Help thief!!!!!

[AnotherSignManiac]

as many others have said, your not going to see a dime either way so get his butt arrested, at least then on the next employer he will have to explain the theft charges

 

[Jack Knight1979]

solid advise.

Want to do yourself a big favor? Get over the loss. He screwed you. Someday, somehow you will come back to haunt him. You will spent another $10K chasing a person who can't and won't ever reimburse you, even with the law on his back.

Spend your time and effort to build your business and a system of checks and balances so nobody can do that to you again. Revenge isn't as good as it's made out to be. Satisfaction of coming back stronger and better is what it's all about.

 

[704signs]

If you have him arrested this will send a strong message to all others that you are not a chump and are not afraid to take action. Looks to me like the only thing that will come from this is a lesson ... For you and any current and future employees that will work in your shop.... GOOD LUCK

 

[TyrantDesigner]

sadly, the cops won't arrest him without proof. find something solid, have him arrested and move on with your stuff. really it comes down to accountability ... you need to find a way to monitor invoices and jobs better otherwise this will happen again ... sorry, he's the bad guy here ... but you should have known better. only recourse to get your money might be civil court and that is EXPENSIVE ... let alone any small claims court will say you are owed that money ... but they will never be able to make the person pay it to you. chalk it up to a costly mistake, a life experience and improve the situation. oh ... and take the loss of income as a loss of income on your taxes ... it will help.

 

[HulkSmash]

I'd just take it as a lesson, fire the dude, and call it a day.

 

[Gino]

Well, that's not the only thing you had stolen......... your other thread about selling your equipment is now gone. Why/how so ??

I could be wrong, but this/your scenario sounds a little familiar.

I don't understand how you can't have knowledge of what's going on in a business for............ a full quarter ?? That sounds impossible no matter if you're only there 1% of the time or not. You want us to believe that your business needs 10k a quarter. That would equate to about $3,500 a month. However, you only seem concerned about foils and vinyl. What about substrates, paint, wood, aluminum, banner media and so on..... ?? If this person hadn't stole this from you... where should your sales be. Based on what you've given us.... you should be around $17,500 a month gross.... or $210,000 a year, based upon vinyl and foils alone. Do/did you have quite a large inventory of stock in other areas ?? How could you not see that in a two or three week period, let alone 3 months ??

No, I think you're letting a lot out of the story here. Seems more like trying to figure out HOW to cover one's tracks... or place blame elsewhere.

• You claim in your profile you have no business, but yet here, you tell us you have still another business which requires 99% of your time.
• How can you have NO business and yet have an employee stealing from you ??
• If you have no place of business, is this employee working out of your house ??

You just joined, so if I'm being rude, I apologize, but your storyline makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Marlene]

Jan 1st to March 31st we spent over 10k on materials

what on earth did you buy that could come up to that amount in three months? foils and vinyl sure aren't that costly. a foil that sells for around $100 bucks will print 50 yards of vinyl. a 50 yard roll of vinyl isn't all that much either so what was purchased? who signed the checks? who wrote the PO's?

here's another thought, who did the quotes? you are saying 10 on materials with only 4k in sales sounds strange to me

 

[allamericantrade]

I have a smaller shop with less employees than most of you out there. I am in the office most of the time. There is only one other employee I trust enough to give a key and be here when I am not in. I have installed a full camera system and when not in there is nothing I don't know that happens when I am away. If I am in the design room I set my monitor in there to veiw the cameras on the front door and the printer. It helps me catch any print error when the printer is not in sight and see if any one enters. Camera's and Alarm systems are enough of a deterrant to keep the honest people honest and gives second thought to the dishonest out there. I also have a computer at home that is always veiwing the cameras and off site recording in case some one thinks to break in and steel the DVR.

I would get over it at this point and prevent it from ever happening again if I was in your shoe's. Know your people and make it your business to know what happens in your business.

Welcome from Long Island NY

 

[HulkSmash]

I have a smaller shop with less employees than most of you out there. I am in the office most of the time. There is only one other employee I trust enough to give a key and be here when I am not in. I have installed a full camera system and when not in there is nothing I don't know that happens when I am away. If I am in the design room I set my monitor in there to veiw the cameras on the front door and the printer. It helps me catch any print error when the printer is not in sight and see if any one enters. Camera's and Alarm systems are enough of a deterrant to keep the honest people honest and gives second thought to the dishonest out there. I also have a computer at home that is always veiwing the cameras and off site recording in case some one thinks to break in and steel the DVR.

I would get over it at this point and prevent it from ever happening again if I was in your shoe's. Know your people and make it your business to know what happens in your business.

Welcome from Long Island NY

If You can't hire someone that you trust with a key, why hire them at all?
I've given all my full time employee keys. Sometimes they will need to work on their car on the weekend, and i let them use the tools, and the bays for that. I treat all my employees as family....and pays back in the end

 

[tcorn1965]

Wouldn't your business insurance cover theft?

 

[omgsideburns]

If you're running an edge FX, just roll the foils back and see what was printed... (I know someone already suggested this).

 

[allamericantrade]

If You can't hire someone that you trust with a key, why hire them at all?
I've given all my full time employee keys. Sometimes they will need to work on their car on the weekend, and i let them use the tools, and the bays for that. I treat all my employees as family....and pays back in the end

There hasn't been a need for the other employees to have keys. If I am not in, the other employee is in before any one else. I have only one employee that I really don't trust due to the fact I am fully aware of his history. He has been clean for 6 months and is an excellent worker. why tempt him at all? I know his family and have been doing their work for years. He is a part timer who works well under what he is worth and no one else will give him a chance. Sometime's I let my heart get the better of me in hiring some one who my head says no way but I won't let myself be taken advantage of either.

 

[nashvillesigns]

okay, you should be able to look under a "spool" folder. it houses .tmp files used for images that may have been printed on the FX. its in the gerber folder, i believe. Even better, any ribbons that are used to make colors? make a chuck, slap it on the cordless drill and start rewinding.... the images will be there. THEN you can find the customer! Good luck!

 

[Move In Media]

I treat all my employees as family....and pays back in the end

My bosses have the same approach, this is the best job I've ever had outside of my specialization.

 

[MatthewTimothy]

Well, that's not the only thing you had stolen......... your other thread about selling your equipment is now gone. Why/how so ??

I could be wrong, but this/your scenario sounds a little familiar.

I don't understand how you can't have knowledge of what's going on in a business for............ a full quarter ?? That sounds impossible no matter if you're only there 1% of the time or not. You want us to believe that your business needs 10k a quarter. That would equate to about $3,500 a month. However, you only seem concerned about foils and vinyl. What about substrates, paint, wood, aluminum, banner media and so on..... ?? If this person hadn't stole this from you... where should your sales be. Based on what you've given us.... you should be around $17,500 a month gross.... or $210,000 a year, based upon vinyl and foils alone. Do/did you have quite a large inventory of stock in other areas ?? How could you not see that in a two or three week period, let alone 3 months ??

No, I think you're letting a lot out of the story here. Seems more like trying to figure out HOW to cover one's tracks... or place blame elsewhere.

• You claim in your profile you have no business, but yet here, you tell us you have still another business which requires 99% of your time.
• How can you have NO business and yet have an employee stealing from you ??
• If you have no place of business, is this employee working out of your house ??

You just joined, so if I'm being rude, I apologize, but your storyline makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

If he's still working there..i'm not far from you...we can set up a sting operation somehow so you can catch him in the act or something.

 

[Mike F]

Not sure what RIP you're using, but VersaWorks keeps a log of every file that's loaded, RIPped, and printed, along with how much media was used, what profile, and how much ink was used. Might want to see if your RIP keeps a similar log.

 

[jtw345]

Gino,

Sorry to burst your bubble but you wrong. We did motocross graphics and were using convex so check the prices actually 10k doesnt buy a **** ton of that stuff. This business was also run through my main business which does some pretty good numbers a month in sales. So all bills, sales etc are combined therefor untill I really run reports to see where and what sale, expenses etc... I usually do this every qtr but should have been doing it more.

 

[jtw345]

Insurance ahh yeah.

Thanks

Joe

 

[phototec]

Insurance ahh yeah.

Thanks

Joe

File a Police report, your insurance company will need it to process a claim of theft.

 

[high impact]

I didn't spend a whole lot of time reading through the responses so forgive me if this has been asked. How the heck do you experience that level of loss for an entire quarter without catching it earlier? If you have another biz that requires your time then you know how to read balance sheets. A loss shouldn't have been realized beyond 3-4 weeks at a worst case scenario without asking the difficult questions...especially that large of a percentage on such limited sales. No offense intended but something clearly doesn't add up and/or you need some serious basic business classes.