Ineligible iPologies Lead to Terminations

You may recall a) that Apple gave all its employee free iPhones --- this included retail and Genius Bar employees, and b) after the $200 price drop, Apple issued a $100 store credit (iPology) to early adopters of the iPhone.

Thing is, there were some conditions attached to this offer. From the Apple web page about the store credit comes the condition:

Some iPhones will not qualify for a credit. They are: ... (4) iPhones that Apple provided to employees, either for personal use or for departmental use.

Word around the Internet is that apparently some 800 retail employees tried to cash in on the credit, were caught, and given pink slips.

Considering that retail employees live in a whole different world than most of those who work at Apple Corporate, I could see some of them trying to literally "take advantage" of the offer, yes. I'm sure they probably didn't expect to get fired for it, or that they would be caught.