Woman Fired for Using Company Funds to Throw 'Farewell Party' — Despite Not Leaving the Job

In a post shared on Reddit, the woman's boss writes that her assistant "seemed competent" but "sometimes blurred professional lines"

PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson /PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections / Getty Images Stock photo of an office party
PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson /PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections / Getty Images Stock photo of an office party

A woman has been fired after using company funds to throw a "farewell" party – despite never intending to leave the company.

The woman's boss shares the story in a post published on Reddit, writing that she owns "a mid-sized tech consulting firm" and recently hired a new assistant, named Lily.

"She seemed competent, though she had a quirky personality and sometimes blurred professional lines," the woman writes of the new hire.

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Recently, when the woman went out of town for a conference, she says that Lily "emailed everyone in the company, announcing she was 'leaving to pursue new horizons' and threw herself a massive farewell party at the office."

"She used the company credit card to order catering, decorations, custom cake, and even arranged for a bartender to set up a drink station in the break room. The total bill was close to $2,000," the woman writes.

When she came back, the woman writes that she was "shocked."

"Not only did I never receive a resignation from her, but she also hadn’t actually quit," she shares. "When I confronted her, she said she was 'testing' how much people appreciated her and wanted to see if anyone would 'convince her to stay.' She called it a 'social experiment.' "

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The woman adds that she fired Lily "on the spot for misuse of company funds and deceptive behavior" and now, Lily is taking to social media to call her “soulless boss” with “no respect for mental health and personal exploration.”

Commenters write, "It's baffling she thought this was a good idea. Trust is vital in a workplace, and she clearly breached that completely."

Another says the poster had "no choice but to fire her," adding that she should "also reach out to the credit card company and flag this as unauthorized use of card."