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For my first job I worked at Kmart for a year and a half serving as a cashier and Hardlines Merchandiser. I was very friendly, enthusiastic and good at what I did.

One day they found that I was overriding prices without getting price checks. If a customer said the tag said it was 5.99 but it was ringing up as 6.99 and it seemed believable then I would just give it to them and override it myself without getting a price check because those often took five mins or longer and would hold up the lines. It was incredibly dumb of me looking back now.

I was terminated. I want to put this job on my application because I think it was a great experience and I benefited a lot from it, but I don't know if it'll set me back more then it would help since me overriding like that is considered theft. Also don't know how to phrase that during an interview.

Kate Gregory
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Malachi Arnold
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1 Answers1

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Put it on your resume. When an interviewer asks about it, answer about the job, not the leaving of it. Focus on the aspects that paint you in a good light: you were helpful, enthusiastic, ensured the lines moved well, and so on. Talk about what you learned about dealing with people and following process.

If someone happens to ask why you left the job, say that you misunderstood a policy about price overrides, did the wrong thing, and were fired as a result. Then immediately say what you learned - whether that's to pay more attention in training, or whatever insight you gained from the incident. I wouldn't automatically no-hire someone who was mistrained but is owning the mistake and clearly knows what went wrong. Don't use the word "theft" at any time - that just puts ideas in people's heads, and your motivation was not personal gain when you did these overrides, so don't start that conversation.

Kate Gregory
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    Any financial irregularity would be a no hire with many employers. I don't see the worth of cashier experience that ended in dismissal. 18 months is more than long enough to learn how to do a checkout job properly. My supermarket clients have clear protocols on who can override, the OP dismissed the protocols out of laziness. No other reason. Surprised it took so long to catch him/her. – Kilisi Apr 02 '17 at 19:39
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    This is useful advice to the OP - applying to any retail job in the future may be out of bounds as a result of this error. However when applying to any other kind of job, 18 months laboring under a misconception but doing well at everything else may well be better than 18 months less experience. – Kate Gregory Apr 02 '17 at 20:02
  • I was just making an observation, I don't have a better answer than yours. Obviously the OP has to try something. – Kilisi Apr 02 '17 at 20:26
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    @Kilisi: Avoiding a queue building up is not lazy. And if the queue is long enough, some people will just drop their shopping, costing the company much more than one dollar. – gnasher729 Apr 02 '17 at 20:26
  • @gnasher729 I built and support networks for 7 supermarkets, yes it can be inconvenient, but the protocols are there for a very good reason and must be adhered to. One irate customer can cause a heck of a public legal and marketing mess. The OP wasn't dismissed for nothing. – Kilisi Apr 02 '17 at 20:27
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    @Kilisi? What does that have to do with what I said? You said he was lazy, and there is no indication of that. I now of cases where a cashier changed to price of a £200 item to £1 for a friend, that's not what was happening here. – gnasher729 Apr 02 '17 at 20:32
  • @gnasher729 OP was lazy, how do you not see that? Couldn't be bothered doing the job properly. Got justifiably sacked for it. I didn't say the OP was dishonest. It was never the OP's call to make about the queue building up, there are procedures that must be followed, and there would be a floor supervisor somewhere who's call it is. – Kilisi Apr 02 '17 at 20:33
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    Put the job on your resume, as we mostly put all our jobs on our resumes. Don't include why you left for any job, and you may or may not be asked why you left. – Kate Gregory Apr 02 '17 at 22:35
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    @Kilisi: Sitting on your chair twiddling your thumbs for five minutes while a check is made is what a lazy person would do. He worked more than if he had followed procedures. – gnasher729 Apr 02 '17 at 22:36
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    @gnasher729 no he/she didn't work more, he/she was doing something expressly forbidden, you can't class that as work. I'm not going to argue about it anymore... that's just the facts which the OP freely admits to. Sitting on your chair while a check is being made is exactly the role the OP is paid for. – Kilisi Apr 03 '17 at 00:10
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    If it takes five minutes it takes five minutes, if it takes an hour it takes an hour... the supervisors role is to do something about queues if need be. Open another lane, process someone else or whatever... either way it's not the OP's decision or role. The OP has clearly defined procedures they mustn't deviate from ...or... guess what... they get sacked.... – Kilisi Apr 03 '17 at 00:15
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    @Kilisi: Nobody is saying that the OP was justified in what he did, just that he wasn't being "lazy". Ignoring a procedure doesn't automatically equate to "lazy". Suppose procedure is that an employee must take breaks during the day. Would you call the employee "lazy" for Ignoring that procedure? – James Apr 03 '17 at 14:24
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    Hopefully people won't have too may questions about an entry-level retail job as the very first employment, beyond what the duties entailed. Do they usually even reference check something like that? – PoloHoleSet Apr 03 '17 at 20:35
  • @James 'lazy' was me being nice... in fact in a financial position wilfully ignoring procedures is usually a lot worse than 'lazy' – Kilisi Apr 05 '17 at 02:40