The idea of getting caught while mystery shopping is one circle of hell, but the other is uncovering something you wished you didn’t. Having to report about an employee doing something they shouldn’t be doing is another circle of the pit of darkness.

My mother owned a bar in California and I used to have fun pretending to be a bartender for her on occasion. She showed me how to make sure the “till” or the cash register reconciled at the end of each shift – look at the running register total and compare that to the amount of cash, minus what you started with. So, if I started with $200 in the register and, at the end of my shift, there was $500 in cash, my register tape should show $300 in sales (remember, this was back in the 2000’s and Mom’s bar only took cash, no cards, no Apple Pay, no way.)

Now, if the cash added up to $290 or $310, I had made a mistake in giving change somewhere along the way, or I made a mistake ringing something up. If it was $290, I had to come up with $10 out of my tips to make up for the mistake. BUT, if it showed $310, I got to keep the extra. (She only allowed me to do this; other bartenders had to report the overage.) She said this was often the case when someone paid for a drink but the bartender “forgot” to ring it up. Guess what? The establishment didn’t get paid for the drink but the bartender did. Lots of mystery shopping companies hire shoppers to look for exactly this scenario. It costs bars tons of money when the bartender or server doesn’t ring up the drink, but charges the customer anyway. OR, they comp the customer and get a bigger tip for not charging them. Favoritism pays.

So, one day, I’m conducting one of these “integrity audits” at an airport. I sit at the bar for about an hour and watch the bartender. Are they ringing up all the drinks? Are they giving receipts? What are they doing with cash tips? How much are they pouring? (This is where I learned about the 2-count – the average amount of hard alcohol per drink.)

I’m a pretty nice person and I usually give the benefit of the doubt but I also don’t like to see people stealing from their employer. So, at this bar, I watch the bartender take a guy’s $20 and place it on the register, without ringing in the drink. She opens the register and gives the guy a $5 and 5 ones as change. The guy leaves a couple of ones as a tip and leaves. The bartender steps up to the register really close and puts the ones in her tip jar. When she walks away, the $20 is gone. She never opened the register. I didn’t see what she did with the $20 so I simply have to report the facts – at 12:35 PM, the guy paid with a $20, she put the $20 on the register then opened the drawer, gave him cash change but didn’t ring in the drink, which appeared to be a beer. I didn’t see a receipt generated. OK, not a biggie.

So, as I’m finishing my glass of wine, I ask, “What do I owe you?” She had not rung my drink into the register and had not given me a bill. “$9,” she said. I put a $10 on the counter and slid off the stool. She called out a thank you as I walked away and I paused at the end of the bar, looking through my purse as if I forgot where I put my boarding pass all the while keeping my eye on the $10. This bartender picks it up, puts it on the cash register drawer, then reaches into her tip jar, acts like she’s counting out change, and puts the $10 back in with it. Ugh. Red-handed. That sucks. She’s out of a job. Once I report it, they will check the register to see if the guy’s beer and my wine were rung up and she’ll get her last paycheck, minus the costs of the drinks. Hell.

It’s why we do what we do, and it’s not right for these employees to blatantly pocket cash but I still hate the thought of them getting pulled into the office and fired for stealing. Bad day all around.

My next story explores a third circle of hell – what can happen when you are too nice.