A Christmas story

"...and it says, 'no employee will accept a gift valued at more than $25', I am only reminding you of the company policy for accepting gifts.” Said Sam, the Services Manager, addressing his staff in the morning meeting. 

Sam knew that it being the Christmas season that there would be a lot of gifts delivered to the mill and he did not want any of his staff to jeopardize their employment because of a misunderstanding of company policy. 

"Any questions about this?" Sam looked around the table.

"Does this mean purchasing can’t accept their usual annual take of refrigerators, stoves and vacation trips to the Caribbean?" Fred, the Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor, joked.  

The room full of maintenance and engineering staff chuckled. 

"Yes, that is exactly what this means, if it's enforced" Sam added. "And none of you should be caught accepting something valued at more than $25 either." 

A few days later Terry, the project manager for one of the local contractors came into Sam’s office.

"Hey, Sam, how you are doing?" Terry inquired.

"Doing fine, and you?" Sam queried back.

"Been better, been worse, like to be a millionaire." Terry joked.

"I hear that, what’s up?" 

"Well, it being Christmas and all I thought we ought to get you something for the holidays so here is a small token of our appreciation for the past year." Terry shoved an envelope towards Sam. 

"Hey, Terry, I really appreciate the thought. Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year also." Sam said as he took the envelope from Terry’s outstretch hand.

"You know I jokingly tell everyone that I’m still carting 12-year-old whiskey around with me from my past jobs that I had received at Christmas and some of those were twenty years ago, so that makes the whiskey over 30 years old, right?"

"Yeah, that’s right, we’ll have to sample that sometime." Terry laughed. 

"Have a good one, Terry." Sam said as Terry headed out the office door. 

Sam opened the envelope and found a Christmas card inside.  

Inside the Christmas card was a gift certificate for dinner for two at a local restaurant. 

Printed across the bottom was a message. ‘Good for up to $50’.  

‘Good for up to $50’

'Uh oh', Sam thought, 'this won’t work'.  

'I just got through telling everyone that we could not accept any gift worth more than $25 dollars and what do I get but a $50-dollar gift certificate.'  

Sam sat back,

"Guess I’m going to have to make an example of this," he said to the walls. 

Next morning Sam brought out his gift certificate in the morning staff meeting.  

He explained to all those assembled that here, waving the gift certificate he had received the day before, is a perfect example of what was not acceptable under the company’s stated policy for gifts to employees. 

He went on to explain that he was returning the gift certificate through the Purchasing Manager so that purchasing was aware that the policy had been exceeded.  

The group looked around at each other, raising eyebrows and smiling. 

Later that morning in the mill staff meeting, Sam again made a point of notifying everyone that he had received this gift certificate from a local contractor and that the value of the gift certificate exceeded the company policy and that he was asking the Purchasing Manager to send this back with a note that it did exceed the company policy of $25 dollars.

Later, after the first of the new year, Terry poked his head in Sam’s office, "How’s it going?" 

"Hey, Terry...just fine, just fine. How about you?" Sam responded, extending his hand.

"Had a good holiday, Sam, the grand kids and all, you know," Terry shook Sam’s hand, "And you?"

"Yeah, kids were home, fixed the whole nine yards, turkey and all the trimmings." Sam smiled.

"You know, Sam, I got your gift certificate returned to me and Ken’s also," referring to Sam’s Engineering Manager, "but you know the funny thing about all this?"  

"No, what?" Sam asked.

"I got a letter from the Commodore," referring to the Purchasing Manager, a former military procurement officer, "telling me that the company policy forbids anyone accepting more than $25 dollars worth of goods or gifts."

"Yep, that’s the policy, so?" Sam raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Terry hesitated, "I delivered over fifty of those gift certificates to this mill, including quite a few to the front office, and I only got yours and Ken’s back. Doesn’t that surprise you?"

"Unfortunately, no." Sam responded. "and you know what else bugs me? You could have taken my wife and I out for dinner to a restaurant and spent $100 dollars or more and that would have been OK by company policy, but we can’t accept a measly twenty-six-dollar gift certificate for the same restaurant. 

“Does that make any sense? I mean it's like we’re going to give away the store for a few bucks? 

“I’ve seen a lot more money wasted in a simple mistake in judgment." Sam, shaking his head, smiled. 

The contractor shook his head. "You want to trade a bottle of that 12-year-old whiskey you don’t drink for this gift certificate?"