The Thief

In the 80s and early 90s, I doubt many places of employment had video surveillance of their employees. Mine did not. For years off and on, money was missing from the main stock. Two bosses were fired, because it happened under their watch and one suspected employee was fired as a direct result of this crime. Every 30 days our cash drawers would be counted and the main stock would be reconciled. It was way too complicated to count each drawer everyday. The shortage wasn’t huge but it was enough; maybe a few hundred a month. Any shortage should not and could not be tolerated.

Are you one of those people that feels guilty by association? I am. When I thought about anyone else suspecting me, it made me feel like I was standing naked on stage. If anyone looked at me for longer than two seconds, I’d think, “Do they think it’s me?” And then I started looking at everyone else for more than two seconds. Upper management was responsible to solve the problem, but you couldn’t convince me to relinquish the burden of solving this mystery. I was tired of feeling naked on stage. Someone was getting away with a crime and damn it, they needed to be stopped. I began to watch and listen as intensely and discreetly as humanly possible. It became an obsession. I suspected everyone.

I’ll call the thief Mindy. This girl was good. She was adorable, bubbly and loved by most everybody. She could also be backstabbing and manipulative at times, but in such a way that everyone, including me tried hard to stay in her good graces. She was like the popular kid at school and could get away with most anything with her smile and by batting her eyelashes. No one suspected her. I got real good during those years with my perrefrial vision and I observed her selling and then one fine day I observed her slipping cash under the counter into a folder. My first thought was of the three people that lost their career because of her. That son of a B hugged them goodbye! And she didn’t seem to be doing it because she needed the money. It was some type of sick power trip. What was I going to do with my information? Would anyone believe me?

Word had gotten out to neighbouring offices that there was a thief at our location. I was somewhat friendly with a boss from another office, so I decided to ask him how I should handle what I saw. That didn’t work out for me too well. Apparently Mindy was also friendly with him and his reaction? “Nah. You’ve got to be wrong. She’s not a crook.”

I immediately back peddled my remark and said, “Yeah you’re right. This whole thing has got me a little crazy.” I was hoping he wasn’t going to tell Mindy or anyone else what I said.” Damn it let these idiots figure it out themselves.” I’m staying out of it even though the knowledge was feeding on my brain.

Months passed. Money was still disappearing and my skin was crawling every time I worked next to Mindy. One day she had one of the guys climbing in the dumpster as she claimed the janitor must have thrown out some of her stock. I think she suspected an impromptu count. I silently screamed, “When is it going to end?”

Another boss was removed. No joke. You’d think these idiots would have gotten surveillance by now. Maria, our new boss came in a blazing with high heels and unknown to anyone, video surveillance. She and I hit it off right away. We even hung out after work a couple of times. Then came the day that she called me into the office and shut the door. “Oh no. She thinks it’s me.” She asked me what I thought of Mindy as her eyes searched mine. As I looked back into hers I read trust. “Do you think she’s the thief?” Maria asked. I shook my head yes. And then she slowly opened a cabinet behind her desk and I saw the surveillance recorder. They must have had the camera well hidden since none of us knew. I was so relieved I started to cry before she told me, “Mindy thinks she on her way to a training course. The inspectors are going to show her the video and take her into custody.”

Those words felt like hitting the lotto, and Christmas rolled together; like watching your team win the world series. “Yes! Yes! They got her.” To this day, there are people I worked with that believed she was innocent and falsely charged with a crime, but I know better. I saw her in action with my own eyes. From that day forward all the cash drawers reconciled to the main stock. I’ve never seen her or heard anything about her since. Good riddance.