Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Well Fed

My Corporations professor discussed agency on the first day of class. He proposed a hypothetical where his assistant (he works at a firm) bought lunch for a meeting and paid with a firm credit card that she'd been told specifically never to use for that purpose. The firm eats the food and then refuses to pay the bill. The question was whether his assistant was an agent of the firm such that the firm could be held liable for the lunch.

My prof asked, "So, will I have to pay for the lunch?" He let us marinate on it a moment and then said with a smirk, "You know I’m gonna have to. Because there’s no such thing as a free lunch."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

TANSTAAFL - Robert Heinlein, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)"

I use TANSTAAFL as a tag for SPAM, get rich quick schemes, and other ripoffs where someone is either trying to get rich quick or offering some scam where they are trying to make money off of other people's greed.

TANSTAAFL = There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!

The book is one of my favorites. Unfortunately the first time I read it, I think it was in its first paperback edition and I was still in high school.

Anonymous said...

They'll either pay through a check, or stolen office supplies. Assistants, like elephants, never forget.