Trusting people

[coffee seeker]

Hi,

We are new espresso drive thru owners; just 4 weeks today. We are in our 50's, husband & wife team. We had offers from our family members that they would help us, and found ourselves in a awkward predicament. Our son's fiance offfered to help us out, but we discovered at the end of our day she had also helped herself to the till. This was discouvered by her actions thru the day, and checking out the till with the computer that evening. We are now disappointed as well as discouraged in hiring.

We have also noticed that our sales increased while we had a young girl working the window.

Any comments from anyone.

 

[Pinky]

I don't hire friends or family anymore, it rarely works out. You end up compromising your business to keep the peace in the family/friendship.

Do they have a good employee history? Do they have skills that can add to the job?

Sometimes you find a gem but what if they're not a gem? You have to confront them when they’re always late, breaking your rules, stealing your money…

I find that friends and family find it hard to keep that boss/employee line.

Anyway, don’t get discouraged. Put another sign in the window looking for help.
This time check their references. Don’t let one bad apple make you close the door to finding good help.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hi C.S.:

Sorry to hear about your problem. Do you have camera security inside and outside of your building? If not, then I would suggest that you do so. It may be a little spendy at first, but well worth the investment. It is sometimes hard to prove that someone is stealing from you especially if you do not have the proof. Maybe things were added up wrong, or the start up till money may have been incorrect, or a host of other things could have gone wrong. It's just too hard to tell without actually seeing someone putting their hands in the till, etc. Yes, it is hard to hire and fire friends and family members. Some might say you should never hire them. But in some cases it works out well. As in our case, both my brother in law and sister in law and myself own our company, and have for over 13 years. True we may not always see eye to eye, however, through the years we have found that we all know our business well, and I would not trust it to anyone else.

How much help in the way of consulting or experience did you have prior to opening your drive thru? That is sometimes one of the things that most overlook before opening, how to avoid some of the beginning pit falls. Unfortunately you have had to experience some dishonesty in the beginning, but we all learn from our mistakes. Keep a stiff upper lip and continue to move forward. Sit down and pencil some serious questions to ask your next prospect before you interview them. Questions concerning their honesty, what would they do in certain situations, if a customer paid too much would they inform the customer, etc. This way you can get a better idea as to the type of person you are bringing aboard.

Well my fingers are getting tired...But those are a few thoughts I had on my mind. Good luck :wink:

 

[La Crema Coffee]

more than $$$

Tell your son to dump her. Can he TRUST her?

 

[MontanaMama]

I've had my place for a month now and I've heard horror stories about a group of "serial accidently on purpose getting hurt" people who like to collect workers comp.....luckily, I have some names as well.

I'm not hiring anyone.....I'd rather work the 70 hrs a week by myself than worry about theft of product, theft of money from the register and things like people giving away pre-paid cards to their friends. No thanx.