Used Company Card for Groceries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny story of why/how I left my first job: I was on travel for work and my corporate card was declined. I called up the person in charge of our cards at work and let them know. They casually said "oh yeah, CFO hasn't released funds for payment yet, sorry."

Awesome! K, so what do you suggest I do? I was told to use my personal card and submit for reimbursement. I was 22, fresh out of college all of 5 months, and only had a Discover card with a $1000 limit. The hotel that had to be switched to my card took up almost all of that availability as a hold. I was supposed to rent a car for a client meeting about 45 minutes away during day 3 of my trip. I was surviving off of hotel breakfast food that I hoarded up for the rest of the day and free snacks given out at the conference. I did not account for the fact that they needed to hold a larger deposit because I was under 25. I got to the rental place and my card wouldn't work. I was embarrassed af and ended up calling my boss instead of the lady in charge of the cards. I thought for sure he'd be sympathetic and maybe spur some action to get the corporate card working again, but no, he told me that it was pretty embarrassing to be an adult and only have one credit card to my name. He told me to figure it out.

I got off the phone and seriously sat in the middle of a sh!tty Budget rental place and cried. None of the employees knew what to do with me except give me pitying looks.

I ended up calling my mom who gave me her cc number over the phone to add to my Apple wallet. The car rental place wouldn't allow me to use it so I ended up taking Uber to and from the client meeting.

When I got back and submitted all my receipts for reimbursement, I got a quick email back that said nothing more than Rejected. Reason: personal cards not covered.

I went into a rage blackout. I don't even remember what I yelled or said to my boss. I know I quit and told them if I didn't have a check for the full amount before I was escorted out of the building, it would not be good for them.

That was apparently a threat. Who knew? I got escorted out and the police came. The one officer who dealt with me was SO nice. I thought for sure I was going to jail but I ended up only being trespassed from the office complex. He made sure I left with my reimbursement check, though. He also told me to not put that job on my resume. He said I was young enough and fresh enough that it wouldn't matter. He didn't believe I was an actual threat, just a dumb, broke kid.

This is absolutely horrible. Did you ever get reimbursed?

I worked for a company once that would not give cash advances, and they expected an entry level employee making $30k a year to float travel expenses on her own dime. She couldn’t pay her rent and had to borrow from her parents.

I hope everyone who is condemning OP is equally, if not much, much, more, outraged about situations such as these.

You can count the US Military as one of those organizations that frequently asks members to float travel expenses. It is horrible.

Stories like these are why at my company we created training for managers of interns and new hires that covered how to do business travel without a corporate credit card. That same info was shared by the travel department whenever they were booking flights etc. It is amazing how many people are embarrassed to admit they have limited credit available. And no company should depend on its employees to float travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, why on earth would you have your work CC in your wallet, but not your personal CC?

I can answer that easily. Because my work CC is kept.... at work. If my wallet was left at home my personal CCs would be there while my company CC is with me any time I'm at work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

There is no such thing as a fed being fired immediately

PP is s sock puppet butt hurt that people don't respect the company card.

I use mine for gas in my personal vehicle once a month. I asked for cell phone reimbursement once and they aid no, even though my cell gets used by colleagues and clients all the time. So, I put $75 a month in gas in my car every month instead. They think its for the company cars. been doing this for 6 years. That's about $5400 they thought I'd just let them have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, why on earth would you have your work CC in your wallet, but not your personal CC?

I can answer that easily. Because my work CC is kept.... at work. If my wallet was left at home my personal CCs would be there while my company CC is with me any time I'm at work.

You work at Target?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I left my wallet at home by mistake. I had my company CC in my work badge so when I went to pay that was all I had. Instead of leaving it All on the belt and coming back later I used it. Total was $186.

The next day I copied the receipt and submitted it to accounting along with a check for $186 and the above explanation.

HR called my in two days later and gave me an official 'reprimand.'

This, in a company where I have seen the higher ups using the card for booze and tobacco.

I'm *this* close to emailing corporate about this.

I've been interviewing for the last month and have offers but was waiting for a better one before fully jumping ship.

How stupid do employers have to be to lose a good employee over something to tame?

There are many things that a company SVP can get away with but a workabee can not. You need to accept that fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

I don’t believe this. First, very few feds are fired immediately. There is a process. Also, mistakes do happen. If I DID get fired for a transgression as minor as this, I wouldn’t want to work at that agency.

At my agency, work travel cards are in the employee’s name and aren’t true corporate cards. We are responsible for the card. Of course, you aren’t allowed to use it for anything but official travel. If I mistakenly used my work card for gas, for my personal vehicle, I would own the mistake, pay the balance and that would be the end of it. If I used the work card by mistake multiple times, or for a trip to Hawaii, then that’s an issue.

Same. My agency-issued travel card is in my name and I alone am responsible for paying the bill. If I were to use it for a non-government-travel expense I wouldn’t be reimbursed for it, so there’s no perceptible harm to the government if I did so. We aren’t even allowed to use it to get cash advances for work trips even though it’s still our money (apparently we have to use our personal money for cash advances). So even though I don’t use it for anything else, nor do I feel entitled to, I’d be incensed if I were criticized for accidentally using it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

I don’t believe this. First, very few feds are fired immediately. There is a process. Also, mistakes do happen. If I DID get fired for a transgression as minor as this, I wouldn’t want to work at that agency.

At my agency, work travel cards are in the employee’s name and aren’t true corporate cards. We are responsible for the card. Of course, you aren’t allowed to use it for anything but official travel. If I mistakenly used my work card for gas, for my personal vehicle, I would own the mistake, pay the balance and that would be the end of it. If I used the work card by mistake multiple times, or for a trip to Hawaii, then that’s an issue.

Same. My agency-issued travel card is in my name and I alone am responsible for paying the bill. If I were to use it for a non-government-travel expense I wouldn’t be reimbursed for it, so there’s no perceptible harm to the government if I did so. We aren’t even allowed to use it to get cash advances for work trips even though it’s still our money (apparently we have to use our personal money for cash advances). So even though I don’t use it for anything else, nor do I feel entitled to, I’d be incensed if I were criticized for accidentally using it.

All I can tell you is that if you're investigated for a security clearance, it will come up. And it's a ding against you if you use the federal government CC for personal expenses. All the security clearance forms explicitly ask if you if you've violated the terms of company issues credit card. And the agreement you sign with your agency and the credit card issuer states that you promise to not use it for personal expenses.

Here's the question on basically every security clearance form: "In the last seven (7) years have you been counseled, warned, or disciplined for violating the terms of agreement for a travel or credit card provided by your employer?"

You don't want to have a "YES" to that question. And technically your agency should "warn" you even after one personal transaction. If your agency hasn't said anything, you're lucky and should never do it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, why on earth would you have your work CC in your wallet, but not your personal CC?

I can answer that easily. Because my work CC is kept.... at work. If my wallet was left at home my personal CCs would be there while my company CC is with me any time I'm at work.

You work at Target?

You keep your company CC in your work badge pouch? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

I don’t believe this. First, very few feds are fired immediately. There is a process. Also, mistakes do happen. If I DID get fired for a transgression as minor as this, I wouldn’t want to work at that agency.

At my agency, work travel cards are in the employee’s name and aren’t true corporate cards. We are responsible for the card. Of course, you aren’t allowed to use it for anything but official travel. If I mistakenly used my work card for gas, for my personal vehicle, I would own the mistake, pay the balance and that would be the end of it. If I used the work card by mistake multiple times, or for a trip to Hawaii, then that’s an issue.

Same. My agency-issued travel card is in my name and I alone am responsible for paying the bill. If I were to use it for a non-government-travel expense I wouldn’t be reimbursed for it, so there’s no perceptible harm to the government if I did so. We aren’t even allowed to use it to get cash advances for work trips even though it’s still our money (apparently we have to use our personal money for cash advances). So even though I don’t use it for anything else, nor do I feel entitled to, I’d be incensed if I were criticized for accidentally using it.

All I can tell you is that if you're investigated for a security clearance, it will come up. And it's a ding against you if you use the federal government CC for personal expenses. All the security clearance forms explicitly ask if you if you've violated the terms of company issues credit card. And the agreement you sign with your agency and the credit card issuer states that you promise to not use it for personal expenses.

Here's the question on basically every security clearance form: "In the last seven (7) years have you been counseled, warned, or disciplined for violating the terms of agreement for a travel or credit card provided by your employer?"

You don't want to have a "YES" to that question. And technically your agency should "warn" you even after one personal transaction. If your agency hasn't said anything, you're lucky and should never do it again.

One of many reasons why government has trouble maintaining competent staffing.

Scare away all the practical, honest people, and attract the over rigid and liars.

[Anonymous]

I once expensed a ride on BART on my travel voucher but listed it as subway. I was asked to explain because they thought I was charging Subway the restaurant, not the Bay Area Rapid Transport. Of course, I had the fare receipt and all was good but it was interesting how closely it was monitored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

I don’t believe this. First, very few feds are fired immediately. There is a process. Also, mistakes do happen. If I DID get fired for a transgression as minor as this, I wouldn’t want to work at that agency.

At my agency, work travel cards are in the employee’s name and aren’t true corporate cards. We are responsible for the card. Of course, you aren’t allowed to use it for anything but official travel. If I mistakenly used my work card for gas, for my personal vehicle, I would own the mistake, pay the balance and that would be the end of it. If I used the work card by mistake multiple times, or for a trip to Hawaii, then that’s an issue.

Same. My agency-issued travel card is in my name and I alone am responsible for paying the bill. If I were to use it for a non-government-travel expense I wouldn’t be reimbursed for it, so there’s no perceptible harm to the government if I did so. We aren’t even allowed to use it to get cash advances for work trips even though it’s still our money (apparently we have to use our personal money for cash advances). So even though I don’t use it for anything else, nor do I feel entitled to, I’d be incensed if I were criticized for accidentally using it.

All I can tell you is that if you're investigated for a security clearance, it will come up. And it's a ding against you if you use the federal government CC for personal expenses. All the security clearance forms explicitly ask if you if you've violated the terms of company issues credit card. And the agreement you sign with your agency and the credit card issuer states that you promise to not use it for personal expenses.

Here's the question on basically every security clearance form: "In the last seven (7) years have you been counseled, warned, or disciplined for violating the terms of agreement for a travel or credit card provided by your employer?"

You don't want to have a "YES" to that question. And technically your agency should "warn" you even after one personal transaction. If your agency hasn't said anything, you're lucky and should never do it again.

One of many reasons why government has trouble maintaining competent staffing.

Scare away all the practical, honest people, and attract the over rigid and liars.

Oh, FFS, the reason this stuff is in place is because of sooooo many people breaking, stretching the rules of what they can do with work funds/privileges.

The OP has poor decision making and frankly, that is the kind of mindset that will be weeded out at my workplace.

[Anonymous]

Very stupid. You should not have done that.

[Anonymous]

We are actually allowed to do this. It just get taken off our payroll if we don’t tag the charge to a justifiable expense code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, why on earth would you have your work CC in your wallet, but not your personal CC?

I can answer that easily. Because my work CC is kept.... at work. If my wallet was left at home my personal CCs would be there while my company CC is with me any time I'm at work.

You work at Target?

You keep your company CC in your work badge pouch? Why?

Because they only use it for.... work?

Why would you ever keep a government card in your wallet? So it could get lost or stolen at the gym?

Some of you are so dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone I worked with as a Fed filled gas and was fired, immediately.

There is no such thing as a fed being fired immediately

Not even if you're a 65 year old disabled troll in Ohio?