141–150 of 166 posts
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For accidentally bundling a toothpaste with some groceries? That seems excessive but again I don’t know the scale of it.
Where did you see "accidentally"?
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> But that's worse, right? Okay, then the conclusion is that this basis doesn't work, and you need some leniency Not really, having a hole in the rules doesn’t mean the rules should be loosened. I don’t even understand how you came to that conclusion. The rule is „this credit is for you to buy food as a meal“. That means you shouldn’t order stuff to only take home and eat later, and it also means that you shouldn’t o…
That's not what the rule is. The rule is you get X amount of money, maximally, to spend on a meal. From the employer standpoint it makes absolutely no difference if you got to a cheap place or an expensive place, because the rule is X amount. So you'd be stupid to go to a cheap place. And the concept of having to eat it is stupid on the surface. What happens if you get full, and you have to take some home? Are you no…
Only if you don't eat it yourself later ;)
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These aren't expense reports. They are digital vouchers. Imagine if your boss has a stack of gift cards on their desk in case people need a taxi home, and some employees start using it as their personal expense fund. If I was looking to fire someone, the thieves would be at the top of the list.
Huh, I've never seen a digital voucher before. How do they work? And how can the employer detect what the employee uses it for? I guess the net result is the same? It seems accepting the digital voucher comes with a huge risk--what if they decide to object to the establishment or your food choice? So just.. bring a sandwich for lunch instead or pay with your own money... EDIT: the important thing to remember as a U.S…
Some companies will have a app or web page where you can click to submit a request certifying that you are working late and request a meal voucher code. Sometimes there is an "I self certify I qualify and am following the rules.." checkbox
Using the code in the app sends the food bill and receipt to your company account, presumably with an identifier of who made the purchase.
>It seems accepting the digital voucher comes with a huge risk--what if they decide to object to the establishment or your food choice?
Seems like no risk to me, provided you are following the clear rules and aren't willfully scamming the system. I have never heard of a company objecting to a good faith food choice or establishment, and that doesnt seem to be the case here either.
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Huh, I've never seen a digital voucher before. How do they work? And how can the employer detect what the employee uses it for? I guess the net result is the same? It seems accepting the digital voucher comes with a huge risk--what if they decide to object to the establishment or your food choice? So just.. bring a sandwich for lunch instead or pay with your own money... EDIT: the important thing to remember as a U.S…
I dont know how they are distributed at Meta. Some companies will have a app or web page where you can click to submit a request certifying that you are working late and request a meal voucher code. Sometimes there is an "I self certify I qualify and am following the rules.." checkbox Using the code in the app sends the food bill and receipt to your company account, presumably with an identifier of who made the purch…
That's genuinely interesting. I'd probably be so much happier in general if I was ever able to trust an employer's intentions that much. Experience has (repeatedly) taught me otherwise, though, so I fear that's not possible barring major changes in U.S. employment laws.
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I dont know how they are distributed at Meta. Some companies will have a app or web page where you can click to submit a request certifying that you are working late and request a meal voucher code. Sometimes there is an "I self certify I qualify and am following the rules.." checkbox Using the code in the app sends the food bill and receipt to your company account, presumably with an identifier of who made the purch…
> provided you are following the clear rules and aren't willfully scamming the system That's genuinely interesting. I'd probably be so much happier in general if I was ever able to trust an employer's intentions that much. Experience has (repeatedly) taught me otherwise, though, so I fear that's not possible barring major changes in U.S. employment laws.
There are lots of areas where I dont trust employers, but following published expense policies is not one I lose sleep over.
I have never once had a problem, or heard of anyone else having a problem in real life. I have used corporate expenses for decades, and know tons of people doing the same across dozens of companies.
That said, I don't overtly steal from the company. I'm smart enough to realize people are touchy about that.
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What you describe is functionally no different from an employee who goes to the office taking food from the cafeteria home with them to feed the family so they can avoid buying groceries themselves. Surely you can see how that's stealing?
That's not stealing if the food is free. Don't want people taking free food? Don't make the food free. You're describing exactly the problem. The company wants to appear generous, but they're not actually generous. A generous person doesn't care if that food is meant to feed a family. This hurts the employees, but it also hurts the company. Naturally this erodes trust. If I worked at Meta, I would be scared to submit…
Well, it wasn't long before someone decided to just grab a few entire boxes of pizza and go home with them, abusing the perk so they could get a free meal for their family.
After a few times that happened, the pizza perk ended, because one guy ruined it for everyone.
Now we all know it was you!
EDIT: (sarcasm alert, I'm obviously not saying it was literally you, just someone with the same justifications)
We had this at my company (finance) during covid they had a generous Uber eats offer for food after work hours. Some employees (particularly new grads) realised they could pick the food up as they left or collect the food at the door as they left the office or redirect the order. remember at the time thinking this is stealing pennies when you’re paid incredibly well. Well it wasn’t pennies. HR filtered to find those…
Every single tech job I've had has had people like his. I've seen people empty drink refrigerators into duffle bags before the weekend. There was a guy who took dozens of travel-sized deodorants from the bathroom and kept them in his desk (and still didn't use them...) There was someone who would pressure the cafeteria staff for 10 "to-go" meal containers. All highly-paid engineers. Money doesn't buy class
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> provided you are following the clear rules and aren't willfully scamming the system That's genuinely interesting. I'd probably be so much happier in general if I was ever able to trust an employer's intentions that much. Experience has (repeatedly) taught me otherwise, though, so I fear that's not possible barring major changes in U.S. employment laws.
What is your bad experience with expenses? There are lots of areas where I dont trust employers, but following published expense policies is not one I lose sleep over. I have never once had a problem, or heard of anyone else having a problem in real life. I have used corporate expenses for decades, and know tons of people doing the same across dozens of companies. That said, I don't overtly steal from the company. I'…
We've had broadly the same experience but drawn very different conclusions here. This is very interesting and I'll definitely think long and hard about it.
EDIT: I have had (accidentally) improperly reported expenses rejected before. That's normal procedure. It would be quite shocking if my employer instead just fired me... Albeit given U.S. employment law it would not be surprising
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These aren't expense reports. They are digital vouchers. Imagine if your boss has a stack of gift cards on their desk in case people need a taxi home, and some employees start using it as their personal expense fund. If I was looking to fire someone, the thieves would be at the top of the list.
Huh, I've never seen a digital voucher before. How do they work? And how can the employer detect what the employee uses it for? I guess the net result is the same? It seems accepting the digital voucher comes with a huge risk--what if they decide to object to the establishment or your food choice? So just.. bring a sandwich for lunch instead or pay with your own money... EDIT: the important thing to remember as a U.S…
What a sad and scared worldview. Interactions with your employer are also grounds for promotion, recognition, and advancement. Instead of hiding from life, you can engage with it. There are risks, but competent humans can asses those risks and proceed in a thoughtful way to achieve their goals.
>ANOTHER EDIT: which restaurants or food trucks accept these "digital vouchers"? Are these some kind of apple wallet type thing on your phone? So it only works at places with certain payment equipment? Many places I like to eat only take cash..
Per the article, they are codes you put in to apps like grubhub and ubereats. Yes, there are practical limitations on the perk. If you want to eat at a cash only place, you probably arent in the office working, and you can pay it out of your own pocket with your 400k Meta salary.
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What is your bad experience with expenses? There are lots of areas where I dont trust employers, but following published expense policies is not one I lose sleep over. I have never once had a problem, or heard of anyone else having a problem in real life. I have used corporate expenses for decades, and know tons of people doing the same across dozens of companies. That said, I don't overtly steal from the company. I'…
I have never had a bad experience with expenses! That's part of what stands out so strongly about this incident. In a culture of blameless postmortems--where an operator can screw up a command causing millions of dollars of damage and the question is "how did this process fail", not "who should we pin it on"--to see my employer suddenly fire a bunch of people for something their process should have detected and corre…
Is periodically firing employees not part of the process too?
If these people are habitually and willfully lying and stealing from the company for $20, what could that mean for the rest of their work and interactions.
Several thousand dollars of stolen meals is a bargain to identify these individuals and get them out of the company. Who knows what else they are stealing and lying about. opportunities about