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Alcohol sales,Counterfeit Money and Taking Checks.
Alcohol Sales
If you sell alcohol or cigarettes to a minor in the state of Florida, You are subject to being fired on the spot, arrested and fined. The store where you work will not pay for your legal fees. You are there alone to face the music. It could cost you from 2 to 5 thousand dollars, so is it worth it? Here are some tips to help you do the rite thing.
If you don't get busted in a sting, they could go out and get in an accident and guess who gets sued. yeppers, YOU not the store or the manager. In that accident, they may not be the only one to get hurt, they could kill somebody else and you would be responsible. You also have the responsibility to not sell alcohol to anybody who is intoxicated for the same reason.
When a minor wants to get beer they will often get somebody older to buy it for them and it is your job to catch it. Most of the time they will come into the store with the person and show them what to buy. When they go through the line to pay for it, if there are a group of people together and any of them look under age you have to check them no matter who is paying for it. It is to your benefit to keep an eye on the door to see who is coming in together because sometimes they will split up and the under age person will wander away when it comes time to pay. Don't think that if you don't see it, it's not your problem. Another thing to watch for is as the line gets short, the under age person will get out of line and wander up to the front to wait for them. Another tip off is when the younger person gives the older person the money or goes to the cooler and stands there while they pick out what they are going to get.
Some of them are a little bit smarter than that. They will try to get another customer to get it outside or wait in the car while the older person comes in. You should keep an eye on what goes on outside the store as much as possible. If you see something going on at night rite outside the front door and in plane view, you can almost bet it's a sting. Often times a customer will inform somebody that some kids are asking people to get them alcohol. If that happens, tell your manager Security or whoever is in charge. If you see an older person get out of a car while some teenagers are waiting in the car and he comes in and buys beer, you have to assume he is going to give it to them. Sure you can try to say "I can't be responsible what he does when he leaves the store" Well, you saw the kids in the car and you have to assume that.
Quite often they will try to intimidate you if you refuse, they will say that it isn't for the other person or even that the other person doesn't drink. They will even get mad and call you names and tell you how full of shit you are or just about anything else. They may even demand to see a manager. If the manager is dishonest enough to say sell it to them, it is still your responsibility to not sell it. Ask the manager to sign on to your register and let him sell it. If he sells it while you are signed on, the sale will have your name on it and if it is a sting, you still get busted because the manager is not going to take the rap for you. Don't let them get to you, it's your job on the line and you will be the one going to jail. If they don't care about you going to jail, why should you care about them getting beer.
One final note. When the state is conducting a sting, they get pretty tricky. They have even gone as far as using somebody who is old enough to buy alcohol and giving them fake ID which says they are underage. If a plane clothed police officer is standing in your line and sees you making a sale, he is not going to look at it as you would and try to find a reason to make the sale. He is going to TRY to find a reason to bust you. If it is a sting, he isn't even going to be in the store. They don't get their man to dress up in a suit and tie either, he might even look pretty scroungy. One thing for sure, he isn't going to look like a police officer.
Checking ID
Don't just look at somebody and say he looks old enough. If they don't look 30 years old, ID THEM. Most people who are old enough will have their ID in their hand, If they don't be suspicious. Just because they do have their ID, doesn't mean that they are old enough either. Check that ID carefully. There are several things to look at when you check an ID, so if you only look at it for a second or two, I know you haven't seen anything and are just going through the motions. The first thing to look at is the picture, I have seen cashiers look at an ID and then try to make the sale when the person is white and the picture is of a black person. If you really have to look at them and the picture and try to see the likeness, forget it. It should be obvious that it is them.
Next look at the date of birth. Not just the year, but the month and day. I have seen them come in at 11:30 PM and their birthday is the next day. They have to wait the extra 30 minutes.
Then check the date of expiration of the ID. If the ID has expired, it is not VALID ID. That is the same as NO ID.
Florida no longer makes drivers licenses and State ID cars out of paper laminated with plastic. If somebody produces one, it is time to be very suspicious. There may be a few still floating around but I doubt it and if there are, they are few and far between. If the lamination is coming apart, it is no longer VALID ID. The new licenses and ID cards issued in the state of Florida are made entirely of plastic and have the picture printed on it. Rub your finger over the picture. if it is raised up over the picture, it's a fake.
In the License number you will see a two digit number which is the year of birth. If it does not match the year of birth, it's a fake. Also on a Florida drivers license, the first letter of the drivers license should be the same as the first letter of their last name.
Finally move the license around in the light. You should see a hologram flashing on and off. If you don't see it or it does not flash on and off, its a fake. It may be scratched up so you can't see the hologram, if so, it is not VALID ID.
Watch for people who act suspicious or look nervous. There is a reason for it, they are up to something. You can't check all this in two seconds. Take your time and be sure. If the person tries to hurry you up or reaches for the ID before you are done checking it. Be suspicious. Some stores now have a license reader where you swipe the license or id card as you would a credit card. just because it says they are 21, doesn't mean that they are. Anybody with a computer and the rite software and hardware can put anything they want on that magnetic strip. Everything has to be rite.
You aren't done yet. Look at the person, if he smells of alcohol, staggers when he walks or has slurred speech he is probably under the influence of alcohol and you can't make the sale. If they are walking funny and say they have a medical problem, they will have a doctors note because they aren't able to take a roadside sobriety test and without that, they could be getting a ticket for D.W.I. so they will have it. The same for slurred speech. Sometimes they will say its the medication they are taking, Forget it, they are still under the influence.
If you are suspicious of something, ask them their address and birthday. If they can't remember it it isn't theirs.
Don't take any chances. If something just doesn't feel rite, there is no law that says you have to make the sale. Call a manager and let them make the sale. No good manager will ask you to make a bad sale. If he does, you don't need to be working there.
COUNTERFEIT MONEY
Counterfeiting has changed from somebody working months to produce a plate and then using an expensive printing press to produce counterfeit money. The average 10 year old with a computer, a scanner and a good printer can produce it in minutes. Legally, if you find counterfeit money you are supposed to call the police and let them handle it. Most stores just give it back and I haven't heard of anybody going to jail for giving it back. You will have to check your stores policy about counterfeit money to see how to handle it.
Older money doesn't have the safeguards that newer money has. It is always a good idea to have a counterfeit pen handy. When you write on the bill it will come out yellowish if it is good and black if it is a fake. If they just got it from the bank, that's fine, let them take it back to the bank, but don't you take it. These pens are available in most office supply stores for about $3.00.
On all bills one side is black and the other is green. If both sides are the same color, tisk tisk. Look on the back and look at the trees by the white house. The leaves on the trees should show up as individual leaves. If they are just dark and light spots, it's a fake.
On the newer bills, the amount of the bill is displayed in one corner on the front in color and if you move it around, you can see light reflecting off the number.
Holding a new bill up to the light will show you a strip woven into the paper with the amount of the bill on it. In good light you can read the amount of the bill on the strip. Each bill has the strip in a different place on the bill so don't think it's a fake if it shows up someplace else from where you remembered seeing it on another bill. I won't go into where the strip is placed because its a real pain in the ass to remember, but if you want to look at a bill and try to remember where it is supposed to be, all the better.
Not many people have one in their pocket, but if you take a seven power or stronger magnifying glass and look at the border around the picture on the bill you will see that the outside of the border is not a solid line. It consists of what is called micro printing. With the magnifying glass you can easily read the printing.
This may sound silly, but most computer generated bills are not produced with waterproof ink. Wet your finger and see if the ink runs.
Don't think that the only bills that are fake are the 50's and 100's, I have seen fake $1.00 bills. Obviously you can't check al of the one dollar bills, but if a customer acts nervous, they are nervous for a reason. If the customer looks like a waitress and they are paying with a pocket full of one dollar bills, that would be normal. If they are a man in a $700 dollar suit with a pocket full of one dollar bills, that doesn't look normal.
Finally look for customers that are getting nervous if you look too long.
Taking Checks
There are a lot of people out there passing bad checks and if you take too many of them your shit is going to be pretty weak in the eyes of your boss. Each company has it's own requirements for taking checks. Be familiar with them.
Here are a few tips. Watch for starter checks and numbers below 100. Many people will open an account, get the checks and then close the account. If you are not sure, call a manager.
If you register says to enter the drivers license number, DO IT and then look back and check to see that you entered it correctly.
If they are getting cash back be sure to get the drivers license number whether the register asks for it or not.
If the check reader can't read the number, call a manager. In the stores where I work, if the check reader can't read it the banks reader won't either and they won't accept it. Some registers will let you enter the number manually, but don't do it unless you have the managers OK to do so.
Check to see that the name and address on the check is the same as the ID. Also make sure that you get their phone number.
Make sure the ID is of the person writing the check. They could have stolen the checks and the ID.
Some stores require a managers approval for checks over a certain amount, make sure you do that.
Watch for people buying large amounts of expensive meat and if you store has expensive cigarettes, watch for people buying several cartons at a time. If they can buy them cheaper at Wallgreens or Walmart, they wouldn't be buying three cartons at someplace where they are 5 or 10 dollars more.
Don't take a check where a person has written over the code at the bottom of the check. They do that so that check readers can't read it. If the person is acting suspicious, go to the office and tell a manager. Chances are, if you go to the office with it, they won't be there when you get back.
Good luck and don't take any wooden nickles.
