Vendor sends this IT pilot fish a cheap digital camera as a thank-you gift for sending business his way. And fish, who has never received any vendor gifts before, shows it to his boss to make sure everything is OK.

“My boss was not happy,” says fish. “He began telling me the company policy about accepting gifts from vendors and told me to send it back — which I did.”

Fast forward several weeks: Fish is solving an email problem on a company vice president’s PC when he notices that this VP is asking a vendor to supply her with complimentary tickets for a local sports event.

Fish returns to his boss and asks for clarification about the vendor-gift policy. Boss reads fish the policy exactly as written. The penalty for failure to follow the policy: termination.

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