...to expect M & S Staff to be scrupulously honest?

I think it is very unusual these days for them to ask for the odd 5p. I have stopped offering it in shops as generally the assistants don't understand. They seem to totally rely on telling the till how much has been tendered and giving back the amount the till tells them to.

It sounds to me a case of the end of a busy day and getting the sums wrong when rounding the change to the nearest £,easy to do and I have done it myself on occassion.

No pockets. Reminds me of my days as a roulette dealer. You had to show your hands to the inspector as well.

All the tills in M&S are covered by very efficient CCTV which , if necessary, can show in minute detail exactly what is happening with the money. The uniforms are designed without pockets so it is quite hard to take cash on or off the shop floor and they are not taught to count the change back as the till tells them how much it is.

Exactly what I was going to say, jingle. I volunteer for a charity shop, and it has happened to me, when I think 'did I get this right?'- so she probably though she might have got it wrong, but was not sure, and was too tired or embarrassed to check.

I think she probably had a vague feeling in the back of her mind that she had made the mistake, but probably at the end of a busy day did n't bother to give it enough thought. She wouldn't benefit from an extra pound in her till. Someone else would do the cashing up.

Careless due to being humanly tired I would think.

I agree. She was hardly going to pocket that £1 was she?

Not unreasonable at all, we should expect staff in shops to be honest.However I'm not sure if this was dishonesty because it seems obvious that it must have been £1, it could have been £1 too much or £1 short.She knew she had given you a £5 note, and the 5p coin, so it only leaves £1 coins.I sound like Sherlock Holmes here, but you get the drift?Actually these days I think it's more imcompetence and general not being able to add up than thievery, so we should all count our change [I know I always do.]

Probably incompetent rather than dishonest – but who knows? These days they rely heavily on what the till tells them rather than doing sums in their heads.