Boss Confronts Worker For Using The Company Credit Card To Buy $300 Of Her Own Personal Groceries
It was an honest mistake, but it could have ended badly.
Nattakorn_Maneerat / Shutterstock It’s completely normal to make mistakes sometimes. Unfortunately, sometimes, those mistakes are so big that they can have serious consequences.
One woman learned this lesson the hard way after she accidentally used a company credit card for her own purchases.
A New York woman used her company’s credit card to buy her own groceries.
Media A La Carte is a New York City-based social media agency. One of their employees, Lizzie Wells, recently took to the company’s TikTok account to explain the huge mix-up that had occurred because of her.
The text in Wells’ first video read, “POV: You accidentally used the company card for your personal groceries.”
The video was captioned, “Put a finger down if you’ve ever had to explain to HR why you spent $300 on the company card.” Naturally, TikTok viewers requested Wells film a story time to fully explain what had happened. She made a follow-up video just for that.
“Yesterday, my boss texted in our company chat and said, ‘Does anyone recognize these Instacart purchases?’” she recounted.
Wells explained that this wasn’t necessarily a strange question for their workplace. “Sometimes we have to order off Instacart for client photoshoots or anything client-related,” she said.
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“Everyone, of course, responds, ‘No, no, no. That wasn’t me. That wasn’t me,’” she explained. So, she decided to double-check on herself.
“I’ve actually had to use Instacart a lot in the past for one of the clients I was working on,” she said. “So, then I go ahead and check my Instacart and, if you know me, you know that I am ordering all of my groceries off Instacart. So, I go in and check my recent purchases and realized that every single purchase that my boss asked our company whose client purchased these was actually just me, purchasing my personal groceries on the company credit card, thinking that I was charging myself.”
Wells then turned the camera around to face her computer, where viewers could see she was preparing to join a Google Meet.
“And, so, now I’m about to meet with HR and fight for my life,” she said. “Wish me luck!”
Incorrectly using a business credit card can actually be quite serious.
It may sound like it’s not such a big deal to accidentally make some personal purchases using the company card. After all, you can always explain the mistake and pay back the money. But it can be more serious than that.
All credit cards have terms and conditions you must abide by. Business credit cards are no different, and their terms focus on their use being only for the company.
According to Bankrate, “Putting your personal purchases on your business credit card technically isn’t illegal. But making personal purchases on a business credit card likely violates the terms and conditions of your card agreement, which can come with serious consequences.”
Bankrate said that these consequences can range from your account being closed, to your credit score being affected, to, of course, having to pay back the misused funds.
Luckily for Wells, everything seemed to work out okay.
It appeared that Wells’ standing at her company is still good, and her job is intact. In another video, she addressed a commenter who asked if making these TikTok videos on the company’s page was “punishment” for using the company credit card for personal expenses.
“Um, no, my punishment was actually that I have to work over in the corner while all my co-workers work together over here,” she said, pointing to a full table on the other side of the room she was not allowed to sit at.
“So, I’ve been sitting in the corner by myself all day,” Wells said of her self-described “timeout.”
It’s good to know that there are companies that understand that life happens and mistakes are made, but that isn’t a reason for someone to face serious repercussions.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.