Money gone missing?

Ok this might be a bit long.
We had a rummage sale yesterday for our elementary school. My friend who has 3 kids there is on the PTA so she helped out. The lady who was in charge of the money after it was over asked if my friend if she would help her count it today.
Supoosedly this lady went home and counted it 3 times herself last night and called a bunch of people to tell them how much they made.
So she went over to my friends house today and brought the money in a lock box (which was not locked). When she first got there they got distracted for a bit cause another friend came over. and they all went outside to talk. When they went to count the money this lady said 6 $20's were missing!
Now my friends kids were home with them. But they were all playing and stuff. Besides my friends kids are good kids. And they show thier guilt when they do something wronge.
But my friend had to grill them over and over cause this lady was really upset. The kids are 6, 4 and 11. And money is just not a huge thing to them. Now my friend has to fork over $60.00 and she didn't even get a chance to count the money. And beciase it is PTA they supposedly can't bring it up because it is scandalous. I feel really sorry for my friend.
I asked her if it could have been this women and she doesn't want to point finger's because they are friends and so are thier kids. But I don't understand why this money left the school in the first place and why is she having to count it so many times. and why is she driving it all over town. It should have been left at the school and counted with a group of people.
Do you think my friend should pay? I think it is really unfair. My friend said she is never offering to do anything like this again! Poor thing.

It's not fair your friend has to pay.

It was careless that the money was left there unlocked while people went somewhere else outside to talk..however nothing might have happened.

As for why the money was transported all over town or whatever or counted many times...hard to know. But some people can also be incredibly naive...especially for volunteer fundraisers.

I guess with the volunteer organizations I've worked for in past few decades, it did help to:
have a treasurer
cheque signing authority limited to only 1-2 people in volunteer organizations. (usually people such as treasurer, president or vp)This is requirement of any Canadian bank for organizations. It's these people in the end, who physically hold the money and can make deposits into the bank or withdrawals as deemed by organization. A slightly demanding role for an organization, but important.

Heck no, your friend shouldn't be paying. Nutty woman was was traveling around with unsecured cash should be paying.

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

Heck no, your friend shouldn't be paying. Nutty woman was was traveling around with unsecured cash should be paying.

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Exactly. Not to mention only one person counted it, presumably alone, and I don't care how many times she said she counted it. Mistakes happen.

She might have made an error in counting. She might have gone to the dry cleaners and turned around for a minute while someone grabbed some bills. Her dog might have nosed the box open and eaten a bill. Whatever.

She should have sat down right then and there after the sale, with 2 other people, and handled the cash. She chose to take the responsibility to take it home alone. She gets responsibility. Maybe next time she will choose some different protocols.

Your friend shouldn't pay, she didn't even know how much was in there. Could be her friend needed $60 to gas her car or something. Sorry, I am not a trusting person and this all sounds shady.

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Originally Posted by Starfish

Exactly. Not to mention only one person counted it, presumably alone, and I don't care how many times she said she counted it. Mistakes happen.

She should have sat down right then and there after the sale, with 2 other people, and handled the cash. She chose to take the responsibility to take it home alone. She gets responsibility. Maybe next time she will choose some different protocols.

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exactly!! she took the responsibility of taking it home. She needs to cough up the $60.00. Beisdes, her accusation is totally ludicrous. No proof before or after and why would some one just take three $20.00 bills. Bad person would take the whole thing!! Sounds too fishy to me.

No! your friend should not pay. Absiolutely not pay for someone else's mistake and someone else's responsibility. If this woman wants to make a stink have her file a police complaint!!

Smilingcat

I wouldn't pay for it, either. If she couldn't get it right the first three times, how does she know the 20s are missing? I certainly wouldn't want that kind of accusation hanging over my kids, either!

I count lots of money every year for youth baseball and I do it all by myself (sometimes my husband helps). No one ever questions it, because we make more money than we used to from our concession stand--because I manage the money well. If anyone ever did question it, they would be handed the task! lol.

Karen

On saturday, at the end of the event, two people should have counted the money, then put it in an envelope and sealed it. Both counters sign the back of the envelope, then one of them should be going to the bank today. Or could have done a bank drop on saturday. Driving around with an unsecured cash box, taking it out, counting, recounting is asking for trouble. And apparently they found it. Or someone made a mistake in the counting. If it was me, I wouldn't coughing up any money for the missing money.

What Beth said...

Back in my younger days as an Army lieutenant, we all took turns twice a month as the payroll officer, which involved strapping on a .45, rounding up 2 armed guards, and signing for a steel ammo box with about $80,000 cash in it, and you were responsible to Uncle Sam for every nickle of it until you brought it back to the Finance Office and it was triple counted. This when a second lieutenant made about $750 a month in Mr. Carter's Army...

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Originally Posted by smilingcat

exactly!! she took the responsibility of taking it home. She needs to cough up the $60.00. Beisdes, her accusation is totally ludicrous. No proof before or after and why would some one just take three $20.00 bills. Bad person would take the whole thing!! Sounds too fishy to me.

No! your friend should not pay. Absiolutely not pay for someone else's mistake and someone else's responsibility. If this woman wants to make a stink have her file a police complaint!!

Smilingcat

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No no not 3 $20.'s, 6 $20.00's went missing!

hey, this friendship will definitely be stressed if your friend gives the other one that money. It won't make things better, it will be worse. It's a lose-lose situation. I say take it to someone else, there's no way i would pay that money. the other gals are right here.

We sat down last night and had a margarita over it. She is very uneasy about the whole thing and has come to realize things are going to be different between her and this lady now. Which I think makes her even more sad then having to pay money out.
I am going to pass on your advice's and see if any of it helps her. She said there is no way she is ever going to help with the money part ever again!
Thanks for everybody's input! And for support for my friend.

I wouldn't have paid her a dime. She brought that money in and your friend doesn't even know how much money was truly in there to begin with.
All sounds a little shady to me. I was VP of a PTA for my sons school in 3rd grade and we never left the money with one person before it was counted. We all did everything together and made sure that no one person was left holding the bag when it came to the money. There was always at least two of us together doing sales and such and the money was always counted by two people immidiately after each event, even down to the lolipop sales on Fridays. When deposits were made, it was made by 1 person, but the deposit slip was made out by two. The money was counted, deposit slip filled out and then it was counted by the second person and verified, and then and only then did just one person take the money to the bank.
That was to cover everyone should there ever be any question about any of it.

The lady waving the cash box around is the one responsible for the missing $120. She should NOT have been hauling it around. The money should have been deposited in the bank on saturday. Banks do have night drop boxes. Much more secure than some piss-ant cash box. Your friend should not have coughed up half the missing money. Dumb broad hauling it around for all to see should be out the money. IF $120 is actually missing. Can anyone verify the true amount made on the rummage sale?

Oh, and don't let her be the treasurer again.

I've seen someone fired for "loosing" $100 bucks. Although it is hard to fire volunteers.