Light Fingers . . .

I had to go down there today just to nip into Payroll, and make some sense of my salary slip from the last month: for which I have as yet,  received no reply from HR. This is highly disappointing, but expected. J and I greeted at the base of the steps inside the foyer at WB and then she dropped the bombshell: there have been thefts from staff on the top floor.

What?? I said in astonishment. I knew that LF had £80 or so taken from her office drawer about a month ago, but I put that down to the all-too-common syndrome of, DON'T LEAVE CASH IN YOUR OFFICE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CANNOT LOCK IT AWAY. Anyway, with this money being for Cancer Research, I think that quite a lot of people knew that they lolly was there for the taking. Easy come, easy easy go?

But, zut alors, there have been other instances of kleptomania on the premises, and J is upset that the collective finger is pointing at everyone. A finger with many strands, so to speak. I mean, she says, the thefts are happening after she came to work up there: a handbag was stolen from Tracey some time before LF's cash, and there have been other bits and pieces going missing, too. She's not taking any chances, and is locking herself in the office. This has H & S implications, but theft is theft, and the sooner that they catch the culprit the better. As to who we think it is - well, the pinching started during the summer recess, i.e. when students were absent on the whole. We think that this fact alone points at an inside job . . .

On I sailed up the stairs, the lift and into Payroll, where I got answers at last. The mistakes made by the organisation were awful, and left me quite despondent. I checked the money that was being paid in this coming Tuesday, and left, vowing that this would be their last error at my expense.