Money confession – I stole money from work… and never got caught
Money messes, meet real talk — straight-up advice on your biggest financial dilemmas
This week's money confession:
When I was 16, I got my first job at a big retailer. Over Christmas, we would set up an outdoor 'store' in front of the main front doors to sell Christmas merchandise. To buy the items, customers had to go inside the store and line up to use the registers.
Once, an older couple wanted to buy something and they had exact change – $8. They just put the cash in my hand and walked off. I put the money in my pocket, intending to ring it up through the register later on, but I totally forgot about it until I got home that night and I found the money when I was getting undressed.
That's when I realised how easy it was to steal money at work. From then on, I would take people's cash payments if they had exact change and I'd just pocket it. Most shifts I would only get one or two cash sales, but I remember one time someone bought a tonne of decorations and gave me $70 cash. This was 20 years ago, so that was a LOT of money!
I used the stolen money to buy clothes, shoes, food, gadgets, you name it. My parents thought I was buying stuff with the money I was earning, little did they know I was supplementing my income with stolen money!
There's not much I can do about it now, but I still feel really guilty. So, I'm sharing my money confession to try and atone. Have I ruined my money karma forever?!
Sarah Megginson, Head of Editorial at Finder, says:
Yes, you stole money that didn't belong to you. But there's no way to go back in time and make things right.
So let yourself be free of this mis-step! You weren't yet an adult and you were still figuring out your boundaries around right and wrong. Presented with the same situation now, you'd hopefully make a totally different choice.
I'm in no way condoning stealing, but I am fully on board with the remorseful tone of your letter. So, honest internet stranger, I'm granting you full absolution. Why not celebrate by donating $70 to the charity of your choice to plant some seeds of karmic health?