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Capitalism is starting to feel like a massive piss-take. You've got corps laughing all the way to the bank with billions in profits feeding their employees with fucking potatoes.
Surely something has to give?
Tbh I am kind of surprised no one has literally eaten some of the rich by now for nourishment.
I expect nothing will happen right through the crops failing, famines, mass migrations, wet bulb heat waves, ecological collapse... Nothing good anyway... Most likely fascist police state; probably sooner than later.
It'll happen gradually enough that people won't connect the dots.
It has multiple times, housing bubble, dot com bubble, soon the used car bubble, then it'll be another housing bubble with apartments etc... Capitalism has such a stranglehold on the world that it's going to take a very long time for it to change enough to be called something else that actually works
Here is a little something from the IRS pub 525 about bonuses.
Bonuses and awards. Bonuses or awards you receive for outstanding work are included in your income and should be shown on your Form W-2. These include prizes such as vacation trips for meeting sales goals. If the prize or award you receive is goods or services, you must include the FMV of the goods or services in your income. However, if your employer merely promises to pay you a bonus or award at some future time, it isn’t taxable until you receive it or it’s made available to you.
So do they really believe the fair market value of a potato is $12? The IRS doesn't go by retail price.
The FMV for a pound of russet potatoes is $2.50 soo yeah no they are doing too much and should be reported.
Meals and lodging
You don't include in your income the value of meals and lodging provided to you and your family by your employer at no charge if the following conditions are met.
The meals are: Furnished on the business premises of your employer, and Furnished for the convenience of your employer.
It's one potato, Michael, what could it cost? Ten dollars?
(there's always money in the potato bar)
The cost of food is not the only factor that determines it's value. It's a service being provided, not an object.
It's still a bullshit bonus and everyone who thought it was a good idea should kill themselves, but they didn't just get a raw potato.
I see your point, but labor cost for a single baked potato that was probably cooked at the same time as the rest of them would still be minimal.
A baked potato was $25 at the strip club I used to frequent, but for that you got two strippers bringing it to you while playing a rather amusing game of hot potato.
It's a "potato bar" not just a potatoes to presumably that price is intended to include all the bacon, cheese, etc.
Really though it's probably just whatever the hotel cafeteria charges for potato because that's a lot easier than coming up with a new price and then justifying it in case of an audit.
The last part makes it sound like the potato bonus is not taxable. I guess it depends on how you interpret employer "convenience" here.
At one point does it become acceptable to return "gifts" like these at high velocities?
I like your thinking.
With a potato cannon?
I remember the week after I saved a client forty five large in taxes, my boss gave me a ten dollar gift card to Walmart. I don't have many kind things to say about that boss.
I saved a multi-million $ project from going down the toilet and jeopardizing a whole bunch of client contracts. I was rewarded with a demotion when the company was acquired months later.
Technically gift cards are taxable but if it's not reported who is gonna know.
I feel bad because my company didn't do shit for my team last year. So I gave my entire team of twenty, $20 gift cards out of my own pocket. $500 total.
It was met with a "Happy holidays" but I wonder if people think I'm a bad boss too.
He was the owner of the company, so he was totally a bad boss. But you're the middle potato. Different situation.
I think American will now start tipping hospital staffs.
Don't give them ideas.
You didn't tip hospital staff? You monster.
Perhaps a sign that the hospital admin needs a potato canon to the face, in their next group Minecraft session.
The most surprising thing about this is this wasnt in the US. It seems like such an american capitalist douchebag thing to do.
Where did it happen? The money is in dollars so I assumed it was the USA, but in the USA employees generally don't have to pay taxes on the value of the meals employers provide.
It was in the US, not sure why they claim it wasn't.
I think it was in Texas from what I heard from the rumor mill. The article is in the guardian which is UK based so they put the exchange rate in for the $15 in £ so the UK folks had a frame of reference
Very much a theme this year. My company normally gives equity (that cashes out over 3 years ofc) every end of year for the past 4-5 years. This year however, no equity allotments announced, instead we get a floor pizza party with ice cream. People are less than enthused.
The best part is that you don't dare question what you do get, or you receive the "well, at least it's something". Yeah, I guess so, but if the intent is to make the employee feel valued it's not working very well. I do have to say that a baked potato is still better than some things I've seen posted before.
Did that article have blank templates to fill in tweets? It seemed like there was a quota of tweets the author had to fill in the spaces for and missed one.
Who the fuck runs that hospital? Ebineezer Scrooge pre-ghost-visitation?
There is a Russia joke in there somewhere.
My previous employer's Christmas 'bonuses' included a single plastic kids bike pedal, a spray-painted (nice shade of orange) spanner, and fake money. I'd take the potato any day.
A fifteen dollar potato has to be a fairly nice potato though.