There are bad managers and then there are really bad managers, like ones who do things that are illegal.

In today’s story, we’re introduced to a really bad manager, but it takes a smart and determined employee to uncover the manager’s scheme and report him to the store’s owner.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

Manager insists I do my job properly. Happy to comply, Sir.

Preface

In early 2020 I was hired under the title “assistant manager” at a local Automotive shop.

We mainly sold tyres (“tires”, if you’re American) and alloy wheels for passenger vehicles.

The company owned several stores.

I reported directly to my manager, who then reported to the owner of the company.

He didn’t think his manager’s behavior was very professional.

Shortly after I was hired I noticed the behaviour of the manager was far from professional.

He would constantly mock and berate me for being the new guy.

I believe part of this was jealousy and insecurity on his part, as I ended up recording more sales under my name within the first few months.

He would also “knock off” work early and start drinking beer whilst the rest of us continued to work.

I remember when he found out that I participated in MMA training sessions after work, he tried to goad me into a fight for his own amusement.

Clearly this guy didn’t like me and I was starting to get the feeling that he was trying to get me to snap or lose my cool, and as a result; my employment.

I became even more certain of that with what happened next.

The numbers didn’t add up…

Story

During the few months that I had worked there, I had noticed that our takings for the day and sales records did not match.

I would often spend half an hour to an hour after work trying to figure out where the errors were coming from, whilst the manager would simply throw his hands in the air and exclaim that he had no idea how this was happening.

The recurring issue seemed to be that our cash takings had been recorded incorrectly.

There would sometimes be an excess amount of cash that didn’t match up to what was recorded on our sales/invoicing software.

Other times, there would be less.

I was, at the time, an accounting student studying towards my bachelors degree.

I was already suspicious of the cash being out each day.

However, given how the manager had been treating me up until this point, I was concerned that any complaint would somehow be twisted and used against me.

And boy was I right!

He noticed something interesting when his manager took vacation time.

Several weeks later my manager took some time off.

During this time I managed a personal record in store sales, and also noticed something interesting:*The cash was never out at the end of each shift.*

I reported this directly to the owner of the company (given I was acting manager during the time my manager was away, I was expected to report to the owner everyday) and explained what had been occurring whilst the manager was there.

In all honesty, I was hopeful that the owner would be having a word with the manager about the discrepancies.

However, I was also weary, as I believed once the owner spoke to my manager, that the manager will immediately know it was me who reported this.

The manager tried to blame him.

When the manager returned to work, he immediately approached me with a disgruntled look on his face.

“I’ve spoken with the owner. You tried to blame me for the discrepancies?! You should focus on doing your job properly, then this wouldn’t happen!”

I was quite taken aback by how angry he was, though, I wasn’t surprised that he twisted it and tried to place blame on me.

Given his reaction, I’m even more suspicious at this point.

He wants me to do my job properly, eh?

Malicious Compliance ensues

That same week, I got to WORK!

I started paying attention to what customers were paying when they were dealing with my manager.

He discovered what the manager was doing that was dishonest.

Behind his back, I began examining all of his sale transactions and invoices with a fine comb.

As the days rolled by I started to find evidence of his dishonesty.

When it came to a few cash sales, my manager was doing the following:

Example

Would tell the customer the price is $200 if he pays cash.

Would discount the price by $50 in the sale/invoicing software.

Wouldn’t put the extra cash into the till and record a $150 cash sale.

He showed the owner what the manager was doing.

Before we did the cash up at the end of the day, he would sneakily pocket this extra cash whilst no one was around.

Though he was very foolish, as he clearly couldn’t remember the exact amount he had swindled.

Hence why the cash would be up some days (didn’t swindle enough), or the cash would be down (swindled too much).

End

I took screenshots of the discounts he had been giving on sales and sent them to the business owner, along with a report.

A report with a detailed description of my findings.

The report also showed that on all days he wasn’t there for the cash count, there was no variance.

When he was there…..well.

The manager was fired and he was promoted.

The owner was infuriated.

This man had been his trusted employee for years.

The owner was so infuriated in fact, that he ordered my manager do a mandatory substance test on the same day he found out.

And no surprises… he failed.

Turns out the manager had quite the meth habit.

This was most likely his sole motive for stealing cash, and the owner was beside himself.

We operate machinery everyday in this store, and so the thought of a manager walking around high as a kite wouldn’t sit well with any health & safety professional.

In fact, it could have landed the owner in serious legal trouble if any accident or injury occurred under this manager’s watch.

The manager was terminated immediately for violation of his contract, and was later taken to court by the owner in an attempt to recover the stolen funds.

Safe to say, I was promoted to store manager position shortly after his termination.

It’s surprising the manager got away with his scheme for so long.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted…

This reader thinks the owner knew the manager would fail a drug test.

Another reader tries to make a joke.

This person thinks the owner wasn’t surprised the manager was a drug addict.

This person shares a snarky comment the manager might’ve made to the owner.

I love that his detective skills helped the owner and helped him get a promotion.

He’s going to be a good accountant some day!

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.