When you work in a high-level jobs, there are sometimes gifts that are given to and from clients, which can be very generous.

What would you do if one of your clients gave your boss Super Bowl tickets that he wanted you to have, but then your boss gave them to someone else?

That is what happened to the professional in this story, so he and the client planned a meeting to put his boss on the spot and cost him thousands.

My boss stole my Super Bowl tickets, so I made him lose a major client.

I’m a huge 49ers fan (the rabid all-day tailgate in the parking lot type).

I bet he was very excited.

A few years ago, we made it back to the Super Bowl. I was working at a consulting firm with a handful of accounts I would interact with directly.

One client in particular knew how big of a Niners fan I was. I was the day-to-day lead on his account. He really liked working with me and we became friends, often grabbing drinks or dinner after our meetings.

Wow, that is extremely generous.

He had access to a pair of extra company seats to the game, and as a thank you, wanted to give them to me as a gift. He passed the tickets over to the partner on that account, who I will refer to as DHP, to be given to me as a surprise.

The game came and went, we lost, it sucked. The next time we met, we went to drinks afterward and he mentioned “Hey, by the way, why didn’t you go to the game? I heard someone else was in your seats.”

I asked “What game?” He said “The Super Bowl!”

This client will be very upset.

Confused, I answered “I didn’t have seats to the super bowl?”

He told me that he gave DHP a pair of his company tickets for me as a gift so I could attend.

His bosses kept them for themselves!

I had zero idea what he was talking about. He looked shocked, told me to quietly ask around about it and get back to him.

When I was back in the office the next week, I found out through one of the secretaries that DHP had given a pair of Super Bowl tickets to another one of his clients as a gift from our company.

That is a once in a lifetime opportunity, don’t let it go!

I might have let this sort of thing go to keep the peace under different circumstances, but these were seats on the 30-yard-line to see the 49ers play in the Super Bowl.

I was mad. I considered confronting DHP myself, but realized it was the client who had noticed I wasn’t there in the first place, so if I let him handle it, there would be no blowback on me.

I think he is handling this perfectly.

So I texted him “Hey, I just wanted to thank you so much for thinking of me with those seats. It appears that they were given to another one of our firm’s clients.”

He texted back right away, in all caps, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME??” and then “Pretend I never told you, let me handle.”

Hopefully this plan puts the partner in his place.

He followed up with me about formulating a plan. A few days later, we were asked to come down for a meeting in their office.

The client requested the partner be present, not entirely unusual, so DHP and I hopped a flight the next week and headed over to their office.

This should be fun.

Little did DHP know, my client had orchestrated a wonderfully awkward little show to catch him red handed.

When we entered the conference room, it was all the usual suspects along with a woman in her 30’s we didn’t recognize.

My client immediately introduces “DHP, this is Stephanie Suchandsuch, VP from [other department], she wanted to sit in on this meeting. Hey [OP], you guys must already know her from the super bowl!”

She is playing her part perfectly.

She then responds as she goes to shake my hand “Oh, I don’t think so. Did we meet there? I’m sorry if I forgot.”

Client responds “Jeez Steph how much did you have to drink? They were sitting right next to you!”

I bet the partner was really freaking out at this point.

Client looks at me, and I say “Sorry [client], I wasn’t there. Are you thinking of someone else?”

At this point, DHP is looking visibly uncomfortable, probably trying to come up with an excuse.

They are really making DHP squirm.

He starts in with an “Uhm..” when Stephanie says over him “No, [so and so] from [other company] were in the other seats. By the way, I was wondering why we gave company seats to those guys, is there a project we’re working with them on that I don’t know about?”

(obviously not, they were in completely different industries, it would be like Coca Cola partnering with John Deere).

DHP lets out an “Uh” again, and the client immediately speaks over him asking “DHP, I gave you those tickets for [OP]?”

There is no way I would cover for him!

At this point DHP is turning bright red. He responds “Ohh, uhh, well he wasn’t able to make it, so he must have given the seats away to someone else?” and turns to me looking for me to cover for him. Client smirks at me.

I respond “Uh, what are you talking about? Client, you gave me tickets to the super bowl??”

He is justifiably upset.

Client suddenly raises his voice “DHP, those tickets were a personal thank you gift from me to [OP]. Did you give them away to someone else? [pause] Was it another client??”

DHP buts in with “Oh, uhm, maybe something got mixed up in the office?”

Let him suffer.

Client went quiet for what probably seemed like an eternity to DHP. He then looked down, grabbed his portfolio and iPad, put them into his briefcase, and said “I think this meeting is over. [OP] it seems as if I owe you a thank you gift, let’s go to lunch.

Stephanie, you’re welcome to join…DHP, I need to evaluate our relationship, please go back home and expect to hear from us next week.”

DHP suggests he would like to join, presumably to do damage control, and Stephanie sternly tells him “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” and asks the front desk to see DHP out.

They pulled it off perfectly.

As soon as he is in the elevator, we all break out laughing hysterically.

Stephanie wasn’t really a VP, just an employee at the company who client had drafted into helping with his pre-planned meeting skit, but she did end up coming to lunch with us and was a fellow Niners fan and total blast to hang out with.

He is still trying to do damage control.

On our way to the restaurant, I got a desperate text from DHP saying I needed to “cover for the firm” and that we could discuss things when I got back.

I replied “Yes, we need to talk, but I’ll see what I can do.”

This seems like a fair punishment.

Client told me to wait a couple hours and then respond to him: 1) To expect invoices for the resale value of the super bowl tickets (resale is WAY above face value, it was over $10K) as well as our lunch (he picked a pricey spot and made a big show of overspending) and that he expected them to be paid immediately, 2) Expected I be given a direct apology, 3) Expected a written apology to his company for what he considered theft, and 4) He will only interact with me or another one of our firm’s partners, never DHP.

This whole thing caused a stir with the other partners, and I actually came off looking great because it appeared that I had made a good faith effort to save the client for the firm despite being the victim in this situation.

Hopefully DHP will learn his lesson.

The client would transfer to another partner, which meant DHP lost his profit share on any work with them. Oh, and the other partners in the firm made DHP pay the invoices back out of his salary.

In retrospect, I really have no idea what the heck the guy was thinking. Did he seriously believe the client would just not notice me not thanking him for Super Bowl tickets?

Yeah, he had to leave at some point.

Anyway, the well was kind of poisoned for me there long term because DHP wasn’t going anywhere.

I left the firm a few months later for a much better position. Client ultimately terminated their relationship with that firm a year later, he actually now works with a good friend of mine at a competing firm.

It was a massive missed opportunity.

I’m still mad I missed out on the super bowl even though we lost; hoping we make it back this year so I can finally go to one in person.

Go Niners!

I don’t understand how the partner thought he was going to get away with this. Even the smartest people can be stupid sometimes.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Very unethical.

It would be a dream for any fan.

It was a stupid move.

Yeah, this is what I’ve been told too.

Maybe this happens more than I thought.

This partner should have been kicked out.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.