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A bit of background. I work for the evil gaming empire in my avatar as a store manager. It's an alright gig. Sunday's are what we like to call family days at our store. A lot of parents and kids out shopping on a weekend. It's not uncommon for kids to come in after saving up and using birthday money to buy stuff in the store.
This probably happened about a year ago when I was still an ASM.
Anyways, mom and a rather introverted 8 year old boy with glasses come in with a few games to trade. I begin processing the trade, let the kid know what his games are worth and ask him if he wants to go look around. He does, and then I finish getting mom's info to sign for the trade in and then she goes to help him find something.
A couple minutes go by and he and mom comes back with a couple of games. He proceeds to start looking through his little wallet and pockets and up at mom and then asks:
IK (introverted kid): Mom, where did you put my $30?
Mom: Oh...uh...(starts digging through her her purse and can't find anything)
Mom: I thought I put it on the counter next to your games.
Now this caught me a bit off guard as it's not uncommon for us to leave trade ins on the counter while people go look for something to purchase, but if people leave money behind, we usually tell them to keep it with them until they're ready to pay as to not have this sort of issue. That all being said, I pretty distinctly would have remember $30 in cash being left on the counter by these two and I only ever saw them put their games on there.
Me: I don't remember any money being left on the counter ma'am, but I'll look around real quick.
Now, the counters at my store are pretty standard wood and counter top. There's not a lot of crevices or holes money could fall into. I proceed to look around behind, in front of, and under things just in case, and of course, no money. This probably took about a minute.
Me: I'm not sure what to tell you ma'am. We looked and couldn't find anything and I don't remember any cash being left on the counter.
Mom: Well I thought I put it on the counter next to the games.
IK: But I need that money to buy both games!
Mom: I'm sorry honey, but you'll only be able to get one or the other. I don't have enough for both right now.
The trade in amount only was enough to mostly cover one game and mom had enough to pay the difference. I could tell the kid was disappointed. I told them we have their contact information in our system from their rewards card, so if we find anything we'll give them a call. She said sure and they walked out.
Now under normal circumstances that might have been the end of it, but no. Maybe two minutes later, a rather bald and slightly over weight man comes into the store.
Man: Hey, my wife and son just came in here and purchased a game.
Me: Yes, I just helped them. Is there something I can help you with?
Dad: My wife said she thought she left my son's $30 on the counter and that when they came back, you couldn't find it.
Me: Yeah, we looked around and couldn't find any money left behind and I didn't remember any cash being left on the counter. I told her if we did find something, we'd contact you.
Dad: Are you SURE you don't know where the money is? (in a rather accusatory tone of voice)
Me: Sir, if you're trying to imply that I took your son's money, I can assure you I did not. There was no money ever left on the counter by your family.
Dad: Well, if I find out you do know what happened to it, you aren't going to like the end result!
Now at this point, I'm pretty miffed, but I kept my cool for the most part, although I couldn't really help saying the last part the way I did.
Me: Sir, I can assure you I did not take your child's money. We have camera's on our counter area that will more than prove I did no such thing. And frankly sir, my job and livelihood is not worth a measly $30!
Now, this caught him a bit off as he probably wasn't expecting some retail clerk to snap back at him even though he way maybe 5 years older than me at most.
Dad: Well, I hope you're right.
He begins walking away.
Me: You guys have a good day!
Being proactive and not wanting this to escalate into any sort of customer service situation with our store our DM might have to deal with, I told my store manager about it the next day, and as usual, he was pretty good about having his employees back. He proceeds to DVR review the previous day and the entire 10 or so minute span this entire incident took place.
And of course, at no point was any money left on the counter. My SM then calls the guy to talk to him about what happened and that at no point did he see money left on the counter nor did I take anything off of it other than the games to put them away.
I didn't get to listen in on the convo between overweight dad and my SM, but it basically boiled down to the dad complaining about how apparently "rude" I was to him (probably from the "measly $30" crackback) and that if they ever come back to the store and see me working, they won't come in. Basically pretty typical "entitled customer" bluster. My boss told him we're sorry you may not shop at our store again because of this, but no wrong doing had occurred and there was nothing more he could could do. He just wanted to talk to him and let him know what he saw on the DVR since the issue had caused a bit of a stir.
I can't recall if the guy has come in since or not, but if he has, it may have been once or twice at most, at least when I'm working. The running joke around the store is that I steal kids money now apparently, but I just run with the joke a lot of the time.
Sir, I'm sorry your kid is a dumbass and lost $30 of his birthday money, but you don't have to get up in my grill over it and accuse me of theft when it was clearly proven your son had probably lost that money LONG before he ever stepped in my store that day.
This probably happened about a year ago when I was still an ASM.
Anyways, mom and a rather introverted 8 year old boy with glasses come in with a few games to trade. I begin processing the trade, let the kid know what his games are worth and ask him if he wants to go look around. He does, and then I finish getting mom's info to sign for the trade in and then she goes to help him find something.
A couple minutes go by and he and mom comes back with a couple of games. He proceeds to start looking through his little wallet and pockets and up at mom and then asks:
IK (introverted kid): Mom, where did you put my $30?
Mom: Oh...uh...(starts digging through her her purse and can't find anything)
Mom: I thought I put it on the counter next to your games.
Now this caught me a bit off guard as it's not uncommon for us to leave trade ins on the counter while people go look for something to purchase, but if people leave money behind, we usually tell them to keep it with them until they're ready to pay as to not have this sort of issue. That all being said, I pretty distinctly would have remember $30 in cash being left on the counter by these two and I only ever saw them put their games on there.
Me: I don't remember any money being left on the counter ma'am, but I'll look around real quick.
Now, the counters at my store are pretty standard wood and counter top. There's not a lot of crevices or holes money could fall into. I proceed to look around behind, in front of, and under things just in case, and of course, no money. This probably took about a minute.
Me: I'm not sure what to tell you ma'am. We looked and couldn't find anything and I don't remember any cash being left on the counter.
Mom: Well I thought I put it on the counter next to the games.
IK: But I need that money to buy both games!
Mom: I'm sorry honey, but you'll only be able to get one or the other. I don't have enough for both right now.
The trade in amount only was enough to mostly cover one game and mom had enough to pay the difference. I could tell the kid was disappointed. I told them we have their contact information in our system from their rewards card, so if we find anything we'll give them a call. She said sure and they walked out.
Now under normal circumstances that might have been the end of it, but no. Maybe two minutes later, a rather bald and slightly over weight man comes into the store.
Man: Hey, my wife and son just came in here and purchased a game.
Me: Yes, I just helped them. Is there something I can help you with?
Dad: My wife said she thought she left my son's $30 on the counter and that when they came back, you couldn't find it.
Me: Yeah, we looked around and couldn't find any money left behind and I didn't remember any cash being left on the counter. I told her if we did find something, we'd contact you.
Dad: Are you SURE you don't know where the money is? (in a rather accusatory tone of voice)
Me: Sir, if you're trying to imply that I took your son's money, I can assure you I did not. There was no money ever left on the counter by your family.
Dad: Well, if I find out you do know what happened to it, you aren't going to like the end result!
Now at this point, I'm pretty miffed, but I kept my cool for the most part, although I couldn't really help saying the last part the way I did.
Me: Sir, I can assure you I did not take your child's money. We have camera's on our counter area that will more than prove I did no such thing. And frankly sir, my job and livelihood is not worth a measly $30!
Now, this caught him a bit off as he probably wasn't expecting some retail clerk to snap back at him even though he way maybe 5 years older than me at most.
Dad: Well, I hope you're right.
He begins walking away.
Me: You guys have a good day!
Being proactive and not wanting this to escalate into any sort of customer service situation with our store our DM might have to deal with, I told my store manager about it the next day, and as usual, he was pretty good about having his employees back. He proceeds to DVR review the previous day and the entire 10 or so minute span this entire incident took place.
And of course, at no point was any money left on the counter. My SM then calls the guy to talk to him about what happened and that at no point did he see money left on the counter nor did I take anything off of it other than the games to put them away.
I didn't get to listen in on the convo between overweight dad and my SM, but it basically boiled down to the dad complaining about how apparently "rude" I was to him (probably from the "measly $30" crackback) and that if they ever come back to the store and see me working, they won't come in. Basically pretty typical "entitled customer" bluster. My boss told him we're sorry you may not shop at our store again because of this, but no wrong doing had occurred and there was nothing more he could could do. He just wanted to talk to him and let him know what he saw on the DVR since the issue had caused a bit of a stir.
I can't recall if the guy has come in since or not, but if he has, it may have been once or twice at most, at least when I'm working. The running joke around the store is that I steal kids money now apparently, but I just run with the joke a lot of the time.
Sir, I'm sorry your kid is a dumbass and lost $30 of his birthday money, but you don't have to get up in my grill over it and accuse me of theft when it was clearly proven your son had probably lost that money LONG before he ever stepped in my store that day.
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