anleja

I was on my way home from my friend's when I decided to stop at Steak and Shake's drive-thru for an orange freeze.

When I placed the order for my one freeze, she said she'd have the total at the window. Okay. I see that the little digital sign says my total as $7-something. I am about to say "you got the total wrong" when she told me total was $3-something.

Now I'm almost certain she had pocketed the money. Old trick, right? But it made me kinda mad. I didn't say anything, but I think I should have. First of all, she is dumb to do that when there is a sign with the digital price that reads "if the total you are asked to pay is different than this total, please call #"

Second of all, I feel that my money should go to the company, not straight into her pocket. I work hard for my money, and I feel a bit upset that my money is going right to her by her stealing it (and stealing the food, may I add).

I know I got what I paid for, but this bothers me. Should I let it bother me?

skinnymofo

i couldnt really understand what you were saying, did you pay the 7 instead of the 3 she told you? Its a possibility there was people behind you in line also and that was the total for them too.

anleja

The place was dead, I was the only person in the drive thru. When I pulled up and read the total, it was the total of a previous customer, who had left before I had even gotten there. It should have read my total, but it didn't.

So, she charged me the correct price for my order, she just didn't put the order into the computer. That way she can steal the money because there is no record of any order being taken, which means that her drawer will come up even.

I used to work at a pizza place, we had a buffet for $6. The girl behind the counter would keep the drawer open and hand people their change without ringing the order in. If she did this 6 times, she could take $36 from the drawer and it would still be an even drawer. Pretty dishonest, but I think this is a very common practice in businesses, especially in food service where inventory is never as exact as in, say, an electronics store.

AfterBurn

yeah you should have definatly have said something but look at it this way, at least next time you wont make the same mistake..and you lost only $4 and not $24

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anleja

no no no...

I ordered $3 worth of food.

The red digital numbers said $7, from the previous customer. The only reason I mention this is to show that she probably did not enter MY order through.

She told me to pay $3.

She (probably) took the $3 and put it in her pocket.

I paid the right price for what I ordered. My issue is that I feel the money should go to the company, NOT her pocket.

I wonder if I should even care about this... I got what I paid for, but should I call that # to let them know their employee is stealing $? It isn't MY loss, but I'm against stealing. She only pocketed $3, but why would she stop there? Someone could order 4 shakes, she could neglect to ring in the order and still collect the money and pocket $12.

I know this is a comparison of a totally different level, but what if you knew of someone who robbed a bank? Would you morally be obligated to turn them in, even if you yourself did not suffer as a result of the robbery?

(I can't believe how worked up this has gotten me. I'll probably wake up in the morning, read this and think "why was I even giving a shit about this? I have bigger things to worry about.")

I hate it when people snitch, but on the flipside, I hate it when people abuse the trust they've been given and steal.

Rlyss

I'm with you anleja. Even though the customer doesn't directly suffer from the employee's theft, the principle is that your money was supposed to go to the company, and instead it went somewhere else. You gain the orange freeze (is that a drink?) but you agreed to pay Steak and Shake the money, but they'll never get it. Obviously it's not a huge operation and the company won't go bust because of it, but the principle is there.

For anyone who doesn't get what happened, the girl just bypassed the register and pocketed the money. The books won't show that anleja bought an orange freeze, as far as the books show there was no transaction.

Go back there next week at the same time and see if the girl is still working there. If she does it again ask for a receipt, I think that way it would have to go through the register and she couldn't pocket the money without her till coming up short at the end of the shift.

ratbastid

You did a business transaction with Steak and Shake (love that place, btw!). You didn't go there to do business with the girl working the drive-through.

They have that sign up for a reason. I say go back, get the number, and call it.

maleficent

Ask for a receipt, that was she's forced to ring up the sale...

I can't believe people would be that stupid and dishonest over such a small amount of money.

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cj2112

call the number, a thief is a thief, regardless of who they are stealing from.

CoachAlan

What people fail to realize is that thievery harms us all. $3 seems like nothing to Steak & Shake, but companies have to factor things like theft into their pricing. If you call the company and report the theft, maybe their shakes can stay $3 a bit longer before they raise the price again.

And another thing. I don't buy into the whole idea that the snitch is the bad guy. If a person is doing something they know to be wrong, they have no right to be mad at the person who turned them in. They should only be mad at themselves for doing the wrong thing. The general rule I use is if I'm doing something I don't want anyone to know about, I probably shouldn't do it.

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Trisk

Actually, it seems to me like being dishonest over such a small amount of money would be smarter. It's harder to track 3-4 $3 shakes than it is to track 1 $20 steak.

Cynthetiq

I just had this happen to me at my local KFC. I called the main office, I wrote the website.

Girl charged me $10.41, I gave 11 and say that she only rang up $1.00

I got a $5 coupon from the Main office and the manager and I spoke. He wants to meet me and hopefully he'll give me more coupons or freebies.

He was very thankful of me reporting it because he was put there 2 months ago because they had figured out that someone was manipulating the register.

I felt like and old man at the time, but do the right thing. Report it. If you don't remember it next time you reach into your pocket and you realize that the price went up another $0.25. I feel good that I did the right thing.

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TM875

Okay, okay, okay...once again, I must break from the general concensus here.

Now, I work in retail (note: I DO NOT handle money), and I know the cost for almost everything that we sell. That being said, almost everything is nearly 75% profit (for example, a cake that normally sells for $6.99 goes on sale for $5.99. We still make $5.50 profit on that cake). There is a huge markup on everything. The freeze that you bought probably had an actual cost of $.05-.25. In fact, throughout the day, that establishment probably shrinks 10x more 'freeze slush' than what was in your cup.

My point: This girl is probably getting paid $6 an hour. She is not stealing from you, she is stealing from a corporate conglomerate that has no heart. You keep saying that you would rather your money go to the business. Why? I would rather my $3 bucks go to some poor college student trying to survive on the best job that she could get. I salute people like her - she's able to screw over the big businesses.



Now, I have to get back to my day job as chairman of Enron...

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braindamage351

Of course she's only getting paid $6 an hour. It's a pathetically easy job that requires absolutely no education. Any idiot can do it, so it caters to those who have no other options. If it wasn't $6 fast food would stop existing entirely, and that same girl would be stealing off of the street instead of from behind a register.

She should lose her job and be sued for a couple months worth of her salary.

Clark

Of course when you say "profit" you are taking in to consideration, the cost of rent, insurance, utilities(gas, electric, water), employs salaries, loss of goods(both damage and theft) and any other overhead.

Cost of goods is often only a small part of the total cost of an item at any store.

shakran

I'd say relax and give her the benefit of the doubt. They're all on wireless headsets nowadays. For all you know she was across the room from the register and didn't have time to get there before you drove forward.