Breaking The Law

Yes, I did unintentionally break the law, once. I misappropriated funds. It happened when I worked at a drive-through coffee shop. It was the year 1994, and I was a young woman trying to earn a decent living to support myself but sometimes my cash ran a bit shy. I had worked for the company for two years at the time, when the incident occurred. I had been offered a position to run a drive-through location, which meant opening up at 4:00 a.m. and working 12-hour shifts until the afternoon staff relieved me.

Initially, there were three employees, but we eventually split the shifts into eight hours and hired a couple more staff members. As part of my responsibilities, I would prepare the cash float for each shift. One day, while my boss and I were counting the bank deposits, I mentioned that I had to take $10 from my purse to balance the deposit from my shift. She told me that occasional shortages happened and that it wasn’t my responsibility to cover them.

I then confessed to her that the shortage was due to my borrowing $10 from the cash register the day before for a cab ride home. She looked at me seriously and told me that I wasn’t allowed to do that. I had no idea it was against the rules. I thought that as long as the money was back in the cash register before the next deposit, I believed that it was okay. I was still young and learning.

My boss explained to me that it was, in fact, against the law and considered to be theft, which could result in up to five years in jail. Although it was an innocent mistake, she wanted to make sure I understood the severity of the situation. I admitted to her that it wasn’t the first time I had done it, I had borrowed money for a cab on three separate occasions but returned the money each, following morning. Fortunately, she let me off with a warning but she scolded me, telling me never to do it again.

I thanked her and was grateful for her trust in me. I then underwent a couple more weeks of management training, and everything went smoothly from then onwards. I never misappropriated, anything after that. I’m forever grateful to her for her understanding and the second chance that she gave me.