When you travel for work, the company is supposed to pay for all of your normal expenses, but each business has its own rules on how this should be done.

What would you do if the company you worked for had a guideline that said that, whenever possible, all purchases should be made through Uber, even though it was much more expensive?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, but on one trip he rented a car because he had a lot more stops to make, and the payroll department got upset with him about it. So, when he had to repeat the same trip a few months later, he used Ubers for each stop, causing the price of the trip to nearly double. Needless to say, the company wasn’t happy about that either.

He was only trying to save the company money, but they just couldn’t accept that. Read through the full story and see what you think of what happened.

Spnd more money? You got it.

After the local auto parts company I worked for in my town merged with one based in another state, my position required me to travel to that state twice a year – once in late April and once in November.

Many people love traveling for work.

I loved the flights, the driving, the scenery, and getting to meet up with my coworkers, especially since the Pandemic at the time had us all working from home. It was at the end of the lockdowns, so it was something I actually looked forward to.

My first trip was in May (rescheduled because of bad weather) and I followed the company policy about travel, Ubers, everything to the letter.

Paying for everything through Uber seems like a very expensive way to do things.

The way it worked was any trips from the hotel to the office, to eat, any food orders, it all had to be done by using the Uber App. I would pay for it all then submit for reimbursement after I got back.

Before I started at this company, I ran my own business, so I knew the value of a dollar and how to do things in a way that would get the job done but not spend a fortune.

He doesn’t want to be wasteful.

I tried to keep this mentality with the new job, so when I saw that I spent nearly $400 on everything (the company paid for the flights and hotels) I thought it was a bit excessive with the Uber upcharges.

Looking at everything that I had purchased using the Uber app, meals, trips, everything, I figured I had spent nearly $200 more than I should have if I were to go to a grocery store and buy everything I need.

It is great when the company works with employees on things like this.

The company’s main office was in the New England area and the next trip was coming up in December. I wanted to do some sightseeing and my supervisor at the time mentioned that the company would pay for a car rental and that I would be responsible for the gas.

This seemed like a very reasonable arrangement, so I set the reservation for the car, make sure that my credit card was empty before the trip, and I had a wonderful time being able to see snow for the first time in many years during that trip.

What a foolish policy.

When I turned in the receipts for everything during my December trip, the total came up to less than $300 – and that included the car rental.

But I soon got a notice of denial from the accounting office telling me that because I hadn’t secured permission for the rental of the car, they were not going to pay for that.

When I explained that renting the car cost them less than every Uber trip that I wanted to take – and I had calculated that it would have cost me at least five or $600 to go everywhere that I wanted to go using Uber, I was told it didn’t matter and I should have “followed policy.”

Some people just can’t understand that policies shouldn’t always apply.

The funny thing was, there was nothing in the policy about whether or not I could rent a car, but there was a specific line on there saying that I needed to be financially responsible with company money, consciously aware of what I was spending, and since I didn’t have my own vehicle there at the time, anything that I needed could be done through the Uber app.

When I pointed this out, the accounting team replied with, “we’ll pay you back for the car, but not the gas (Which was exactly what my supervisor said) but next time, just use Uber.”

He’ll follow the rules next time.

Cue malicious compliance.

The next trip was the following April. I knew where I needed to go to go, what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to eat. It was essentially the same exact itinerary I had in December, but this time it was only through the Uber App.

When I got back home and figured out the total, it was well over $600. Needless to say, the accounting team was not happy.

You just can’t please some people.

They did try to argue the pricing, saying I had spent too much for one person.

But when I pointed out that the only difference between April and December was the cost for the Uber upcharges, and that I had actually gone to fewer places (no rental car, no sightseeing), they paid up and asked me which rental agency I preferred for future trips.

It is shocking that they never realized how much they were wasting by going through Uber before this.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Here is someone with a great idea.

This is excellent advice.

Now this would have been funny.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a helicopter inspector who grounds a flight after the pilot is rude to him.

This is almost always true.

He should just follow the policy as written.

Corporate policies often don’t make sense, but they still want you to follow them. How any business could think that using Uber for everything makes sense, however, is beyond me.

This seems like it would be the most expensive way to travel possible.