Should Rebecca come clean about David's baguette?

Pound

What if the offer was that Uppercrust gave you a voucher every time you bought a baguette and when you had 5 vouchers you could get a free baguette? Rebecca also liked these baguettes and bought them for lunch when she went clothes shopping on the weekend.

Would it be immoral for her to use the voucher herself? Should she give the vouchers to her boss?

conradtownson

By using the words moral dilemma, you automatically imply that there is an issue which if acted on, could be construed as wrong by other parties. Therefore we should always look at so called "moral dilemmas" by asking the question, "what would a court of law say?". This is because we live in the UK and are therefore bound by UK law. This may sound a bit deep for such a simple scenario but the reality is, our society is in the mess it's in because people do not apply the law to their moral thought process. It all starts with little things that don't appear to hurt anyone, such as the moral dilemma in question, and then escalates. What we see today in society is a general set of morals that completely contrast the laws we have in place for the general good of society.

Unfortunately these laws have been watered down and modified over the last 60 years or so, to suit various peoples "moral dilemmas"! I believe that we will see this happen more so in light of the current economic crisis.

There, got that one off my chest!!!!

pennystretcher

I would use the voucher on my lunch and get it at the same time as I was getting his! That way I wouldn't lie and I would get a bargain at the same time! If he wants to use the voucher scheme - tell him to go himself!

A.Jones

junglegirl wrote: »

Apart from being unethical, it is illegal.

The money is given to her in trust for the beneficiary (her boss). In the conditions of this 'Trust', she is not an intended or specified beneficiary. If she uses the money for the benefit of anyone other than her boss, she would be in breach of her responsibilities as a trustee to use the money for the benefit of the beneficiaries, which is illegal.

In the example, the lunch is usually £5 and the price after the voucher is £1. The boss gives her £5 and she buys his lunch. She uses her voucher to claim back £4. That £4 cannot be claimed if there was no voucher. So her voucher was worth £4. The boss did not give her the voucher. Therefore, to me it is not theft.

I have done something similar through work. I had tescos vouchers which I exchanged for restaurant deals vouchers. I took a visitor to lunch, paid with tescos vouchers and got the receipt, which I claimed back in full.

kikibee_2

obviously give back the change and the boss will know he has an honest employee

norahj

She should advise him of the offer in advance and give him the choice. It's his money that he expects to be spent in a certain way. The probable reply would be that he couldn't be bothered with mucking about with vouchers and for her to keep the change anyway!

KittaKatta

She should tell him and see if he wants the paper and the baguette (he might become an fan of the MSE webpage, too), or if he doesn't care; in which case she could get the paper, cut the voucher herself, and keep the money. It always pays off to be honest though.:A

wildflower

If anyone in 2008 sends someone for their lunch they're unhealthily slumped at their desk eating no doubt, doing crap management and treating their staff like serfs. Demeaning.

:mad:

As such a 'serf' 30 years ago I used to resent picking up the dry cleaning for one female !!!!! and walking another female's dog. Both these bosses played other power games. I didn't stay long at either job.



So I'd use the voucher for my lunch as 1st choice, or pocket the change if I used the voucher for his. I wouldn't consider it cheating because I did the research and I cut the voucher so it was my discount not his. If he was a good boss, I'd buy us both a treat with the change and tell him it was his turn to go out to get lunch tomorrow for the sake of his health!

But I liked this post -

One way of looking at it is that he pays her £25 for the service of providing him with a baguette and coke. He's getting what he paid for regardless of how she goes about it.

SandC

It isn't treating their staff like serfs, it is part of the job. Some bosses expect more than others when it comes to personal things.

Of course, they shouldn't be expected to do it in their own lunch time but there's nothing said about that in this particular case.

Do PAs also refuse to make coffee and tea for meetings then? If you start a job and you realise there is more personal stuff than you feel is appropriate then you must speak out about it. In this case, Rebecca is obviously used to going out and buying his lunch so if she doesn't think she should be doing it she should have said so from the word go.

I used to have to do loads of personal stuff but only refused when it was going to encroach upon my own time. My boss would regularly go out for lunch and would have me drive him there and pick him up when he rang - so he could have a drink no doubt. I would also have his wife ring me up asking me to nip somewhere for flowers or whatnot. The other boss always had me take her dry cleaning in and pick it up. I have visited a boss's son's nursery to pick up his favourite sword that he'd left there. I have been given a list of Xmas presents to buy from various shops in town. My female boss used to send me to M&S each week to buy her prepared fruit and salad supply for the office. Also had to drive out to her house to pick her mobile phone up which she'd left at home............. the list goes on but it was part of the job.

Where I am now the directors are old fashioned in that they have their own dining room and get served lunch there. When the canteen is shut for holidays us PAs take it in turns to fetch their lunch and plate it up for them. I'm not over keen on doing that it has to be said.............

alohahawaii

i'd just pay full price for it.
It isn't my money and I wouldnt get much thanks or anything for going out of my way to use the voucher..

or i'd pay full price for his and get the cheap/ free one for myself.

If he needed the pennies he wouldnt be sending someone else to buy his lunch everyday from uppercrust!

also he might think you're weird.
how far do you go?
start making him lunch at home and bringing it in for him? haha