military), BX/PX at the base, they are not nice people to work for. (not due to the till but other things). You counted your till at the beginning and end and could not be 1 penny over or under. You could not let someone say, keep the pennies. You had to give the pennies back to the customer. I didn't have a problem with it but I hated that they'd pull us off and have us go sweep and then we'd see the manager running our cash register. Set up if ever to be waiting.

If what this businss owner is doing is illegal, I'd have my daughter quit out of principle.

 

[njmom47]

I was HC for a very long time in a supermarket. Each cashier had thier own till which was locked in their own "pizza box" with a lock of their choosing. They counted out their till at then end of their shift, I verified that it was
$100.00 then verified the amount they were handing in. If they were over or short more than $5.00, they were written up; I think it was 3 writeups they could be terminated. But since it was union, most people did not get terminated. The company I work for now has multiple people using a till, although if you have had too many overages or shortages, you would be put on cash control and have your own till for your shift. Never ONCE in the 30+ years have I ever heard that the cashier was responsible for paying their shortage amount out of their pocket! That is absurd.
But I would agree: time for dd to find a new job...it sounds like a terrible boss and cash control system!

 

[kaytieeldr]

If it is deemed the shortage is because of the employees mistake, yes, they must pay the shortage.

It is part of the hiring paperwork. If that isnt acceptable, then dont take the job

I think you might be confusing 'mistake' with 'theft'.

 

[powellrj]

When my DH was between jobs several years ago he took a job as a convenience store manager. He was told he would be paid so much per hour. Well several months later he was told that was a training wage and he was put on a bonus plan that included them taking drive-offs and shortages out of his pay. We literally starved until he got another job. Luckly I was working because there were weeks he didn't bring home $100 after they took the drive-offs and shortages out. What was really bad was the fact many times they had kids working on the weekends that would have the most drive-offs and he was still the one responsible even if he was off.

 

[manning]

I've never had to pay out of pocket but I knew that if I was over/short it could out my job in jeopardy.

The only job where I had an issue was PetSmart because we did not have our own drawer. I really disliked that because if someone else was messing up I didn't want the mgt to think it was me.

The single best way never to be over/short on a cash drawer is to count change back to the customer before you put their cash away. I've had to teach so many people how to do that over the years. If the bill is $17.85 and the customer gives you a $20, place it where they can see it and get their $2.15 in change and count it back-"and 15 cents makes 18, 19 and 20". You know you're right, and the customer also knows that they got the right change. Keeping the payment where the customer can see it also keeps you from getting scammed. They can't tell you they gave you a $50 if that $20 bill has been in plain sight the whole time.

You're lucky you know that trick. I was at a store where they lost power and had to make change manually. They would take the $20.00, subtract the bill and give change...what a mess.

 

[pkondz]

I used to work at a foreign exchange office. They paid about $5/hour and you were responsible for shortages. Take home pay bi/weekly was around $250. My cash drawer was in the neighborhood of $20,000+. No that's not a typo. $10K in CDN. $10K in US. Smaller amounts in Francs, Shillings, Pounds, Marks, Pesos, etc. A typical day would see you handling around $20,000 to $60,000. A co-worker, in tears, asked me to please recount her drawer as she was $100 short. I re-counted it and yes, she was short. $100 off her paycheque. Two weeks later... yup. Another $100 short. She quit not too long after that. Couldn't afford to work there anymore.