Stealing Her Blind, Employee Acts Like a Friend
On Saturday night, we had apple pie with a charming woman who said she doesn't have many dates. It was surprising, because she was so much fun, and attractive, and she had what most men would want in a woman.
As our pie plates were cleaned, the conversation topic turned to her side business, a service business that she owned. She told us about a friend, who became an employee, who over many years managed to steal between 40 and 80 thousand dollars from the till.
We were shocked, and kept asking her questions about how it could have happened. "I kept seeing these no shows in the appointment book," she told us. Finally the brazen embezzeller got nervy and just pocketed the customer's cash payments.
She raised the prices and still the business didn't show much of a profit. Then she began wondering just what was going on. The embezzler was a friend, and when she installed cameras she protested. Still it came down to a sad ending when she just decided to threaten instead of pressing charges, and the stealer just left.
It made me think about how vulnerable any business owner is to having people who you bring in close to you steal from you. Sadly, this story has been told a million times, and is so common it's sick.
Yet it still made for a fascinating retelling that was almost as good as Kitty Mae's apple pie.
As our pie plates were cleaned, the conversation topic turned to her side business, a service business that she owned. She told us about a friend, who became an employee, who over many years managed to steal between 40 and 80 thousand dollars from the till.
We were shocked, and kept asking her questions about how it could have happened. "I kept seeing these no shows in the appointment book," she told us. Finally the brazen embezzeller got nervy and just pocketed the customer's cash payments.
She raised the prices and still the business didn't show much of a profit. Then she began wondering just what was going on. The embezzler was a friend, and when she installed cameras she protested. Still it came down to a sad ending when she just decided to threaten instead of pressing charges, and the stealer just left.
It made me think about how vulnerable any business owner is to having people who you bring in close to you steal from you. Sadly, this story has been told a million times, and is so common it's sick.
Yet it still made for a fascinating retelling that was almost as good as Kitty Mae's apple pie.
posted by Max Hartshorne at 7:26 PM
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