Day 153 - 12 Jul 95 - Page 59


     
     1
     2   Q.   So somebody would get the blame for that, unless they
     3        managed to even it up by this method?
     4        A.  No.  The restaurant manager would not, or the
     5        management team would not get the blame for it
     6        specifically, and ------
     7
     8   Q.   It would be seen as incompetent or something, would it?
     9        A.  It would not be seen as incompetent.  It would be seen
    10        to have a problem with the till operating procedures of the
    11        people within his restaurant.  So if that happened, which,
    12        you know, on occasions -----
    13
    14   Q.   It would reflect on their personnel management, or what?
    15        A.  No, not necessarily.  If you have got a problem with a
    16        cash plus or minus in a restaurant, it is the manager's job
    17        to investigate (a) which till or person, if there is a
    18        specific person has got the problem; is it a problem with
    19        retraining the staff; is it a problem with somebody
    20        thieving.  Then the idea is that you would put security
    21        controls on the tills, or sufficient security on the tills,
    22        to ensure that the cash plus or minus was not too
    23        divergent; and the method that Kevin described is a
    24        shortcut to achieving that security on the tills, and was
    25        definitely not a policy that was in any way endorsed by
    26        either McDonald's or by myself.
    27
    28   Q.   What would be the benefit for the people doing that?  Why
    29        would they not just say, "Oh, we have got a discrepancy.
    30        We will investigate this, we will take action, or we do not
    31        know"?  What is the benefit of them doing it?  Is it
    32        because they might feel that they are being questioned
    33        whether they are competent as a manager in controlling
    34        the -----
    35        A.  No.  It is laziness, really, I would have said.  It is
    36        probably the key reason for doing that.  Rather than
    37        investigate and sort the problem out, they would -- the
    38        experiences I have had of it, their reasons for doing it
    39        are sort of:  "All right, you know, if we cover it up, that
    40        means we will not have to do any investigation."  The net
    41        result of that is that it will occur again, because they
    42        have not sorted the problem; all they are doing is covering
    43        up the problem.  We have since bought in a different type
    44        of till that means that you cannot actually perform that
    45        function.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is sweeping the dust under the carpet?
    48        A.  Exactly, sir, yes.
    49
    50   MR. MORRIS:   Coming on to paragraph 39, in the last sentence 
    51        you said: "As I mentioned above, there is not a set policy 
    52        as to when the store closes.  If the crew have not finished 
    53        by midnight, it was understood that the crew were allowed
    54        to leave when the work was done.  If people were asked to
    55        stay late, the vast majority of the time they were warned
    56        about this before they started their shift.  It was on rare
    57        occasions that people would be asked to stay late during
    58        the shift."
    59
    60        You would agree with that, would you?  Is that true, what

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