A lot of employers have rules that don’t make financial sense.

The worker in this story didn’t mind at all and her employer didn’t seem to either.

Keep reading to see the perks she enjoyed.

I’m not allowed to go outside of our travel agency to save money, so I didn’t.

My travels on a strict budget have taken me to three continents so far.

These days I get to take short trips with my work when attending conferences and seminars.

I prefer not to waste money, so I used to arrange the trips privately and then requested it paid back afterwards. It worked out well.

Then bureaucracy kicked in.

Then we got new directions for handling travel costs.

We all had to go through a new travel agency whenever booking, well, anything. The top brass held a talk about it and everything.

We were warned that onwards, any application for money back after a trip booked privately may be outright denied.

I had tried to use the travel agency before but found that it only allowed a few overpriced airlines and hotels, and it wouldn’t let you book anything outside of their “approved” connections.

I previously combined train and bus tickets to reduce costs. Now I now just selected the top option.

But it actually worked in her favor.

Five times more expensive? Too bad.

A nice low range hotel that covered my needs? No longer available, choose suggested option.

I guess I will stay at the Hilton then.

I just got back from a trip that costed five times what I could’ve paid if I had been able to do my thing.

No flights were available the day I could’ve left so I went a day earlier.

No afternoon flight was available after my meeting, so I stayed an extra night.

I was basically off work half a week extra because of that travel agency and the trip ended up costing more than my monthly paycheck.

Oh, and the travel agency? They were apparently the lowest bidder on the contract, claiming they’d supply the cheapest travel options.

I enjoyed the complimentary champagne.

Here is what folks are saying.

Ah, that makes sense. Nickel and diming everything also takes time and adds complications.

I hadn’t thought of this one. These are all plausible scenarios.

Haha. Maybe her employer is a charity and she doesn’t want funds wasted?

I’m taking notes. Swanky!

Maybe! But some people like the credibility.

Tempted to open the mini bar?

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.