I love big enterprise, where ten people can have daily meetings for a month to decide how to pay a few hundred dollars.

Yes, this happened to me. More than once.

No, you can’t just pull your wallet out and offer to pay for it yourself with cash. You’re not an “approved supplier” and it’s the supplier that needs to provide warranty support.

Also if you pay for it yourself, then you’re providing it as a “gift” and that could be construed as corruption — unless you’re reimbursed, but it’s above the threshold…

This whole thread has given me flashbacks to that time when the project manager broke down in tears and put his credit card back in his wallet…