a beginner's guide to 'Till-Building'

I used to wonder how many customers I served on an average Saturday, so one morning I kept a tally over an hour in the morning, which I planned to rack up and multiply by 9 or whatever. When I returned after lunch, my manager called me into her office; she was holding the tally in her hand and said "what does this look like to you Tom?"

Sensing that she wouldn't appreciate the lolz, I kept quiet, and she went on to ask if I was till-building.

Now, a quick google search shows that the modern world is largely ignorant of the existence of till-building; as was I, and as, most likely, are you. I would go as far as to say that the practice existed solely within the mind of my boss.

The basic premise of till-building, she explained, is that you take money for certain items without scanning them; instead, you keep track of your takings with a tally (much like mine, I suppose) and then transfer the relevant amount to your back pocket.

I protested my innocence by pointing out that if this were the case I wouldn't have been so careless as to leave evidence sellotaped to my till while i went for lunch. I wasn't actually annoyed about the accusation, more that I try to steal such a small amount of money in such a stupid way - I subsequently devoted many hours daydreaming about the best ways to steal substantial sums of money without being caught.

My boss had a go at me for keeping a tally of customers and sent me back to my till.