Early last year I worked as a conference director and we had our yearly conference at a local venue. We had two conferences back to back with 4k people at both. I ended up working 6am to 12-1am everyday for 5 days straight due to staffing issues and so many moving parts. Since I lived almost an hour away, I either slept in my office or went out to my car and would shower at the local Planet fitness.
After, the big boss gave everyone bonuses for their hard work. The big boss gave me mine personally and said it was from him because he really appreciated my hard work. I felt great until I realized it was a $20 amazon gift card that was never loaded. When I brought it up to his assistant, she said that his wife got them and must’ve given me the wrong one. She said to give him a few days then he will get me another one…
Turns out, I never got another one and ended up getting taxed on it. His assistant quit the same time I did and she told me that she had to buy a lot of gift cards but also grab several empty ones to give out randomly, and he kept the loaded ones for himself at the companies expense. Said most people don’t spend a gift card immediately so they wouldn’t realize it until later.
Moral of the story… don’t be a sleezeball.
Edit: this is also the first time I’ve ever received any type of bonus in 12 years of work.