When a policy backfires, management is often the last to see it coming.

So, what would you do if your job required travel, but your boss suddenly took away your company car and told you to rely on public transport, even though it made your commute ridiculously long? Would you let the boss know up front that it’s not a good idea? Or would you just stay silent and show them?

In the following story, one employee finds themselves in this exact situation and decides to show the boss. Here’s what happened.

Take the train? Sure thing boss

This took place a few years ago. I was in a role that required constant travel between offices, so I was provided with a car.

One day, my manager told me that I was going to be working in a single location for an extended period and, therefore, had to give up the car. This wasn’t my home office, so I’d be reimbursed for travel costs. Crucially, any time spent travelling over the normal commute to your home office would be considered time spent at work.

Hey, no problem. I’m happy with this. So I asked my boss for a parking spot for my own car as spaces were limited, there was no other parking nearby, and most importantly, there were no public transport links between my home and office location, so it would take a long while to get in.

Riding the train to work took a while.

Sorry, no can do, just take the train, we’ll give you the tickets.

Okay dokie boss if you’re sure.

So, making sure I took my book and headphones, I took the train as instructed. Three separate trains later, I arrive at the office just before lunch.

The situation was fixed the next day.

Boss was horrified but couldn’t say anything when I showed the route I had to take. Their face was a picture when I told them I would have to leave shortly as it was the same journey home.

I was paid for nearly a full working day on the train reading my book and my boss couldn’t do anything about it.

Needless to say, I got the car back the next day and a space to go along with it.

Wow! They must’ve gotten a lot of reading in that day.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about this story.

This person loves the story.

Apparently, the train can be very inefficient.

As they say, sometimes, it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

After some time, work would probably seem more appealing than spending full days on the train.

Great way to prove a point!

Hopefully, the boss learned to think things through a little better.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.