I stole close to $20,000 in my old career and I felt so powerful.

I was a deli manager for a chain grocery store. I had been in this chain for 17 years. I spent 5 years in that position before they converted to a new system.<br><br>Everyday I would create a count sheet for all the items at closing and then manually count the inventory. It was tedious but it ensured accuracy. I could honestly say that I didn’t have very much shrink.<br><br>When we converted over, they took away that process for more of a weighted based inventory system. I could not reconcile the inventory and the numbers were off. I tried for 6 months and was constantly battling upper management about the issues. I tried everything but no one wanted to listen and kept saying that everything was fine. I ran all the different reports and sat in my office all day trying to figure it out. My sales were up but my inventory was not balancing. I spent hours everyday trying to figure it out. I had my night stockers counting merchandise but I was still coming up short. I was being blamed for everything. I could not see where it was coming from.<br><br>So I took it upon myself to figure it out since no one wanted to listen. I ordered my own labels and hand labeled a shelf of extremely expensive product (cheese). I took a count of that cheese every morning for 6 months. I compared the numbers and my counts. I counted all the items that were being purchased out of that cheese so I could see what was being purchased. I realized that the numbers were not making sense. The items that were being purchased out of that cheese were definitely not adding up to the amounts being used.<br><br>I then started watching the cameras. I did this for 6 months. I watched and then I made an invisible marker on the cheese and put my initials on it. I made sure that every piece of cheese had my initials on it. I made sure that all the items made out of that cheese had my initials on it. I counted it again. I then made it so that my night stockers were opening the cases in the back room and I would initial the cases so I knew if they were getting to the deli or not.<br><br>I don’t remember the exact amount but we were missing close to $20,000 worth of cheese (roughly $3,000 a month). I was able to see that the cheese that we were purchasing was not getting to the deli. I went to upper management with the numbers and the footage. They said it was on me because of my inventory levels. I sat my 3 shift managers down and asked them if they knew anything. They looked like a deer in headlights. I told management that I had proof and if they did not do anything about it, I would make sure the district managers knew.<br><br>I finally scheduled a meeting to show my findings. I showed the footage of my employees in the back room opening the cheese (there were 4 of them). They were packing the cheese in trash bags and taking them outside. I don’t remember how much we were opening but let’s say we were opening 10 cases every week. They were taking 8 of the cases and 2 were coming to my deli. They were no longer my employees after that.<br><br>That day, I felt so powerful. I was able to prove that nothing was my fault. I felt that I was doing my job. I felt like I had won after 6 months of my managers thinking I was stupid. I felt really good until I realized I would not have to count that damn cheese anymore because I feel like I still have PTSD from that. My managers were fired on the spot and my district managers got in trouble for telling me to stop trying to figure it out when I first informed them. <br><br>EDIT TO ADD: I still work in the same industry doing the same thing. I am still a deli manager and been in that position for 21 years. I worked for my current company for 8 years and my previous company for 13 years. As a manager, you have to know your inventory levels. You can’t run a business without knowing that. It is your livelihood. I’m not saying the other managers are stupid, I’m saying that I take pride in my lack of shrink.<br><br>To those of you saying that I should let it go. I am not paranoid, I am a manager. It is my job to know what is happening in my business. I have to protect my assets or I will lose my job. If I didn’t, it would be considered theft and I would lose my job and be prosecuted. I do not have a problem reaching out to upper management because I document everything. I have nothing to hide. I also know that if I do nothing and it is considered theft, I would lose my job and possibly be prosecuted. For the people saying that I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t need your approval and I don’t care if you think that I’m stupid or paranoid. I do know what I’m doing.