How much would you tolerate a staff stealing from you?
I’d just like to see where people stand on this.
For context, I’ve taken over my parent’s company and I’m gearing up to run it since they want to retire.
The company is small, and there are only 2 staffs.
One of the staff is very good, she’s incredibly loyal, really goes out of her way to help & does her best at her job. I really appreciate her and she knows it too.
However, I have another staff who is on the other end of the spectrum. She has been with the company for a few years, and she has been stealing money out of the cash register.
The other staff saw her taking money out of the cash register when she was viewing the CCTV. This was the first time she saw it and informed my father.
We suspect that she’s been doing it for a while, but my father never really counted the money from the cash register since he puts lots of trust into his staff.
My father told this staff that she isn’t allowed to steal money – so she’s resorted to “stealing” other things.
She takes all the pens that I purchase for the office, paper clips, uses the office printer to print her sister’s homework / assignments(not just one / two pieces, it’s an entire stack of notes and it happens at least weekly), taking the entire coffee packet & tea box home (when I just bought it- resulting in me having to re-purchase it)
When I put a wet tissue packet on the table – which I said was for everyone to use, this staff finished the entire packet within 3 days. It was a 100 piece pack too.
Once, I baked brownies which was for everyone – I put 4 boxes in the fridge and this staff took the entire 4 boxes home. She didn’t even return my containers.
I know all these might seem very small and silly to feel upset over, but I genuinely feel that she thinks she can “squeeze” me because she knows that I’m lacking manpower.
She would regularly ask my father to purchase lunch & food for her; she has never paid him back for all the lunches he’s bought her.
Once she brought sweet potatoes to the office and let everyone eat it, saying it tasted bad – then demanded everyone pay her back for the “bad tasting” sweet potatoes. I feel that she’s rather calculative.
She regularly and randomly takes “offs” because she wants to attend concerts / greet celebrities at the airport. My father has never said no to her requests.
I was really frustrated when she continues with this “bad behaviour” but my father tells me to let her continue stealing money. He says since we are incredibly short staffed, I have to put up with it since I “desperately need” her.
If it were me, I would not put up with the stealing. I am trying to look for more staff to hire, but it’s really hard. When he told me that she was stealing money, I told him that he should report it to the police but he said to just let it be.
I just want to see what other people think, and if I’m really being “too sensitive” as my father says. He says I have to “give and take” but I feel that theft is a big deal and a huge indicator of one’s character.
I’ve just never met anyone who has behaved this way, and I thought it would be embarrassing for a person to act this way.