Friday started out well and rapidly deteriorated. My boss called to tell me someone had called in sick. I knew right away who had called and I know why she called my boss instead of me. My boss is a more lenient than I am and this person knows that she can get around having to talk to anyone by leaving a message on my boss’s cell phone instead of calling me at home. I ended up having to work on my day off. I wouldn’t have cared except I hate working Friday nights, this person has a habit of calling in sick, I had a ton of things to get done and I had agreed to pick my niece up. By the time I got to work there was no place to park. I was almost late to work because I had to buy a gift bag for a birthday party my girls were going to be attending. The girl I was working with is nice but I don’t know her all that well and I was crabby because I didn’t want to be at work.
Most of my regular customers are my fellow mall employees. If they always order the same thing and I see them in line I’ll try to have whatever they normally order up by the time they get through the line. I posted Mystery Date as fiction because it is but the person that writeup talks about is real. Friday night there were two people behind him in line when he was at the counter. I knew what he wanted so I had it ready and waiting. While I was waiting for his money I had this really strange feeling that he was watching me. Before I could ask what was wrong he started talking. He said that whenever a certain girl who works there rings up his order she took his money and used the key on the cash register to open it up. On three separate occasions he had seen her take money from people, set the money off to the side of the register, give them change and leave to work on their orders without entering anything into the computer.
I asked my friend which one of my employees was doing this. He said he didn’t know her name but he could describe her. His description was a perfect match for the girl who had called in sick. When I first started my job she was going on a medical leave and I’ve wanted to fire her ever since she came back from her leave in August. I told the guy who worked at the Apple store that his order was on me. I told the girl I was working with that I had to make a phone call. I went in back to call my boss but really what I needed was a couple minutes to calm down. The mall is closed two days a year, on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. We’re headed into the busiest season of the year and now I’m down a person who stole from the store and works three days a week.
I work at the mall because a friend of my uncle’s was willing to give me a job. It’s a job, it can be fun but I wouldn’t be working there if I didn’t need the money. I do not love my job. I don’t hate it but I hate things like the fact that I can’t even go to the bathroom whenever I want. I work hard at my job. I try to be a model employee and I think I have good relationships with my boss and the people who work for me. One of the good things that came out of finding out that someone was stealing was my friend at the Apple store told me that I should forward my resume to him. I went on the Apple website to see what kind of positions they had open. I really like the guy who told me someone was stealing. I’m flattered that he offered to submit my resume to the powers that be and I would really like an opportunity to work somewhere other than where I work now because I absolutely hate working by myself all the time.
The problem is I feel bad for the people I work for now. Good people are hard to come by. I’m not irreplaceable but it’s not easy to find good staff. I know because it’s my job to interview and hire people. I’ve hired four new people and fired four that needed to go. I don’t know if that makes me a good guy or not but I don’t put up with crap and I don’t feel that my employees should have to either. Firing people who steal from the company is tricky. First you have to prove that they were stealing. Next you have to figure out how much they took. I can call my friend from Apple back. His testimony would probably stand up in court but we’re not going to get the money back. There’s no way to determine how much was stolen so why waste our valuable time?
I have nothing to base this on but I think I might actually get a job at Apple. I don’t know why I think this. Part of me thinks that maybe I’m just being optimistic and another part of me would like an opportunity to work with some cool people in an even cooler store. I like the casual work environment. The store is bright and seems well organized. The other day I was talking with one of the guys who works at the restaurant next door. In the past he hasn’t been overly friendly but he talked to me for about ten minutes. If I needed a job I could talk to him about one. He told me he was going to send some of the people who worked for him over to me for lessons on how to keep things clean and organized.
The longer I work at the mall the more people I meet. The more people I know the better chance I have at getting a different job but as I said earlier. Part of me doesn’t want to leave my boss in the lurch like that. My boss is one of the best employers I’ve ever had. She works hard. She’s tough, smart, shrewd, energetic and nobody’s fool but she’s also kind, sensitive, empathetic and she knows what it’s like to have my job. Right now I am grateful that I have a job. I no longer work in finance but I did for years and the way that Washington is reacting to the teetering economy is not very reassuring. It’ll be a while before the economy turns back around. In the meantime I’ll be sitting here wondering what would have happened if I would have gone back to school for a job I really wanted.