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You think you overspent on your last night out?

Can you post it here, ya gotta register there to see anything...
 
Registration is free, and to me the NYT is the best news source online, so . . .

The story is that 5 employees of Barclays Bank spent $62,700 on one meal at a lavish London restaurant. The food was actually comped by the restaurant - the entire tab consisted of wine, beer, water, and cigarettes, including 3 vintage bottles of Chateau Petrus ($17,500, $16,500 and $13,400), and a 100-year-old bottle of Chateau d'Yquem dessert wine for $13,100, among other things. Their "cheap" bottle of wine, a 1984 Montrachet, was $2,000.
 
I can certainly understand their being fired for trying to have it covered as client expenses, but why the hell were they punished for spending their own money?

Thanks anyway, but if my employer tried to tell me how to spend my money I'd politely tell them to become intimate with a cattle prod.

Viper GTS
 


<< I can certainly understand their being fired for trying to have it covered as client expenses, but why the hell were they punished for spending their own money?

Thanks anyway, but if my employer tried to tell me how to spend my money I'd politely tell them to become intimate with a cattle prod.

Viper GTS >>



I agree. I believe they were fired out of concern that this kind of conspicuous consumption would hurt the bank's reputation. I wonder how much money these guys were making - I doubt most bona fide millionaires would feel comfortable spending $14-15K (including tip) on a single meal!
 
I can certainly understand their being fired for trying to have it covered as client expenses, but why the hell were they punished for spending their own money?

Maybe you missed it but those guys tried to get themselves reimbursed by the company through other methods. A common tactic on Wall Street. For example, I know people who take their clients to strip clubs but you can't put down $1000 for entertainment at Crazy Horse so you put down over a course of time drinks here and there, dinners, etc.
 


<< I can certainly understand their being fired for trying to have it covered as client expenses, but why the hell were they punished for spending their own money?

Maybe you missed it but those guys tried to get themselves reimbursed by the company through other methods. A common tactic on Wall Street. For example, I know people who take their clients to strip clubs but you can't put down $1000 for entertainment at Crazy Horse so you put down over a course of time drinks here and there, dinners, etc. >>



Maybe you missed it, but initially they were punished for spending so much. THEN when they later tried to pass it off they were fired.

I have no problem with the firing, hell yes they deserved it.

But if I want to spend $15,000 on a bottle of wine, that's my own damn business.

Viper GTS
 
Maybe you missed it, but initially they were punished for spending so much. THEN when they later tried to pass it off they were fired.

I have no problem with the firing, hell yes they deserved it.

But if I want to spend $15,000 on a bottle of wine, that's my own damn business.

I don't get what you are saying. They are not spending their own money. They are spending the company's money because they are trying to get reimbursed for their expense through other means.

 


<< Initially the bankers, who paid the bill with their own money, received only a slap on the wrist for having spent so lavishly...
But when some of the bankers secretly tried to pass off their part of the bill as client expenses, Barclays began firing them one by one. >>


 


<< Maybe you missed it, but initially they were punished for spending so much. THEN when they later tried to pass it off they were fired.

I have no problem with the firing, hell yes they deserved it.

But if I want to spend $15,000 on a bottle of wine, that's my own damn business.

I don't get what you are saying. They are not spending their own money. They are spending the company's money because they are trying to get reimbursed for their expense through other means. >>



OK, to make this clear as day:

Initially the bankers, who paid the bill with their own money, received only a slap on the wrist for having spent so lavishly ? and having been documented doing so in newspapers at the time ? while Barclays, like other banks here, was trying to project a new sobriety as an antidote to the excesses of the 1990's.

And then:

But when some of the bankers secretly tried to pass off their part of the bill as client expenses, Barclays began firing them one by one. The firings were reported on Sunday in newspapers here.

See?

Viper GTS
 
Ok I'll tell you how it works then.

I worked at an investment bank so I should know. The company gives you a corporate card. You use the corporate card as your own. When you charge things to the card you have to pay for it yourself but you fill out an expense form to get reimbursed for it. It used to take me a month to get reimbursed on things because of all the redtape. So I am basically paying the bill myself initially.

These people obviously had no intention of footing the bill at the end. That is why they secretly billed things as client expenses despite the fact that all 6 of them worked at the same company. Just because they initially paid for the meal with their own doesn't mean they wouldn't try passing it off on the company.

There are so many ways of getting reimbursed for these things. It is however very difficult to get reimbursed $64K without drawing attention though. I used to reimburse myself for things by getting blank receipts from cabbies. Just give them a decent tip and they would hand you a stack of blank cab receipts. You can fill them out for $15, $20, $30 a pop and no one would notice. But to get reimbursed for $64K, that's a lot of cab receipts you need to get.
 
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