A clothing store worker ran a fake return scam — a coworker noticed the pattern and called police

Workplace competition can be healthy for employees when it comes to boosting motivation and developing skills. However, it crosses a boundary when it turns into jealousy and outright bullying. Reddit user u/Kate_Luv_Ya shared a similar experience that happened to her 10 years ago, while she was working in retail. The bully is given the name “Bea” for anonymous purposes.

The user describes Bea as a hot and cold person, “One of those people who would be pleasant, then would suddenly say something nasty and laugh it off. She would leave me nasty notes or would simply make the comments straight to my face.” Even though the user reported Bea to the manager, nobody intervened.

Bea’s bullying got worse after the narrator received a promotion that both of them were angling for. One day, before closing, the narrator noticed a discrepancy. She wrote, “I realized that there had been a trend that had been going on for a while. Bea would have a return, but the slip with the customer information would be missing… I pulled out a receipt from a sale I did to Bea earlier and compared the card numbers, and lo and behold, they matched.”

She called the manager to report the incident, and after checking the previous weeks’ sales, she could confirm that Bea had stolen a total of $5000 from the store. The next day, Bea arrived at work but was met by the police. The user admitted that she did not know the full extent of Bea’s punishment, but knew she was asked to pay back the full amount.

However, karma was not quite finished with Bea. A few months later, the narrator saw Bea working at a new clothing store. She went in to speak to a friend who also worked at the same place and “casually” mentioned that “doing a criminal record check on any new employees would be a good idea… Next thing I knew, Bea didn’t work there any longer.” Because of Bea’s tendencies, she lost both retail store jobs. 

There can be multiple reasons for stealing from one’s workplace. Some of these reasons can be due to financial stress, having a ‘what does it matter’ mindset, disliking one’s boss, low risk of getting caught, and more. Additionally, a study done by McGurn on “Spotting the thieves who work among us,” showed that “75% of employees steal from their employer at least once, and almost 75% of U.S. businesses have reported experiencing some theft or fraud.”

The Reddit post was originally shared 8 years ago, and to date, it has received 2.5k upvotes and up to 68 comments. u/pldtwifi153201 commented, "It occurred to me: if she got the promotion instead of you, it'll be easier for her to hide her tracks & steal a lot more. Good job OP :) hope you're doing fine now!!" u/justgirlypasta shared a similar experience, "Good for you OP!! I had two work bullies, but my manager/owner did nothing about! They were the reason so many people quit, but they would rather let a dozen new good employees go than fire these two guys. One of them was stealing customers from our company for his own business and was caught on camera taking money from the cash box!! Not to mention, he questioned authority and was an absolute jerk to the owner and manager. I told my boss so many times to do something, but she wouldn’t, so I quit..."

More on Scoop Upworthy

Thief returns stolen tip jar with a 2-page apology, double the cash, and one heartfelt request

Retail worker shares frustration after shoppers leave unwanted items all over the store floor

Employee resigns and watches the workplace completely crumble without them