Rizz, you are better than most. I know people who have their Bachelors and some their Masters and don't know how to count back change. It is amazing to me. Thanks Rizz :) :)
Somehow I'm sure you have this talent also. (big smile) Most people don't. I do, thank goodness, know how to make change and I do get the whole idea about debit and credit... But somehow I forget the credit goes to the bank... and the debit goes to the person.... or is that backwards? Big hugs! Thanks Beans :) :)
That happened from time to time when I worked in food and retail. Mine was usually accurate. I don't ever recall having any overages/ shortages... perhaps a few cents here and there, but nothing serious. But, I do remember having to write up an employee for being $5 over once. I didn't feel good about it, but my boss pointed out that the difference meant either the person was shorting customers or they were skimming from the drawer (usually done by not ringing things in and then pocketing the cash). So, I did write the employee up. Months down the line, we learned she was skimming.
There were other times something seemed off with my counts, but it always balanced at the end of the day. I'd find out another drawer or the safe was short, meaning either myself or another manager had biffed it when we were getting change for a drawer. So, I always marked the money down exactly as it was and then eventually found out where it belonged. There were a few times we had customers report we had shorted them. In those cases, I always counted right away. They were usually right. I'd give them their cash and it would be done. We had one girl say she had been shorted the change from a $20 for like a $5 meal once. My supervisor counted the drawer and it came out correct. The girl argued more and even rabbit-eared her pockets to prove it and the boss noticed she had bills sticking out of the waistband of her pants. He refunded the price of the meal and then kicked her out and told her never to come back again. The cashier doing the transaction was the one later nailed for skimming. I still wonder who was in the right there sometimes. My boss was horrible to the customer- yelling with a red face and everything, calling her names. Both women were young single mothers with multiple children. One of them was lying. I didn't like how my supervisor responded, but I was soooo glad it wasn't me who had to sort it out. I was probably only 18 or so then, but it obviously left a mark.
Your position must have been a tough one. You don't want to accuse someone you trusted and hired to watch your money, or the businesses money, only to find in the long run they are ripping you off. I think this happens a lot with personal accounts too. They mix the numbers so they end up paying more. All the while, they are lining their pockets. People you want to trust and people who you can trust are hard to find. Don and I are talking about this because if I make a mistake giving change or I transpose numbers on a work order, I, without hesitation, take it out of my own pocket to make up the difference. This became a problem once in December. I ended paying the company about 1200 for mistakes that were trivial to some but felt HUGE to me. It's hard to be a thief but even harder to not be a thief and be blamed as one. None-the-less, I am not and the problem was resolved. Still, it is an awful feeling. I would take the money out of my pocket to make the drawer balance.
Nothing. I used to be the bookkeeper in a large chain grocery store. Major overages and shorts in tills usually worked themselves out the next day. 9/10 times the overage/shortage was a clerical error - wrong amount entered when cash as "loaned" to the till or dropped from the till, miscount, forgot to add "extras", an such. Of course this was no excuse for a bad till. I had to do random audits on 3 tills each week to verify if an employee was "skimming the till". small discrepancies were usually due to failure to enter small transactions (customer didn't pick up or want their change, hit the wrong key for a refund, etc.)
I used to have a 5 dollar rule. Five up/ Five down, call it good. I thought that was a great way to know the customer wasn't getting ripped off, you weren't skimming and the business didn't lose money. I forgot to mention that in my response to JA. Shoot! Anyway, your idea definitely would keep people on their toes. I like it. Thanks Shuhak :) :)
I've never been horribly off, I think the biggest mistake I've made was accidentally giving the customer and extra dollar but nobody cares if it's a little mistake like that. Anyway, one time I found a $100 bill in the $1 slot and I called a manager to do an audit to make sure I didn't take $100 from someone and somehow mistake it for a $1. Apparently I just put it in the wrong slot but they got the right change for it.
Rizz 