Bizarre Simpson-eque Ethical Dilemma

[publiusr]

There is a nice movement called a Moral Underground, where folks who are in some positions of power can help end some of the unfairness we often see.
http://thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1778

 

[Captain_Nick]

eta: if it's just people paying for things and the employee pocketing the money himself and then cancelling the orders, I don't understand how he/she could ever think to get away with it.

That is exactly what was going on. I guess because they got away with it once they figured that they'd never get caught. But it was bound to happen eventually.

The franchisee told me that he looked at his report and estimates that this employee managed to embezzle several thousand dollars over the course of a couple of months.

 

[Roger Wilco]

But don't people complain when they don't receive the services they paid for, and shouldn't some supervisor get suspicious or at least curious when it happens multiple times in a short period of time?

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I'd repoprt it. Not anonymousely but in person. Go to the boss and show him what's going on. If he has even the vaguest idea of computer technology he will see that you didn't abuse the system but that others do.
If he sees that you are honest, you're sure to be promoted or at least get a reward.
If you don't get rewarded, you should tell the whole story to the press (and make them pay you well - it's a top story!)

By staying anonymous or not telling at all, you'll just make yourself suspicious if someone else reports the security breach. It might backfire wery badly on you.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Glad it worked out for you, Nick! And yes, please don't poke around other people's systems anymore. They really don't like that, and people do go to prison for it, no matter their intentions.

 

[Captain_Nick]

But don't people complain when they don't receive the services they paid for, and shouldn't some supervisor get suspicious or at least curious when it happens multiple times in a short period of time?

No, it's a pretty simple minded scam. People order their food, receive it, pay for it, and leave the store happy (usually). Then at the end of the night the manager decides that the store has made stacks of money and that some of it rightfully belongs to them. So they go into the system and randomly cancel orders. Then when they are cashing up there is $50 or $100 more in the till than there 'should' be, and that amount is quickly pocketed. Easy as, right?

Only problem is that the designers of the POS software have thought of this scam and so when a docket is cancelled it's not 'deleted' but rather 'marked as cancelled', along with when, who and why.

There is a report on the system that shows you cancelled orders - that's how I caught this guy - but not every franchisee has the nous to check it regularly.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Ah, I see, now I get it. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Congrats, Nick! I hope there's a rise in salary or a promotion in it for you!


Off topic: weird bug: my office computer didn't display half of this thread (hence my previuous post was rather outdated when posted). Has anyone experienced similar problems lately?

 

[Captain_Nick]

It's another entry for the resume, but I don't expect any raise or promotion or anything. Avoiding trouble and busting this guy is reward enough.

 

[Mr Awe]

There seems to be an easy fix to this. Document a bunch of the events using the information from the system. Include the specific transaction numbers, amounts, times, person, etc. Make it clear that its all from their own system.

Submit that information anonymously. It will both alert them to the theft with enough detail that it should get them to act. It will also simultaneously alert them to the weakness in their system without indicating that it was you. Could fix to problems at once.

ETA: Ah, I see that it turned out nicely! Great!

Mr Awe

 

[Chensams]

Nice job.

This brings up a memory from college and a company I refuse to eat at to this day. While I was in college, I worked for a large pizza chain as shift manager and helped out for time to time at different stores. I thought the manager at one of the stores was stealing based upon weird swings in inventory and credit card transactions. Other employees saw him steal money from the vending machines so I told the regional manager of my suspicions. A week later, I was pulled into an office with the manager and regional manager and was told I should support that manager better. The manager treated me like crap after that but luckily I didn't regularly work at that store. A couple of months later, several customers complained to corporate about charges on their credit cards. The dude was stealing huge amounts of money (adding huge tips and misc charges). He ended up costing the company tens of thousands of dollars and a lot of pissed off customers. They could have solved the problem months earlier if they would have at least checked up on what I brought to them. I repeatedly saw the regional manager over my "time" at with this chain and he never said a word about it.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Sounds like that company had a pretty sick culture.

 

[Chensams]

Sounds like that company had a pretty sick culture.

Pretty much. Luckily I only worked there for 3 years but only at that particular store for a year. I won't say the name of the company but it's a pizza joint with "Pizza" and "Hut" in it's name.

Hated, hated working there. I was stoked when I finally quit for my first office job.