Sometimes, the most aggravating things about our jobs can also provide the most memorable experiences.

Learn how one Redditor’s past company was so set on reshaping the business that it accidentally treated their staff to luxury.

While the original work mandate was annoying, it ended up benefiting the employees a lot more than the company!

Let’s read all the details.

Time is a concept

Just after the invention of the printing press, I worked for a small, but highly respected, academic publisher here in the U.K.

I was part of the sales team, criss-crossing the country visiting universities and bookshops promoting our titles.

It was a good life, before even car phones, never mind mobiles.

Life on the road was easy.

Once we were out on the road, we were pretty much our own bosses.

Our sales manager had done the same job, knew how things worked and was perfectly happy to allow us to make our own arrangements and decisions, as long as our territories were profitable year on year.

And they were.

But then, everything shifted.

Then, the stars realigned, and we were taken over by a much larger publisher.

So now, instead of knowing pretty much everyone in the company, it was just a voice at the other end of the phone when we needed to get something sorted.

And it was a rocky adjustment for most of the staff.

As is often the way with such large organisations, it ran on tram tracks.

For example, as reps we had company cars, for which previously there had been a set budget, and we could have whatever we wanted as long as it fell within the financial restraints.

Not now, there was a choice of three, and that was that.

But then, upper management began going through the staff setup with a fine-tooth comb.

[Soon] came the time when they decided that company-wide people were not using their time efficiently, especially with regard to meetings.

Thus, highly expensive consultants were drafted in, and one of their recommendations was that everyone, every single employee, should go on a time-management course.

It was just the merest coincidence that this consultancy also provided the course…

But this traveling team didn’t really operate in the same way as the rest of the company…

Eventually, our sales team got the word, and we had to jump through these particular hoops.

In vain we pointed out that:

We were not office-based, so we rarely had meetings and, if we did, they were organised and run by somebody else.

We could hardly tell a customer or university academic that they were taking too long and could we please go a bit faster.

And finally, time management for us was avoiding traffic jams and road works, so as to get to our next appointment on time.

Until matter transfer was developed, no course in the world was going to improve that situation.

Ultimately, the boss ignored these reasons — and everyone had to take the class.

As you can probably guess, all this fell on deaf ears.

There could be no exceptions; the trams were heading down those tracks with no possibility of stopping.

Somehow this course lasted three days.

I have no idea how, as most of it consisted of stating the blindingly obvious.

In addition, there were travelling days at each end as all three days were 9-5.

But the biggest perk? Living in the lap of luxury.

So, the four of us had most of a week in a 4-star hotel, with virtually unlimited food and drink, gaining nothing but weight from the whole experience.

I can only guess what we cost the company, even at those long-ago prices.

It had to be a long way into four figures. Plus the time off the road, as for a week, the sales team had not sold a single book to a single bookshop.

And the homework? Poof!

We were supposed to write follow-ups, detailing just what we had got out of the course, but, after discussion with our sales manager, this requirement was quietly dropped.

Probably just as well…

Does Reddit think this staff scored? Let’s read what they have to say in the comments below.

Someone got particular with when the printing press was born.

Another commiserated on the company “overhauls.”

One Redditor had thoughts on consultants.

And another knew exactly what they did.

Sometimes it pays to follow the rules.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.