r/whatdoIdo • u/Jazzlike-Dealer-2017 • 5h ago
My employee accidentally exposed my business partner and now I don’t know what to do
I own a small business with a 50/50 partner. We’ve been working together for a couple years and, for the most part, I thought everything was fine.
Last week one of my employees asked if he could talk to me privately after closing. I thought he was going to ask for a raise or complain about another employee.
Instead he asks me, “You know your partner has been taking cash out of the register, right?”
I laughed because I genuinely thought he was joking.
He tells me there have been nights when my partner comes in, opens the register, takes cash, and tells whoever is working that I already know about it. Apparently everyone assumed it was normal because… he owns half the business.
I definitely did NOT know about it.
So I went through months of camera footage and register reports. I couldn’t see everything, but I found multiple nights where the numbers didn’t make sense. On one night, the register was short almost $900.
Here’s where it gets weird.
I decided not to confront him. Instead, I casually mentioned that I was thinking about installing a new POS system that tracks every cash transaction and automatically sends both owners a daily report.
His entire attitude changed.
He immediately started saying it was unnecessary, too expensive, and that employees would feel like we were “watching them.”
Then the next morning he randomly texted me:
“By the way, sometimes I take cash for business expenses and forget to put the receipts back.”
I NEVER accused him of taking cash.
I never even mentioned missing money.
Now I’m sitting here wondering if he basically confessed without realizing it.
The employee who originally told me is begging me not to mention his name because he’s scared he’ll lose his job.
I own 50% of this place, have a ton of money tied up in it, and now I don’t even know if I can trust the person who owns the other half.
Would you confront him now, keep documenting everything quietly, or bring in an accountant first?