Pretty Good Weekend in Vegas

Yesterday my tennis partner told me about a Wall Street Journal article from last week about Thomas M. Coughlin, the Wal-Mart vice chairman who allegedly "[stole] as much as $500,000 from the giant retailer in the form of bogus expenses and reimbursements along with the unauthorized use of gift cards." This is a guy who made $6 million dollars last year.

Quoting now from the July 15, 2005 WSJ article:

According to Wal-Mart's account, Mr. Coughlin in May 2004 asked Mr. Bowen for 51 Wal-Mart gift cards, each with a value of $100. He said they would be given to that year's "All-Stars," who were generally lower-level employees recognized for superior performance. (See Wal-Mart's account.)

Wal-Mart said Mr. Coughlin used the gift cards himself at Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Club outlets, at one point spending $1,000 toward three 12-gauge shotguns. A company spokeswoman said Wal-Mart was able to track all the purchases, saying Mr. Coughlin also used the cards to buy puppy chow, a Celine Dion compact disc, Stolichnaya vodka, wine, a $319 fishing license, a rifle case and a $3.54 Polish sausage.

To paraphrase Major T.J. 'King' Kong, the B-52 pilot from "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,"

"Three shotguns, a Celine Dion CD, a bottle of vodka, and a Polish sausage! Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."