I was indeed working.
I work in a Chuck E. Cheese-esque place. Think... Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. But my boss is so cheap, we won't get security cameras.
We (the ticket store, where they usually torture me) are used to getting robbed; one weekend I wasn't working, $1,200 of merchandise was missing. It's nothing new.
So (and this isn't a new thing because of the robberies; this has been here for some time) we are supposed to "stamp" items in the ticket store that cost over a certain amount. But I noticed the stamper (for lack of a better word) seemed to be running low; it barely stamped. A security guard at the end of the night asked me if they were working; I told him what I thought, which was not.
Next day, turns out, we were robbed.
My supervisor called me into his office, and told me what he was told. The security guard supposedly came and asked me (the "crew leader" of the area) if we were out of ink; he didn't see any stamps recently. I told him yes. He supposedly went back to his station, and let everybody who bought items by. Turns out, he let by some people who stole some stuff. They checked that morning, and then they checked the ink stamper. Turns out, if you push it down hard and long enough it will still print. But since we're supposed to be fast with our customers and move on to the next (it's not a huge area, and waiting makes them angry) I didn't find out.
I could have easily blamed the security guard. I wasn't the only one working that night. Personally, I feel he was just as responsible. It wouldn't be too hard to check to see if an item was bought; we in the store do it daily. And something else didn't click; I remembered him asking me closer to the end of the night, after the last confirmed time of the robbery(ies?). But you know what? I kept my mouth shut when I was confronted. I took responsibility, like I was taught (by them, the bastards!) to. The security guard is older; who would they believe? He was black; he could have pulled the race card against me. He had me good; his story against mine? More than likely, he'd come out on top and I'd be out worse.
I got demoted. And damnit, I'm gonna find a new job, even if it is my fault.
