Leader development scenario - bad check - Soldier pays for NCOs pizza, what would YOU do?

It could be that the Joe was trying to butter the NCO up. i don't see anything wrong with this. I have been offered a slice of pizza from joes in the past. A lot of times it is rude if you don't accept. But I don't think the couple slices of pizza had any impact in the Joe's poor ability to handle his money.

I was brought up that the senior ranking person pays (if they know about it).

I feel like some of the feedback here is a bit overdramatic and cynical. The NCO did nothing wrong necessarily and the junior soldier is already being counseled on his financial situation.

Im a little confused by the scenario. The way I see it regardless of the pizza situation with the NCO; if the soldier knowingly wrote a bad check; he has to face appropriate counseling/consequences. If he overdrew by error, then a little money management education/counseling would be in order.

I sure wish I had a new Harley right now, but my current one isn't old enough yet...... *hint, hint, hint* ;)

The NCO should have only taken one slice of pizza...several is too many.

Although the Soldier probably has good character (buying a hungry person their favorite food), would advise Soldiers know how much actual money they have in their account. Also, Soldiers shouldn't buy someone's favorite food and expect something in return without first discussing, i.e., payment, re-payment or better inspection results.

If I was really that hungry and I assumed the pizza was bought with me in mind, I would have taken one slice (again, several is too many) and perhaps given the Soldier requisite payment for the slice ($2 would be fair).

Several things with this, CSM.

--As an NCO, if he wanted pizza, I am sure he could have managed to get his own.
------Or asked directly if the Soldier wanted some too, and asked the Soldier to please order it and he would pay, (aka, "you fly, I buy").
--The Soldier using a temp check and the aftermath shoulders solely on him. One knows their banking balance.
--Once the pizza was ordered unbeknownst to him, the NCO should absolutely have float some cash his way.

You should never put your self in a position where you can "take" from your folks.

Although the NCO did not "technically" do anything wrong, he created an environment which allowed something wrong to happen. Had he not mentioned he was hungry, that his favorite food was pizza, or that he was in a position of authority, the scenario would likely not have unfolded.

This could be construed, very loosely, as an "implied order" depending on the tone. I don't see any intent, just failure to watch words closely. It would be like the SGM saying "It would be awesome if this place had a pool table" and one 'mysteriously' arrived. A bad day.

Without an actual witness, fault goes to the NCO, because he is the responsible party at the time of the action. He was there. He "took" from the troop.

Now, the correction to this is to sit both down, and discuss what transpired, and give a lesson on implied and explicit orders. There needs to be a counselling statement, but I think this one can be resolved "semi-formally" (non-SRB). I would personally bring up the matter of the pizza that was eaten to the NCO, and discuss who he thinks should pay for that (likely in private), though I think the bounced check charge should be handled by the troop.

I don't think the NCO was insinuating anything and that the soldier acted on his own to buy the pizza whether to curry favor or just being a good guy. It doesn't sound like there was any undue influence, he/she was just making an off the cuff statement. The NCO probably has no idea where the pizza came from or that the soldier bounced a check to get it. The NCO should have offered to split the meal/check once they found out the soldier bought it. Rule #1 - Never take from or become indebted to subordinates. If the soldier paid for the pizza with a bad check, shame on him/her.

I would never take/accept anything from an E unless it was a group participation thing and I threw in money. On SDO or an extended detail I would buy a meal for my enlisted companions just because I thought that was the right thing to do, but that's just me.

Well he (the NCO) took from a JR member and that ISN'T supposed to happen. Even so if he did Should have given the Jr member at least half the money back for eating most of the pizza. Second the Jr member knew that he didn't have the money to do so and should have not wrote the check.

So with that I would write both of them a counseling statement on what is expected of an NCO and the JR member on the writing of the check and get him into check writing classes and a financial class. The NCO would need to be taught from the senior leaders to not put yourself in that position to take from Jr members. We make more money for a reason. Even if the NCO didn't realize that the private had done it for this reason.

If I am off CSM or need add something please enlighten me as I have a situation for you that I would like further guidance on.

The NCO did nothing wrong in this situation. He didn't misuse authority to get a junior soldier to purchase something for him. The key word here is "overhears". Although if any junior guys are listening "My favorite car is a 1970 Camaro." Just sayin'