Shutterstock

What would you do if you worked for a company where it seemed obvious that another employee was doing something pretty shady? Would you mind your own business or gather evidence and report the issue to corporate?

In this story, one employee was in this situation at a retail store. The problem involved an employee who was using her employee discount to buy a shocking amount of gift cards.

Keep reading to find out what happens when corporate finds out. It’s really rather surprising and led up to the employee who reported it deciding to quit.

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

I used to work for Dudercrombie & Witch.

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.

The story involves gift cards.

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 DW*. 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%.

One employee bought a lot of gift cards.

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. 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.

This doesn’t add up.

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 part time employee, making not much more than $10,000-$15,000 a year, has spent the same amount in gift cards as a Senator spends on a high class working girl.

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.

So naturally I call my boss and tell him of my findings.

Here’s some backstory about the boss.

Now at this point, me and my boss didn’t get along. He was a nice enough guy, but he was Alpha Male as heck to the point it just went from annoying confidence to full out awfulness.

“Do you even lift, bro” will more than likely be engraved on this man’s tombstone.

Most of our issues stemmed from paperwork. For some reason, D&W 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. 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.

OP felt confident.

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. Right?

Well obviously not, otherwise I wouldn’t be telling you all this. Idiot.

Something must be done!

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. Dafuq?

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.

My boss texts me back, saying that he never received anything from me in the first place.

How frustrating!

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….

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….

The boss finally wanted to talk.

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.

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:

It’s an update from corporate.

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

Me: Oh yea?

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

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

OP doesn’t understand why this isn’t being taken seriously.

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.

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?

He didn’t have all the answers.

BB: Im 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.

BB: It’s what the company wants…

Well forget that.

One final attempt at justice.

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 nonsense.

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

That’s crazy that corporate didn’t care. I bet that girl is making a healthy income reselling the gift cards.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This employee thinks it’s odd that corporate isn’t concerned.

This is a good question.

A former employee at the same store weighs in.

This person has a theory.

It is odd that corporate doesn’t seem to care. If she’s buying the gift cards at a 30% discount, that means they’re missing out on 30% of their potential profit. Perhaps the last comment has the right idea, though. Maybe they assume that people who use the gift cards end up spending more than the amount on the gift card.