Boss refuses to reimburse employee for going $0.04 over budget. One tiny detail cost him 3000 times more
Going over the $15.76 limit by $0.04 more, the employee couldn't have had a better comeback.
An employee (u/soul_motor on Reddit) was sent on a one-week training course for work. The company had allowed them to spend £5 ($6.72) for lunch and £11.72 ($15.76) per day for evening meals. They were okay with the arrangement and were always very conscious of the prices while ordering food. However, only once did they spent $0.04 more than the amount set for dinner. Upon returning from the work trip and filing for reimbursement, they were shocked to find their boss refusing to approve it. Confused, they read the policies and realized that they, in fact, could claim much more than what they had filed for. The employee posted the story on January 13, where several users gathered to support their comeback.
Angry boss refuses expense claim and tells me to read the policy for guidance.
byu/Large-Meat-Feast inMaliciousCompliance
The incident dates back to 2015 in England, where they were sent on a work trip only to prove to upper management that their team was 100% certified. The company had booked the tickets and a hotel with complimentary breakfast. The person was also informed about a particular amount that they could spend on meals and file for reimbursement later. "On the last night at the hotel, my food bill was £11.75 ($15.80), 3 pence ($0.04) more than allowed; however, seeing as on the other nights I'd barely spent £10, I chanced that I could talk the finance people into approving it as the total spend would still be less than allowed for the week," they explained. The person returned to the office on Monday, filed for reimbursement, and waited for the boss to approve it. However, things didn't work out as they'd planned. "He flatly refused to sign off on the expenses, as I had overspent. When I tried to explain that it was by 3 pence ($0.04) and that on Monday night I had actually underspent by £2.50 ($3.36), I was lectured as to the reason that the limits were there and to 'read the policy,'" the person recalled.
They read the expense policy, staff handbook, and their contract, only to discover that they were allowed to claim extra money for calling family, staying away from them, long travel hours, etc. The person resubmitted their claim with adjustments as per policy, with an "extra" £100 ($134.42) reimbursement. The boss was once again not happy with the claim and called them back into his office. However, the person threatened to submit a formal complaint. "I did take great satisfaction in reminding him that if he hadn't told me to 'read the policies,' then I'd have never found out about all the extras. Yes, I did inform all of my work friends. Yes, I did get all the claimed funds in my next paycheck," they recalled.
Filing for reimbursement after a work trip is more hectic than it looks on the surface. A survey of 4,000 business travellers from across the UK, the US, Germany, and Spain found that 19% of respondents said they are unaware of what's reimbursable and what's not. The same study revealed that 25% worry about going over budget. Meanwhile, a significant percentage of respondents (24%) are so busy at work that after returning from a work trip, they don't have the time to file for reimbursement. This points to a deep-rooted issue in our work culture where employees' well-being is always considered less important than that of the company — an inanimate and unperishable concept.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/bodaciousvermin commented, "The boss had to kiss goodbye that bit of power he thought that he had over you and the team. Well done." u/joeftpgamerios shared, "I had a boss that was always super difficult to get reimbursed from. So I completely stopped spending my own money. If I were an hour away from the shop, I would need a fitting that I could buy at Home Depot. I would drive back to the shop to get it. Spent so much extra time and gas because he was a d**k. I also logged all the incidents and got approval from my boss to return to the shop. Always telling my manager I didn't have any cash on me." u/coderjoe1 wrote, "Fantastic. I always encouraged my coworkers and my employees to take advantage of every single expensable item, as there was no compensation for being away from their friends and families while traveling for work."
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