Just got fired..need advice?

Question

I know this was a stupid mistake and morally wrong so here it goes.
I conducted fraudulent refund transactions to myself totaling close to $400 on my cash register. I used the money to pay for rent and my tuition at school.i was desperate for i was afraid i wasn't gonna make it financially. Well over a month later a rep from loss prevention confronted me in my boss's office with evidence and logs of all the transactions. i could not help but admit my guilt..telling him everything from how i did it to what i used the money for. I agreed to pay back all the money i stole.
A few days later i came into my boss's office and he told me that b/c of my cooperation, HEB will not file charges against me, but they have no choice but to term. my employment. He also said HEB can never tell a potential employer why i left, only when i worked there. My quests: 1. Will this be on my record and for how long, 2. How hard is it to get another job after something like this, 3. Words of wisdom i could use?

Answer 1

Geesh, you have the ethics of a pig.

They can and SHOULD tell that you were "fired with cause". They can't tell what you did, but "with cause" means you did something very bad.

Answer 2

This will probably be on your record with the company, but if HEB is not filing charges, then others will not find out about it. If you are asked later on why you left this job, say you made an error judgement, but you worked it out with your boss and you have learned from this mistake. Fortunately, this question doesn't come up very often in interviews, but it is best to be prepared.

As for words of wisdom, be very grateful to HEB for going easy. I'm not going to give you a lecture because you already know what you did was wrong and you probably feel guilty. In the future, if you have financial trouble, try to get student loans or ask a family member for help. If worst comes to worst, be open and honest with your debtors. Tell your school and landlord that you don't have all the money you owe, but ask if you could pay in installments. They may or may not agree, but if you don't ask, you don't receive.

Please learn a lesson from this and don't do it again.

Answer 3

You said it yourself. What you did was stupid. But I like the fact that you were honest enough to admit you screwed up!
In this day and age, you cannot get away with embezzlement. That is the word for what you did. You stole money from your employer.
When you go to another company to interview and they ask why you were fired, you can be a little sneaky and say you don't know why. The company can call your old boss and he cannot say the reason due to the fact that the employment laws nowadays don't allow a potentila company to ask that question.
I hope you have learned your lesson. Your ex-boss could have had your thrown in jail or juvie hall if he wanted to. Sounds like you got off easy.

Answer 4

Well..

HEB is being lenient... they will do what most modern corporations do now, and only vouch for the fact that you worked there, and the dates that you worked there.. They will not disclose any more, specially since this is not going to a court of law.

Getting an other job may be difficult for you, but HEB will not stand in your way about it. Any new potential employer will not find out about this event. HEB will not tell them, and you have not been convicted of anything, so your record remains clean.

You got off EASY.

If you get caught doing this again, HEB may be called in to testify, and then they would HAVE to tell your story. Not good.

Words of wisdom... DON'T DO THAT AGAIN... your next company may not be so kind to you.

Live on the straight and narrow.

Answer 5

At least you acknowledge it was a stupid mistake. That's a good start.

Listen. We've all done some stupid things in our lives. Get past it. Your company did not press charges so there is no record of it.

When a potential employer call your current / ex-employer it will only be to confirm dates of employment and if you quit, were fired, laid off, etc.

Don't make up any phony stories to a potential employer as to why you were fired. That will only cause them to inquire further. Just state that you were fired because it didn't work out. Leave it at that.

Some employers will look down on this but most realize we all make mistakes. Don't worry about it. It's not going to show up on your background check.

Just make good on your debt and learn from it. It's only a mistake when it happens. Then it becomes experience.

Good luck. You'll be fine.

Answer 6

BY LAW an employer can't say why he fired you. Only if they would hire you again. Because he didn't file charges, it will not be on your record. Consider yourself really F***ing lucky. You'll be able to get another job because your boss respected your honesty. None of your future boss will know why you lost your job. Consider yourself lucky. You learned a VERY important lesson and suffered NO consequences (other than losing your job). I hope to god you won't do this again, because not everyone is as nice as your old boss.

Answer 7

there is no time limit on how long this will haunt you. any job where you handle money will, probably, flag you. your crime involves moral turpitude, so, from an employment standpoint it's, pretty much, a death nell. as long as you don't handle money, or get hired by a small company that does not run security checks, you might be OK. the problem is that you have established a propensity for theft. your reason does not really come into the equation. their thinking is "if he did it for this what else will he do it for?"
you did the employment equivalent of robbing a liquor store for $8.00

Answer 8

you have dug yourself into a serious hole there buddy! just keep in mind that your future emplyers will be asking about why you were terminated from your last job, at that point you will have to lie, and hope they do not follow up. as your boss stated, he can only talk of your employment, not your termination, but try not to hold on to that belief. they are only words. the only records that exist is that of you, your boss, loss prevention, and in human resources, so they can keep it as long as they see fit. be happy that you only got a slap on the wrist for this, it could have been ALOT worse than what you are going through now.

Answer 9

don't tell your next employer about that job. You can put anything you want on an application. The only things they know are the ones you tell them. If that was your only job make one up use a phone number that will come to you or a friend as the company telephone number. That way you or your friend will be giving the reference. And next time try not to steal from them.

Answer 10

You are lucky that they said they will not file charges against you and that they will never tell someone why you where let go. They gave you a break in order to teach you a lesson,hope you learn from it, and are thankful for the break they gave you.

Answer 11

You're in school .
Get a restaurant job .
They don't really get deep into references .
They have flexible hours and cash tips .
And stop being a thief ,
That next to NEVER works out well .

Living honorably is actually much easier than being a crook .
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