The Lack Of Instruction Will Be Your Destruction

(I get into work early one morning on my opening shift. I see a pile of stock on the counter, a note from my manager to me saying that a coworker wanted to buy these, and instructions on how I should ring them up and the discount I am to use. I leave the items at the counter with the note. When coworker finishes her shift, she comes down to buy the items.)

Coworker: “These are part of some damaged stock. [Manager] said I could get 50% off. Can you ring me up?”

Me: “Wait a minute. Wasn’t there note with them? Where is it?”

Coworker: “Oh, it just had my name on it. I threw it out.”

Me: “There were some specific instructions on it that I had to follow.”

Coworker: “No. I don’t think there were. It was only my name.”

(I check the bin and can’t find it amongst the other papers in there. I also look in a bin that is hidden at the back of other items. We only ever use this one to replace the other when it’s full because it’s so far out of the way. I find the note in it, all smashed up. I ring up the sale with the discount that the manager had written, a lot less than 50%. I see the manager the next day.)

Manager: “So, did [Coworker] buy items yesterday?”

Me: “Yes, lucky I saw that note you wrote when I got in.” *I explain everything*

Manager: “I knew she was up to something. She tried asking me for 50%; I told her I couldn’t do it but was able to offer her 30%. She told me she would buy it the next day. I wanted to see what she did, and this was also a test to see what you would do.”

(It’s not the first time that this coworker did something like this, but she never got into major trouble because she claimed mental illness. On the other hand, a manager, who has sworn to me before and since that she does not set “tests” for her staff, would have happily given me a warning.)