There was a $200 sale.

@MobyDisk no, he closed the register, then re-opened it. Please read the question again.

The till had just been opened - had the customer asked then for change, he'd have been given it, no-one the wiser. Can't see why money can't be taken more easily when till is opened legitimately.

"Even if you violated it unknowingly, you still violated it" - that wouldn't fly in a country with sensible employee protection laws. In the UK this would be a clear case of unfair dismissal.

@Tim I could explain it to you, but then I'd be giving a lesson on how to be a good thief for anyone to see. Anyone in retail knows that you do not open the till without a transaction, or a managerial override.

I already know! You take money out while the till is already open. That was my point! It's only stupid thieves that open the till merely to rob it.

@Tim not just the stupid ones. I've busted some pretty clever thieves

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica It's a simple statement of fact though. If an employee doesn't know about a policy, it's the employer who screwed up. Kafka is supposed to be an example of how not to run a system, not a manual. :)

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica No, it's still the employer's responsibility to tell the employee what the policies are. If it wasn't, they could fire you for not whistling Dixie whilst stood on one leg at 3:41 on a Friday afternoon. This is a perfect demonstration of why employee protection laws to prevent arbitrary unfair dismissal are important. Criticising that it simply saying that by objective criteria it is indefensible, and anywhere that does this has no real rule of law in operation, any more than theft, rape or murder going unpunished.

I would have hated working cashier at anywhere with such strict rules. Telling a customer who just spent $200 that I can't even give them change for $1 would frustrate me as an employee. When I worked cash, if you couldn't be trusted with anything as trivial as opening up the till without a sale, I don't think they would have let you work cash; instead of making it inconvenient for customers.

@Graham nope. it's always your responsibility. YOU are responsible for the cash in your till. If you come up short, and have even one no-sale, you can be done. You can argue all day, and up right into the unemployment line. That's how retail works, and why retail sucks, and why the turnover rate is about 100% per year. BTW, you learn about not opening the register unless their is a sale during your first week. So, I doubt the veracity of the OP.

@JMac Yep. And I avoided the register at all costs. It sucks, people yell at you, you are always wrong, and management will not stand up for you. Don't work retail...not even once

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica I actually worked as a restaurant host which included working cash for 4+ years in university. I liked cash as much as I liked seating people, and didn't typically run into the types of problems you mention. Sure, you get the odd bad customer and stuff, but it wasn't all hell on Earth like you seem to describe. My work literally had no such rule about not opening the till without a sale. Some companies may want to have that level of structure; but it's not universal, and you can definitely operate without such strict rules.

@JMac I'm familiar with the restaurant industry too, Retail takes the suck up several orders of magnitude. Cash policies are at the same time strict, and lax. Reason being, you can come up with a reason to fire someone on the spot.

I upvoted this answer. Aside from a bank, I don't know of anywhere that will open a register just to make change. I'm not aware of any employer who would be ok with intentionally ringing up a fictitious sale. I'm not sure why so many people think it should have been ok. It is better to learn from this kind of mistake than to defend it

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica it’s extremely arrogant to assume the way you know is the only way. The vast majority of stores I’ve been into have always been happy to make change for legitimate customers. Also it is most certainly the employers responsibility to ensure their employees are properly trained and aware of any and all policies and procedures. If this weren’t the case employers could just make up any BS reason like in the OP.

@DavidCram Welcome to /workplace where employees are never at fault, even when they admit being wrong.

@Notts90 Comment on the answer, not the person. To do otherwise is a violation of the CoC

@LightnessRaceswithMonica I owe you a beer for that comment. Seriously, thank you.

By the way, to all concerned. Retail is brutal. The policies are not kind. They treat people like crap. They will rearrange schedules just to mess with you. You get to deal with obnoxious customers, and worse managers. That said, if you're going to work retail, you need to be aware of that, and aware of the fact that it isn't going to change

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica Some retail, not all.

@JoeStrazzere the industry as a whole, there are exceptions, like Costco, but as a rule, yeah, pretty much

@RichardSaysReinstateMonica My wife works for a tiny retail shop. They are probably the nicest people she has ever worked for.

@JoeStrazzere yeah, the small ones tend to be great. I'm talking about the ones with the bullseye logo, the one with the "easy" button, any of the ones ending in "mart". MUCH different animal than the mom and pop shops. I don't go into the big retailers any longer if I can avoid it.

@TymoteuszPaul Yeah. II didn't expect quite the reception this answer got. If you are in retail, you don't ring up a $.01 sale, or a no-sale without management permission. In larger companies, the manager will get a visit from corporate if any get recorded.