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Alright, I debated this with a friend for awhile via text and am curious what a larger group of people would respond.
Quick back story: fairly new client signed about two months ago. Have already delivered some good work for them, happy client, happy consultant, good relationship. They're really strict about IT security, so I actually work from a laptop that they shipped me, via an account on their internal network and everything. So I've got an @client.com email address and exist in their directory.
Got an email from their internal employee engagement team with a $50 gift card to Amazon. Obviously sent to every "employee" via polling the internal list of users to get everyone's email address; which I happen to have as a contractor/consultant.
Here's the rough yin and yang:
- Don't take it: The spirit of the gift cards is supposed to be for actual employees of the company; it wasn't meant for vendors or consultants. Taking it is tacky. It could have been accidental, could get someone in trouble, etc.
- Take it: whoever sent it knows that contractors are included on that list; every other active 3rd party contractor got a gift card too, and the person sending it knows it. You won't be the only contractor to accept it. It's only $50. They won't care. You do good work for them. Even if they didn't mean to, nobody is ever going to notice.
What would you do?
Quick back story: fairly new client signed about two months ago. Have already delivered some good work for them, happy client, happy consultant, good relationship. They're really strict about IT security, so I actually work from a laptop that they shipped me, via an account on their internal network and everything. So I've got an @client.com email address and exist in their directory.
Got an email from their internal employee engagement team with a $50 gift card to Amazon. Obviously sent to every "employee" via polling the internal list of users to get everyone's email address; which I happen to have as a contractor/consultant.
Here's the rough yin and yang:
- Don't take it: The spirit of the gift cards is supposed to be for actual employees of the company; it wasn't meant for vendors or consultants. Taking it is tacky. It could have been accidental, could get someone in trouble, etc.
- Take it: whoever sent it knows that contractors are included on that list; every other active 3rd party contractor got a gift card too, and the person sending it knows it. You won't be the only contractor to accept it. It's only $50. They won't care. You do good work for them. Even if they didn't mean to, nobody is ever going to notice.
What would you do?