Some penny pinchers who work for different companies can make life pretty miserable for employees.

Everything is black and white with them and they just can’t seem to see the bottom line.

And this story is a perfect example of what I’m talking about!

Read on to get all the details.

Most Expensive Tip Ever.

“Nearly 15 years ago, I went to work for a company.

The intent was for me to complete a project in quality and then move over into program management but someone quit and I was asked to fill in as a customer quality engineer. This meant that every month, I traveled to customer sites, did the first pass analysis of our defective products, and got yelled at – A LOT. It sucked.

They always tried to save the company money.

Also worth mentioning, our branch of the company was too small to use the corporate travel so for every trip I was scouring discount travel sites to find the cheapest flight/hotel/car. I was ridiculously vigorous in seeking best prices. If the worst car was $32/day and the not-so-bad car was $34/day, I picked the $32/day car to save the company $2/day.

They had a bad travel experience.

One fine trip, several months in, was spectacularly awful. Not only did I have a truly terrible car, the hotel was all new depths of yuck. My shoes stuck to the carpet in my room and the security flipper thing on the door was plastic. Also, it was in the worst part of town and I worried about my safety to the point that I ended up pulling the little couch over to block the door and sleeping on it.

Adding to my misery, I was sick. I had some creeping crud that plugged my sinuses and made me long for death.

Normally, I’d have canceled the trip but the customer was in an uproar about our continued repeating defects and required someone to be there.

They had their regular spot.

I made this trek every month. And once during every trip, I would eat at the local Outback Steakhouse.

It was a known quantity, the people who worked there were great, and it helped me to have that connection.

They rewarded the waiter with a good tip.

On this particular trip, I made my way to the Outback for dinner and I was clearly sick and miserable. And the workers took care of me.

They sat me next to the fireplace, brought me tea, and had the kitchen make me chicken noodle soup even though it wasn’t on the menu. I nearly cried I was so grateful.

My bill for dinner was less than $10 so I charged $20.

Yes, more than a 100% tip but their kindness kept me going.

The director wanted to talk to them.

I got home, did my expense report, and turned it in.

My director called me into his office and screamed at me about how the corporate policy was 10% tip and it should never exceed 15% and what was wrong with me for paying them so much.

Remember: total bill including “excessive” tip was $20.

It broke me.

Well, it shattered my loyalty to the company’s bottom line.

Okay, whatever you say!

So, I made them give me the corporate travel policy where the tip policy was outlined and from that moment on, I followed the corporate travel policy exactly. No more $32/day cars; I’m in midsize or better.

No more flying out at 4am in the center seat; the flights fit my schedule and I sat where I wanted.

No more scary hotels in the worst part of town; now I’m staying at the nicest executive hotel allowed by the policy.

That money really added up!

The cost of my trips were pretty regularly double or triple what they had been, adding up to thousands of dollars a year but I never disobeyed their allowable tip policy again.

The true irony: their corporate tip policy actually had verbiage that said “exceptional” service could be recognized with an additional gratuity but basically, don’t make a habit of it.

Also, the allowable per diem was $50/day and a receipt was only required if over that amount so the tip that started the whole thing was within per diem, allowable for exceptional service, and the receipt for it had not been necessary.”

Let’s see how folks reacted on Reddit.

One reader shared a similar story.

One Reddit user shared a SCANDALOUS story.

This reader talked about a woman who got into some serious hot water.

And this person talked about what happened on an emergency work trip.

Some people, I tell ya…

What a dummy!

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