Should I??

[slinkster]

My old boss was stealing from the shop we work in. She must have got away with thousands and thousands of pounds worth of cash and stock from the shop, including taking £300 from a trusting, elderly lady, yet we didn't have any video evidence and thus the police couldn't formally charge her though she was obviously warned and sacked. We learnt after that she's done this in every job she has. Her husband is a cleaner and has also been investigated for theft and her daughters too, working in retail, have lost jobs because of similar accusations. They're quite possibly the scuttiest family I've ever ever met yet they continue to get away with it time and again because any "evidence" is circumstantial and not enough to get a conviction. :mad:

I've since come to learn that she's working somewhere else and rumour has it she's pulling the exact same tricks, and I'm seriously considering informing the company she works for somehow... maybe by an anonymous letter?? I don't want it to get traced back to me obviously but it really gets on my nerves that she's getting away with this AGAIN?! It's like she's totally unstoppable.

What are your thoughts? Is it wise to step in or should I keep out of it?

[Eki]

My old boss was stealing from the shop we work in. She must have got away with thousands and thousands of pounds worth of cash and stock from the shop, including taking £300 from a trusting, elderly lady, yet we didn't have any video evidence and thus the police couldn't formally charge her though she was obviously warned and sacked. We learnt after that she's done this in every job she has. Her husband is a cleaner and has also been investigated for theft and her daughters too, working in retail, have lost jobs because of similar accusations. They're quite possibly the scuttiest family I've ever ever met yet they continue to get away with it time and again because any "evidence" is circumstantial and not enough to get a conviction. :mad:

I've since come to learn that she's working somewhere else and rumour has it she's pulling the exact same tricks, and I'm seriously considering informing the company she works for somehow... maybe by an anonymous letter?? I don't want it to get traced back to me obviously but it really gets on my nerves that she's getting away with this AGAIN?! It's like she's totally unstoppable.

What are your thoughts? Is it wise to step in or should I keep out of it?
There's a risk that if you tell, everybody except one will love slinky after that, and also a more serious risk that she might accuse you of slander if they can't find evidence against her. I don't know what I would do myself, so I won't give you any advice, it's up to you.

[Flat.tyres]

Why not. Theft is theft and this woman is stealing from all our pockets as stealing pushes up the cost of goods.

Hope she gets done.

[Hondo]

If you want to step in then do so. However, be aware that regardless of what anyone says, there is always the probability your involvement will be found out. I would think her new employer would gladly work with the police to finally catch her and shut her down for awhile.

If you're not prepared to have your involvement known, stay out of it.

I'd try to tell the people. If I didn't, I wouldn't be much different than the woman that was stealing.

[jim mcglinchey]

write an anonymous letter to the new employer telling them to watch her like a hawk. you dont have to get involved.

[slinkster]

yeah that was my thought, a letter... if it's anonymous surely she can't trace it back?I mean she might suspect it was someone from her previous employers but she wouldn't know who... and I'm sure thee's hundreds to choose from!

When we reported what we knew and suspected to our own Head Office, and they came in to investigate, she walked out threatening to sue us all for slander. Funnily enough she didn't, presumably because she knew there'd be a full investigation.

Anyway, the company might not even act on it... but at least they would have been warned... I'm just scared of it coming back on me I guess and I don't care how that sounds.



Still...

[schmenke]

Don't let it bother you Slinky.
The employer assumes the risk (and somewhat the responsibility) when hiring an employee without first checking references from previous jobs :mark:

[RaceFanStan]

Ah, to be the conscious of fair play or not ...
THINK before you act because obviously the lady is pretty slick or she would have been prosecuted ...
eventually she will probably slip-up & justice will be served at that time ...
I have found that it is best to keep myself above reproach & allow others to do what they will ...
unless they do something directly to me I allow them to live as they please ...
knowing that someday they will get their just deserves.

Do what you will but also know that no-one can remain anonymous when the police get involved. :s

[Hondo]

Ah, to be the conscious of fair play or not ...
THINK before you act because obviously the lady is pretty slick or she would have been prosecuted ...
eventually she will probably slip-up & justice will be served at that time ...
I have found that it is best to keep myself above reproach & allow others to do what they will ...
unless they do something directly to me I allow them to live as they please ...
knowly that someday they will get their just deserves.

Do what you will but also know that no-one can remain anonymous when the police get involved. :s

I took a call one morning about vandalism at an apartment complex parking lot. Some kids had gone from car to car breaking windows and windshields, not on all, but on most. We went door to door trying to find somebody who might have heard or noticed something unusual so we could at the least put a time on the event. We found a lady who told us it was 3 kids that did it around 1:00 am because she watched them. "why didn't you call us?" "Because they didn't mess with my car and I didn't want to get involved.". Great.

Slinkster, how would you feel if you befriended someone and 4 weeks later they took off and stole your jewelery, cash, cell phone, and any other small items you hold dear and after it happened other friends came up to you and told you that yeah, he/she does that to everybody. Wouldn't feel at least a little betrayed that people knew this would happen but didn't warn you? I bet you would.

I know, "thats different". No it isn't, you just need it to be different. What goes around, comes around. If what that lady is doing is wrong and you feel strongly that she needs to be stopped either step up and do what you can to help stop her or stop whining about crime and what others should do about it.

[LotusElise]

Does this company have a head office or is it a one-place kind of business? I'd probably be more comfortable sending a letter to head office if I could.
If you want to do something, then the anonymous letter or message is the only way I can think of going about it without incriminating yourself. If she's done it to a lot of places, there are going to be quite a few people who are in on her act so she won't automatically suspect you.
If more people did this sort of thing, I'm sure crime detection rates would go up. It's the fact that people like to keep quiet, mind their own business, live and let live that goes some way to letting these crooks get away with all kinds of things.

[CarlMetro]

Don't let it bother you Slinky.
The employer assumes the risk (and somewhat the responsibility) when hiring an employee without first checking references from previous jobs :mark:

Sadly in this country, I don't know about other parts of the world, an employer cannot by law give a bad reference, nor can they disclose why a person has been dismissed to a prospective employer. All they can do is refuse to give a reference.

With that in mind, it is highly likely that her new employer doesn't know of her past history and unless she has a criminal record and her current employer has checked for such, then it's unlikely to find out until it's too late.

Personally I'd send an anonymous letter simply explaining that you are a former colleague of theirs and that you have knowledge of their past misdemeanors to the new employers HR department, advising them of the persons previous history, it would then be down to them to take any action, or not as the case may be.

[slinkster]

Sadly in this country, I don't know about other parts of the world, an employer cannot by law give a bad reference, nor can they disclose why a person has been dismissed to a prospective employer. All they can do is refuse to give a reference.

Exactly. Our HR person got a slap wrist for not checking references, however, her last place was so desperate to get rid of her they gave her a glowing reference! Besides, seeing as she's a professional, I have a feeling she could easily manage to fake a reference or get her friends to help her or something.

And Feiro, I'm not whining about it, I'm asking for advice. Fortunately this isn't something that I come across every day and there's alot of people here with different opinions on what to do. I don't particularly want to get involved in a court case as I can't afford to so this carries implications for me. And also.. I'm VERY different from the thief in question and I've already done my bit by giving statements to both my head office and to the police when I was asked. We DID step up, individually and as a work force to get her removed and to try and put a stop to this.

[schmenke]

Sadly in this country, I don't know about other parts of the world, an employer cannot by law give a bad reference, nor can they disclose why a person has been dismissed to a prospective employer. All they can do is refuse to give a reference. ...

That's retarded :mark:

[oily oaf]

Wait for her outside her new place of employment then when you think the time is right throw a sack over her head, tie it round her ankles with gardening twine then bundle her into your boot and drive to a deserted woodland area, find a large ditch and throw her in then douse her struggling, captive body liberally with the accelerant of your choice (brake cleaner is good) and then burn her..................................FACE UP!

I hope this helps.
No don't thank me! :mad:

[GridGirl]

I was going to make a comment about not being able not being able to give a bad reference but carl seems to have covered that already.

Your old boss does seem like a bag egg, but surely the company you work for and the company she now works for must have some form of control systems in place that should prevent theft especially when it comes to cash. With adequate controls in place you shouldn't be able to consistently steal large amounts of cash and stock and get away with it time after time surely.

Going back to your original question, I would tell her new employer defiantely because by the sounds of it its just a big viscious circle where the only winner seems to be the theif.

[Hazell B]

An anonymous phone call or letter would be a very good idea, yes. Karma will repay you ;)

After all, if any of us had employed her then later found out a previous workmate knew she was dodgy, we'd feel let down and cheated even more.

[CarlMetro]

That's retarded :mark:

Very true. That's not to say that there aren't ways in which to show someone in a bad light though. Most large companies in this country will have a standard reference form which they will send to the previous employer to complete and using less than complementary answers can get across what you really want to say whilst keeping it legal.

The last one I had to do was for a really useless employee who was employed by my predecessor and the answers I gave to some of the questions were not really what a new employer would want to read.

[Hazell B]

Carl's hit the nail on the head - it's what you don't say that gives it value these days. You wouldn't mention bad timekeeping for example, but if you don't mention good timekeeping it speaks volumes ;)