Bad Boss Story: Pizza Heist

Source: Submitted by Steve

"I used to work in a pizza store back when cash was the only payment method. Throughout the night, we would secure bundles of notes into the safe after large amounts of cash would accumulate in the cash register and when drivers would finish their shift.

While not common, sometimes a few stray notes would get accidentally dropped, e.g., on the floor, before making it to the safe. At the end of the night, if the cash did not reconcile with the sales report, those on the close shift would scour the store looking for any stray cash that may have been dropped during the night.

Eventually this started to become a more common occurrence. And those on close shift would spend time turning the store upside down instead of finishing up and going home. This was typically around or after midnight, sometimes 2am in the morning. And the missing cash was in in the hundreds of dollars.

We later found out that our manager at the time who was making us stay behind, was stealing the cash himself, and then taking it to the casino to gamble after his shift."

👀 Our Take:

Leadership is about trust. Stealing from your own business — and making the team stay late to cover your tracks — destroys that trust instantly. When leaders set a rotten example, it spreads.

🧠 Could this have been avoided?

Yes. Integrity and accountability start at the top, and strong role models set the standard for the whole team.

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