Oh no lady, you want to embezzle do it yourself.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

So, hai.

This is my first post because it's the first SC I've had at this job I'm currently working at. I've worked at a ton of places (vet clinic, big red bullseye, YMCA, a law office, all kinds of places!) I'll recall them at some point, deep in the night when I'm trying to fall asleep and my brain decides, "Hey, remember that REALLY annoying guy that did x,y, and zed? Remember?!"

So, I work at this shipping company that uses bulk contracts to get big discounts for people trying to ship stuff. International, domestic (USA), air service and sea service, all kinds of goodies! All at discounts!

I had this lady do a shipment with us, and all went really well. It was for her company, and she was exceedingly please that out of a $600 budget they had given her - number made up - that it would only cost $245 - this number also made up.

So I was pleased because I made us a pretty penny with our profit margin and everything was hunky dory... until I got a e-mail from the lady. I'm not going to copy paste, just paraphrase what she said. Basically, I'm making it coherent and removing any and all "internet shorthand" which I get headaches when I read.

"Hi, I did a shipment with you. It was file number [insert file number here of your choosing. I prefer 6969.] My company gave me a $600 budget , and it only cost $245. Can you please send me an invoice for $600 that I can give to my boss?"

I sat there for a moment. Then went THEN I started to laugh, because she obviously thought that since we were a small, privately owned company, we'd be MORE than willing to help her "stick it to DAH MAN!" and pocket money that she had no right to.

Lady, seriously, I have control over how much I charge you for our profit margin - no joke, I can BURN you with the price and still be cheaper than our competitor if you decide to piss me off. If I had honestly wanted to - and at the time I hadn't wanted to - I could have charged you the max of where I can go while still being cheaper for the competitor - so in this example with made up numbers, let's say $550. I could've left you with slim pickings. No pickings ACTUALLY because no way in hell's bells am I going to help you embezzle from your company.

I didn't send an e-mail back, because I didn't think I could control myself and we had already sent her a proper invoice. Therefore our side of the transaction was complete. I did tell everyone in the office about it, and my boss (I'll call him Gibbers) said, "If she calls in asking for it give the phone to me, I'll give her a piece of my mind.

Since he's my boss... and the owner of the entire company... I was actually praying this lady would call in. She never did, at least I don't think so.

I don't know if that's an actual suck, because I was amused rather than aggravated, but it did seem like a very sucky thing to try and drag our company into the dirt with them.

[thehuckster]

As a customer she wasn't sucky, but she is a very sucky employee indeed.

Simply not replying and pretending it didn't happen was probably the best course of action, although I would have been tempted to reply and "accidentally" cc her boss saying the company can't forge invoices like that.

You think she figures you'd be compliant because you are small fish, but what she doesn't realize is you're getting fed by the big fish and the last thing you want to do is be an accomplice to screwing your client over.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Simply not replying and pretending it didn't happen was probably the best course of action, although I would have been tempted to reply and "accidentally" cc her boss saying the company can't forge invoices like that.

You think she figures you'd be compliant because you are small fish, but what she doesn't realize is you're getting fed by the big fish and the last thing you want to do is be an accomplice to screwing your client over.

I was actually trying to scrounge up some information to see if I could report her to her boss, but apparently she was at a small company as well. It's not uncommon for us to get people who have private, small businesses (that they run out of a small office or out of their homes) and they mail stuff from their own, private residence (which we can do, easily.) She did that.

She had been smart enough to not give us company information (paid with her own private account then submitted the invoice for reimbursement), and again, since we work with small timers or even just single-shot clients (need to move all your stuff from Sweden to the US or the other way around because we just moved/finished college? That's one of the things we do.) So I can't really do much.

In the end, no one has walked off worse for wear (she still gets to "look good" for coming in below budget or something) so it's not too bad of a situation, except I feel bad 'cos she's going to try it again. She's also smart, except for the whole "give me a fake invoice" thing. I think the next time she tries it (certainly not with us, we won't deal with her anymore) she's just gonna make her own fake invoice or alter the one she gets from the company. Sucks I couldn't scrap up more information on her.