4 ms·

> the blaring loud message I just received is "do not under any circumstances try to expense anything, ever." did you not read the article? the message was, q

> the blaring loud message I just received is "do not under any circumstances try to expense anything, ever." did you not read the article? the message was, quite reasonably, "don't take the fucking piss, if we give you food vouchers to buy your dinner, then use it for buying yourself dinner".

jcgrillo 2y ago
> did you not read the article? That's obviously not a serious question, so it doesn't deserve a response. > if we give you food vouchers to buy your dinner, then use it for buying yourself dinner I don't know whether there even is a "message", but if I worked for a company that just fired a bunch of people for discrepancies in really minor expense reports I would simply avoid submitting an expense report for something like a meal ever again. They're clearly looking for an excuse to fire people, and it's better to not make oneself a target.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  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.
  - jcgrillo 2y ago
    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. employee is that--just like every interaction with the police is grounds for arrest--every interaction with your employer is grounds for dismissal. So minimize those interactions. 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..
    - s1artibartfast 2y ago
      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 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.
      - jcgrillo 2y ago
        > 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.
        s1artibartfast 2y ago
        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'm smart enough to realize people are touchy about that.
        jcgrillo 2y ago
        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 corrected would be shocking. It would make me question their motives. I would probably conclude they're looking for even the smallest excuse to fire literally anyone they can get their claws into. 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

jcgrillo 2y ago

> did you not read the article? That's obviously not a serious question, so it doesn't deserve a response. > if we give you food vouchers to buy your dinner, then use it for buying yourself dinner I don't know whether there even is a "message", but if I worked for a company that just fired a bunch of people for discrepancies in really minor expense reports I would simply avoid submitting an expense report for something like a meal ever again. They're clearly looking for an excuse to fire people, and it's better to not make oneself a target.

s1artibartfast 2y ago
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.
- jcgrillo 2y ago
  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. employee is that--just like every interaction with the police is grounds for arrest--every interaction with your employer is grounds for dismissal. So minimize those interactions. 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..
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    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 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.
    - jcgrillo 2y ago
      > 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.
      - s1artibartfast 2y ago
        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'm smart enough to realize people are touchy about that.
        jcgrillo 2y ago
        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 corrected would be shocking. It would make me question their motives. I would probably conclude they're looking for even the smallest excuse to fire literally anyone they can get their claws into. 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