In the courthouse where I work, a bunch of us decided to get together and pool some money for a Christmas gift for Don, the guy who does all of the maintanance work in the courthouse. Everyone could donate whatever they wanted to, and anyone who donated siged the card that went with the gift. We decided on a gift card to WalMart. We raised $300, and dispatched Gina, who drives by WalMart on her way to work, to get the gift card. Gift card was purchased, Don loved the gift, eveyone was happy.
A few days ago, Gina mentioned to one of the other people in her office that the $300 came in handy for paying bills from Christmas. Turns out she put the gift card on her credit card and kept the cash.
Several (most) of the people who donated money are pissed about this. There are a couple who even want their donations back. Others (myself included) don't see this as a problem, because the money that we donated went to buy what we intended it to, which was a gift for Don, and the fact that it was "filtered" through Gina's Visa (or whatever) doesn't change that.
I'm curious as to what my fellow Dopers think of this. Heaven knows y'all aren't shy about expressing your opinions!
Now if they thought they were donating “cash” to Don, and the chick went and bought a gift certificate without the folks knowing…then I’d be pissed because cash is much more useful than a GC.
I don’t see any problem with it. What difference does it make, anyway?
IIRC, there have been letters in the past in Dear Abby with people complaining that when they split the bill at dinner, the other party pocketed the cash and paid with a credit card. I don’t see the problem with that either.
Not a problem for me. I’m not completely sure why someone would be upset about it. I could understand it if she only bought Don a $275 gift card and pocketed the rest but it seems like everything that was donated went to the gift card.
Do you think people would feel the same way if Gina had written a check for the gift card and pocketed the cash?
The only problem I see is that Gina will end up paying more than $300 for the gift card herself because she put in on her credit card. But that is her problem and not anyone else’s.
I do this with my friends all the time. Say the bill is $50, one person puts the whole thing on the card, the other gives $25 cash. Everyone is happy. This is especially good if one person has no cash on them, they are then spared a trip to the ATM and the associated fee.
I don’t see what the issue here is at all. What if Gina went to the ATM and got a $300 cash advance on her credit card. Isn’t that the same damn thing? People are idiots.
In passing I would say that in the future I would go for a simple cash present so the guy can spend the money where he wants, just get him a money order. He might want to pay off HIS credit cards!
No, I can’t imagine why this would be a problem. They donated toward a $300 gift card, and that’s what he got. Why on earth would it matter whether she paid with credit card or cash?
I do this all the time with class pizza parties- collect all the dollar bills, write a check for the pizza so the deliverer won’t have to mess with all those singles, and just hang on to the cash for sodas and tacos.
There’s no problem here. Once the $300 was handed to Gina, it became part of the greater pool of Gina’s Money, with the priviso that Gina owed you a $300 gift card.
Once that $300 is in the poll of Gina’s Money, it’s impossible to say which dollar goes where. It’s all Gina’s Money. As long as $300 went into that pool, and the gift card was paid for OUT of that pool, there’s nothing unethical (or even unusual) about that all all.
Or consider this scenario; Gina is handed $300 in $20 bills. She already has $300 in $50 bills in her wallet. When she arrives at Wal-Mart, she purchases the gift card and pays for it with the $50 bills. Is there a problem?
You must have some pretty strange people in your office if MOST of them are upset about, essentially, nothing.
Yes, the people who were upset by this have a problem, not you, nor Gina. This suggests to me either the people in your office who got upset are really wierd, or else they want to upset Gina for some reason.
Cheers, Keithy
I can’t see why anyone should care. They pooled $300 to get the guy a gift card; the guy got a $300 gift card. Where is there a problem?
Of course, Gina didn’t pay off her bills with the cash; she only postponed the reckoning. She’ll need to eventually come with $300 of her own funds to pay for the gift card.
I can’t see why anyone should care. They pooled $300 to get the guy a gift card; the guy got a $300 gift card. Where is there a problem?
Of course, Gina didn’t pay off her bills with the cash; she only postponed the reckoning. She’ll need to eventually come with $300 of her own funds to pay for the gift card.
It’s perfectly OK. People are pissed that Gina got some perceived benefit for collecting the money and buying the card. They are petty small-minded people who are angry because someone else is happy about something.
The only answer is to tell them “Next time, YOU collect the money, keep track of it, buy the cards, organize the damn thing, and deal with all of the the assholes in this office! Present company excepted, of course. :rolleyes:”
Maybe people were annoyed because she said “the money came in handy.”
I still think it’s stupid - money’s liquid - but maybe people are ticked because she enjoyed some perceived utility out of the arrangement. And, if she used the cash to pay off a balance, then put more stuff on, she actually did buy herself some time.
Actually, there are some creditcards/discount programs that give you a refund off your bill. (Last weekend, someone was complaining that she used to do a 10-person dinner outing group, until she discovered that one of the people was using a 20% refund card. So, that woman was making money off her “friends”. That definitely rubs me the wrong way.) But generally, it doesn’t bother me when one person takes the cash and pays with a card.
As long as all the money intended for Don made it into the gift card, then it doesn’t matter. But I’m confused as to why Gina says the money helped her? What’s the difference to her between $300 in cash and $300 on her credit card?
A few days ago, Gina mentioned to one of the other people in her office that the $300 came in handy for paying bills from Christmas. Turns out she put the gift card on her credit card and kept the cash.
Presumably Gina needed some cash to deposit in her checking accout, and this could have spared her from taking a cash advance on her credit card. Perhaps it was a small benefit to her in terms of fees. If so, I’d call it a fair compensation for her taking a bit of time and trouble to actually get the gift certificate.
Several (most) of the people who donated money are pissed about this. There are a couple who even want their donations back.
Want their money back? THEIR MONEY BACK?! What possible reason could anyone with an ounce of sense have for wanting their money back? That’s the stupidest, most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of! Their money went to purchase Don’s gift certificate, exactly as they intended. Gina doesn’t have their money, Don does. If they want their money back, they should go ask Don for it.
I don’t even see a problem if Gina’s credit card had a cash back incentive program and she bought the gift card on it for that reason. I figure that the person who goes to the trouble of buying the gift can do what they want, as long as cash in = cash out.
The only possible reason (and it ain’t a good one) that I can think of for anyone to be upset about this is if he donated his last $20 (or $50, or whatever) in cash for Don’s gift, and he doesn’t have credit cards himself, so basically he’s flat broke now, until the next payday. (My thinking is that if he’s that broke, he should maybe cut back on his giving, but hey, maybe he just really loves Don.)
So there he is, eating moldy cheese sandwiches on rough bread for a week, having given up his lunch money For The Sake Of Really Cool Don Who Deserves Every Penny, and hither breezes Gina with her foot-long BMT from Subway, which she was able to buy (even though Subway doesn’t take plastic) because she’s got a fistful of his cash.
He didn’t give up his last 20 bucks to benefit Gina. HE DID IT FOR DONNY, dammit, and so feels cheated.
That’s all I can come up with–told you it sucked–and frankly, Ol’ Gaffer is right–it’s going to cost Gina more $$$ in the long run . . .
