When you work as a loss prevention employee, it can be very satisfying to find someone engaged in illegal activity at your store, and get them prosecuted.

What would you do if you found an employee who was engaged in gift card fraud that was worth tens of thousands of dollars?

That is what happened to the LP worker in this story, but the company said to ignore it since the employee was buying the gift cards.

Tales from a Former LP: Someone is stealing from the company? Well long as we are getting our money….

So, as I’ve stated before, I used to work for Dudercrombie & Fitch. In previous stories I’ve explained why I can’t stand the company, due to their hiring practices.

Towards the end of my time there, I was looking for a new job, already over the company. This set of events however, was the last straw.

Wow, this is quite a good benefit.

So, most companies don’t allow their employees to purchase or use gift cards. It helps cut down on fraud and helps the LP keep track of the employee purchases. Well, not DB*.

This was the only company I’ve heard of, let alone worked for, where not only could employees purchase gift cards, but could purchase them using their employee discount.

So, a $100 gift card will cost the average associate $70. Could be wrong but if I recall the employee discount was around 30%.

If they don’t put limits on it, then this is just a smart move by the girl.

Anyways, ever since I had started, my manager would tell me this girl, who was an employee at a store about 30 minutes away, would come in frequently, and purchase $2000 of gift cards from each of the 4 stores, using her discount.

However, no one seemed to ever recall her name, or when she was in. So, I never pursued it much. However one day, I get a call from my Kid’s store manager.

Finally, he has time to dig into this.

She informs me that the girl has been in, and has her name, employee number, etc. So when I get some free time, I jump on one of the store computers, and do a little digging into the girl’s purchase history.

In a 7 month period, this girl had purchased well over $90,000 worth of gift cards using her discount. No, that not a typo.

This seems impossible.

This part time employee, making not much more than $10,000-$15,000 a year, has spent nearly 10x her salary on gift cards.

Now, I consider myself an intelligent person. But even if I was an idiot, I think I’d have noticed something about this just maybe didn’t add up.

Will his boss even listen?

So, naturally I call my boss and tell him of my findings. Now at this point, me and my boss didn’t get along.

He was a nice enough guy, but he was Alpha Male to the point it just went from annoying confidence to full out being a jerk. “Do you even lift, bro” will more than likely be engraved on this man’s tombstone.

Talk about outdated.

Most of our issues stemmed from paperwork. For some reason, D&B still used fax machines…. Fax machines. But it would send the fax to the emails of the regional managers.

So, why we couldn’t have just scanned it and emailed it, is beyond me. But once or twice a week, I’d send a fax over to my boss, and weeks later he’d inform me he never received it.

This is just ridiculous.

Despite the fact that I always got a confirmation, it must be my fault. Whoa unto he who would dare suggest my that he was wrong about anything.

So, I send off all the evidence, sure that all of my hard work would be rewarded. After all, this was a big case. A little leg work, and any proof that she was actively defrauding the company for personal gain, and I’d have a nice big case on my record.

She’s still at it, and bumped up her purchase significantly.

So several weeks go by, and sure enough, she comes in again, another $6000 worth of gift cards, and off she goes, tra la la la la.

So, I send my boss a text, asking for an update on the case, and if he wants me to send over the new purchases as well to add it it.

What? How could he have not received it?

My boss texts me back, saying that he never received anything from me in the first place. After several messages back and forth that basically consisted of “Yes I did” and “No, you didn’t” I took a screen shot of the email that HE HIMSELF forwarded to me from his boss saying the case was passed on to Corporate LP.

But nope, I must send it all again, correctly this time so he can get it going.

At least the regional manager knows what is happening.

So at this point I’m angrier than Paula Deen when she doesn’t get her hourly stick of butter fed to her. But I send it again, making sure to CC the Regional Manager. Who of course responds with “We already have this thank you.” Derps….

Anyways, about a week later, my boss comes to give me a surprise visit. We visit the stores, go over the numbers, he quizzes some of the employees on LP knowledge. The usual stuff.

This manager seems like an idiot.

Then when we go to the food court to have a 1on1. During the course of the talk, he brings up the gift card purchases. Here is, to the best of my ability, an accurate account of that conversation:

BromanBossman (hereafter referred to as BB): So we got word back from Corporate on this girl and the gift cards.

Me: Oh yea?

Good, they are firing her at least.

BB: Yea, they said just to let her go.

Me: Oookay. Were they just not able to prove that she was reselling them?

I guess they don’t want to pursue legal action.

BB: The company just says to let it go.

Me: Ok but I want to just be aware if it was a problem on my end. If I screwed up I’d rather know about it.

BB: No, the company is getting money, so they don’t see an issue.

Clearly this employee was ripping off the store.

Me: Don’t see an issue? This girl has purchased over 10 times her salary in gift cards. She’s obviously selling them. And who knows what else! She’s probably stealing from the stores too in order to get more money. Is her store at least aware they should be watching her?

BB: I’m not sure. But as far as the company is concerned, its a lot of money coming it’s way, and they aren’t really losing anything since it still gets spent in their stores. So they want us to just let it go.

Me: That’s insane.

Hey, if the company is happy, who cares.

BB: It’s what the company wants…

No way, I’m not accepting that.

He just won’t let it go.

I naturally called up her home store, first chance I got. I was informed that they knew about the girl, and were told to just keep an eye on her, as the company didn’t see the point in investigating her, when they were getting money.

Such absolute insanity.

This guy just can’t take it anymore.

I went on vacation a few weeks after that, and put in my 2 weeks while away.

I can see why this would be frustrating, but honestly, if the company is ok with it, I don’t see why he is getting so upset.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

As long as they are making money, they are happy.

I was wondering this as well.

He should have gotten in on the action.

She is hustling, nothing wrong with that.

This commenter doesn’t see a problem.

Money is money.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.