Okay, whatever you say…

Sometimes that’s all you can say when a higher-up at work tells you to do something that you know is kind of, well, DUMB.

For example, when it comes to expense reimbursement for business travel, sometimes employees try to save the company money by buying less expensive food. Unfortunately, that could really backfire!

Read on to see how this worker dealt with a company policy that was a head-scratcher but ended up being a huge bonus for them!

I was forced to eat at fancy restaurants for a month $$$.

“Many years ago, I got put on a work assignment for months that required me to travel to New York City and stay every Monday to Friday.

I was assisting a company manager with a project and my hotel was near his regular office in the Theater District.

It ain’t cheap around there!

If you are not familiar, the Theater District is heavily built for tourists. Restaurants are generally kind of fancy and expensive. There were really not any quick and cheap options for dining in that area.

The company had a generous meal policy of up to $30-40 meal for travel expenses. I did use that for a bit, but the food got to feeling too indulgent and kind of ridiculous given it was an extended assignment.

Also I was working really long hours and did not want to go sit in restaurants, I just wanted to go watch TV and sleep in my room.

They decided to mix it up.

So after the first week or so, I instead went to a grocery store on Monday night. I bought some basics for cereal, sandwiches and snacks, and some frozen meals I could microwave for lunch in the office.

It cost about $60.

I then took a few cans of soda from my hotel fridge to make room for my weekly food purchase , and returned them before checking out at the end of the week. And that was it for food costs, with an occasional meal out here or there.

I did the same the next four weeks, submitted my expense report at the end of the month.

You know where this is going…

Okay…

A lady from accounting called, and refused to reimburse my expenses because $60 is more than $40, the max allowance for a meal purchase.

I explained that had covered 5 days of food but was told it didn’t matter.

I then spent the next month trying all the food in the neighborhood.

There really were not any cheap options. I went out to eat a few mornings, lunch whenever I found time, and dinner absolutely every day.

If that’s the way you want it!

I could have bought a few installments of groceries but the once/week shopping convenience was part of why I’d wanted them. It had also seemed wasteful for me to go out for an expensive meal every night for long term travel, but now I’d been told that was preferred by accounting to my grocery bills!

The next month, I got a call from my NYC manager asking how I’d run through more budget every week of the month than the entire month before combined.

I explained the grocery situation, and he thanked me and hung up.

About 10 minutes later, that same lady from accounting called me to tell be they’d pay my still-not-reimbursed grocery bill and any going forward as long as the daily amount averaged for the week was under the aggregate meal allowance.

I happily returned to a more reasonable diet.”

There’s no point in trying to save the company money if they’re not going to appreciate it.

Here’s how folks reacted on Reddit.

This person had a lot to say.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This reader shared their thoughts.

Another person had a lot to say.

And this person spoke up.

They tried to do it the cheap way, but it backfired.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.