A man came to the supermarket where I work. He told me he needed some change for buying petrol. He told me he was a delivery person for the shop and came to everyday. I didn’t have the right to give him money from the till at the shop. However, he said he would return it tomorrow and left his name and phone number. He just asked for 3 pounds (660yen). I put his name and phone number next to the till and handed him 3 pounds. At that time, there were no others at the shop. I left message to my boss about him.
On my way back from work, I got a call from my boss. He arrived at the shop 10 minutes before my leaving. He told me “did you use YOUR 3 pounds for the petrol?” I said “he told me he was a delivery person for the shop. So, I handed him 3 pounds from the till.” My boss told me I was cheated. CHEATED? Just for 3 pounds? He handed the phone to his partner and she told me “You NEVER EVER NEVER give any money to anyone.” She continued, “Do you give money if people ask you for 10 pounds for buying drugs?” “Buying petrol or drugs, they are the same. He will never come back.” She kept yelling with her hysteric voice. After she finished complaining, my boss was on the phone again, “Next time he comes back to the shop, he will ask you for 100 pounds.” Finally, he told me, “I’m disappointed in you.” After this long yelling, blaming, and complaining, my boss said, “I’m sorry, but this is your fault and I ask you to pay three pounds.” At that time, I told him “OK, I will. I’m sorry.” However, I AM disappointed in him from the bottom of my heart.
Is it really all my responsibility? I couldn’t imagine that people could cheat a person for 3 pounds. In Japan, the boss tells me what to do. If I didn’t know about appropriate procedures and if it’s the first time, the boss would cover the mistake which I made. This is why the boss gets better wages. The person who has authority also has to have responsibility. What my boss was doing was leaving his responsibility and letting me down.
I couldn’t keep my emotion to myself and I called my friend. She said “it’s out of order.” “Did he yell at you and make you pay three pounds? What a small person he is!”
On the next day, unfortunately it was my working day and my boss smiled at me and said “Good morning”. It was 12 noon. He may have wanted me to say, “It’s good afternoon.” Or anything other than just a greeting, however, I didn’t want to speak with him and just said “Hello.” After my leaving he asked my friend, “How was Eriko?” She pretended she didn’t hear about this story from me and just told him, “I don’t know why, but she doesn’t look herself.” My boss started to explain the story. Still he told my friend “If Eriko used her own money, it would have been OK.” We knew he was stingy, but we couldn’t even imagine this much. And he would never notice he lost a priceless thing just for three pounds.
On the following day, thanks to my small boss, everybody knew that I was cheated. Surprisingly, nobody blamed my boss. Everybody except my Japanese colleagues said I should pay for it. One of my colleagues spoke face-to-face with me “I can’t believe anyone would pay money from the till.” The other one followed up, “I could understand Eriko’s feeling. It’s difficult to distinguish who says the right thing or lies to you,” and he told some of his stories about being cheated before. After the story, the former guy told him, “It’s your money. Whether you’re cheated or not it’s your responsibility. You are working and three pounds is small money. But in this case, Eriko used money from the till.” I said, “So, I paid it back.” The guy said, “Of course you should pay it back.” I got a huge shock from his words. Maybe I was spoiled in Japan.
This is the reality here. Even if I worked a part time job I should have taken responsibility for what I did.
3 comments:
Hey Eriko!
I can understand both sides to the situation. It's really interesting reading such Blogs as they reveal big differences in culture that are otherwise subtle.
England is very similar to the U.S.A. in many aspects including this. Both societies have to deal with liars and thieves and people who misrepresent themselves. As such, we are used to having to be more street savvy in distinguishing people who honestly need help to those who are liars.
In our societies, a con artist is a con artist...whether it's for spare change or for thousands of dollars. No one likes being taken advantage of and people will lie over anything. The thing is...the smaller the liar the easier it is to get the money. No one's going to shell out 100 pounds to someone...it's more of a risk and more of a problem if it is a con. But 3 pounds? Who would miss that? But to a con artist, if he can get 3 pounds 80% of the time he asks someone, then he'll ask 100 people in a day and make 240 pounds. If he gets 100 pounds 0.5% of the time as no one has that kind of money and would greatly miss it, then he'd have to ask 200 people for about the same amount of money. It's all just how you work it.
But you are correct that bosses do make more money and therefore are more liable than their subordinates and have more responsibility.
However, my opinion in this....unless your boss told you directly "You can take the money out of the till as you see fit or as is necessary to continue smooth operations for the business"...then the responsibility of money leaving the till is yours. As good as intentions that you may have, it's ultimately not your money that you gave to someone else. Whether or not the company makes 100 pounds a year or 1 billion....it's their money and they most likely have a procedure as to how that till money is distributed. If you were never told one way or the other how to distribute it, then it was your responsibility to find out first before taking it out. Otherwise, the risk to the procedure or the money is actually yours.
I know this sucks. I'm not meaning to be negative toward you....this shows how things we assume and take for granted in one culture is absolutely opposite in another. I find it fascinating.
What is wrong...was the way your boss handled it. She was a total jerk! There is no reason to fly off the handle over 3 pounds. I could understand if it was a large sum of money, but it wasn't. And you didn't intentionally steal it. You made an honest mistake. No big deal. All she should have done was explain the situation to you so you'd know for next time.
I can't stand people that like. I have bosses that go crazy (now that I think about it...they're all British too...hmmmmm.....) over stupid things. I work in an ad agency. AN AD AGENCY! We provide absolutely nothing of quality to the human population. We make money by convincing others to spend their money. We don't save lives...we don't protect people...we don't heal people...we don't enhance the quality of anyone. So, how could ANY mistake in our business truly matter? It doesn't. And many people just don't see it like that.
OK, so that's my thought on this matter. I'm really sorry that you had such a bad experience with such a minor situation. It really wasn't a big deal, but it was something you needed to understand about the British culture. Please don't let it bother you.
hello, Eriko, this is Jaume
sorry to listen what happened to you, but...that's life, and being cheated is quite common in, let's say, Europe. Don't take it bad, it's part of the learning. I've tried to be cheated many times and, always & everybody, there's a first time one pays. In Japan, I feel also cheated when I must pay things that are crazily over-priced, such fruit or highways, but they give me a ticket and a bow. Anyway, dont take it bad.
And yes, you must pay the 3 pounds back, that's the usual way. If your boss wouldnt be so mean, he will probably forget about it, but as you say, he's a small person. In any case, he has no right to yell at you nor his partner. You must not tolerate such a behavior. Nobody can yell at you, not even a client. Next time, tell him politely to yell at his mother.
Hope you have a good 2008
Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!
Hello Darcie,
Hello Jaume,
Thank you so much for your comments. Yes, it was bad experience, but I learned many things. Your comments really helped me understand the situation and now I know what to do in future.
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