I have a happy ending to one of my overheard at work posts! I had posted about a rewards system we have at work, where you get points and can renew them for consumer items like laptops or jewelry, or cash. Well, the first time I cashed in my points, I bought a treadmill and ended up having $900 taken out of my next paycheck for the taxes. It was shocking. Now, I just exchange them for cash.
I had posted about my coworker friend, who had thousands of dollars worth of points just sitting in her rewards account. I had told her she should cash them in, and she said it wasn't worth the effort, and she'd just lose money for taxes anyway. I told her she could just get cash, and she just waved me away, saying it just wasn't worth it. She and I have worked on a few projects together, and gotten the same rewards points, so I knew she was sitting on a lot of money. Finally, last week, we had another chat where the rewards points came up. I said I was hoping to get a reward for some thing I had just worked on, and she said, as usual, "Those points are worthless anyway." I said, "No, you can just exchange them for cash." She *finally* listened. She told me she had 50,000 points, and I told her that was worth $10,000. She had no idea how to get to the account, so I showed her the link and walked her through it. It took about three minutes to turn her points into cash, and yes, she got $10,000, which will appear, minus taxes, in her paycheck a few weeks from now.
I have been trying to tell her about the cash option for a year, but she just wouldn't listen. I don't know why I kept trying, but I guess I thought it was worth one more shot. So many people I work with have no clue how much these points are worth, or that there is a cash option. I have another coworker who is sitting on 85,000 points, but like first coworker, she is convinced they are worthless and won't listen to any other viewpoints. I don't like second CW as much as first CW, so I just don't bother with her, even though it bothers *me* to think that someone would just give up $15,000 because it's easier than spending three minutes clicking "cash out" on a website.