‘Fine, I’ll Play the System’ : Man Commutes 175 Miles per Day to Work, Company Refuses to Reimburse Him for Transit, Leading to Malicious Compliance

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    Font - Posted by u/WolfieVonD 19 hours ago Company will only reimburse parking, not transit? alright then. S OC A few years ago, I was working in Downtown Los Angeles, but living in San Diego. For those of you who don't know, that's over 175-mile per day commute. I wasn't about to put my car
  • 02
    Font - through that, and so I took the train every morning to Union Station, then backtracked via Subway to the jobsite. The cost of the Amtrak weekly pass was basically the same price of gas, but I thought I'd try to get that extra $3.50/d from the subway covered since I wasn't using the "parking reimbursement" in my contract. The $17.50 per week wasn't going to bankrupt me, but I figured I'd try.
  • 03
    Font - Came to the boss and asked, basically, "Since I'm not driving to work and getting reimbursed for parking at $10, could I submit my subway receipts at $3.50 and get that covered?" And was told to pound sand. Now, the way the reimbursement worked was that you pulled a parking
  • 04
    Font - slip when you got to work and paid it at the end of the day. Then, on mondays, you would submit all 5 parking slips from the previous week, and the $50 would be added to your paycheck (untaxed, obviously). So, every day from then on, when I took the train into work, I just walked into the parking structure and pulled a ticket. I didn't have a vehicle and so I
  • 05
    Font - didn't need to worry about paying for the ticket to leave, but the contractor didn't know that. They didn't have access to the system (which is why they didn't validate everyone's parking and skip the middle man) and as far as they knew, I was just driving in like everyone else.
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    Font - tl;dr - Contractor refused to cover my $17.50/w subway toll in good faith because it wasn't in my contract, and so they ended up paying me the $50/w reimbursement that was in my contract.
  • 07
    Font - tentoesbob 19 hr. ago You spent 6+ hours a day on a train? Reply Share Vote WolfieVonD OP. 19 hr. ago It was only 3 months, but it let me sleep on the way there, and study on the way back. Grabbed some wetzel pretzels every day at the station and studied for my Journeyman State Exam.
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    Font - tentoesbob · 19 hr. ago Damn. I respect the commitment. ✩ Vote Reply Share WolfieVonD OP. 19 hr. ago I basically lost 3 months of my life, but was able to move much much closer to LA once I passed the test.
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    Font - 12 hr. ago Wonder if anyone else figured out the same and made a carpool benefit out of it. Ilmoran Load up 3 coworkers, everyone submit 5 tickets. Passengers chip $20 back to the driver, so he gets $60 (after the reimbursement for parking) and passengers get $30 each.
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    Font - WolfieVonD OP. 12 hr. ago Man I didn't even think about that. Probably someone else also thought of it. Vote Reply Share
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    Font - 19 hr. ago Jumpy_Spend_5434 They wouldn't need actual receipts? ↑ Vote ↓ Reply Share WolfieVonD OP. 19 hr. ago. edited 19 hr. ago All they cared about were the tickets.
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    Font - Edit: they know who worked how many days, so you couldn't try to turn in more than your workdays. I think this is why it was a laxed validation. Vote Reply Share 19 hr. ago Jumpy_Spend_5434 That works out well then! Great MC!
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    Font - jcacca +1. 13 hr. ago I used to live in SoCal, and I hated the drive to LA (for any reason). Good on you for beating the system, especially by finding a way to exclude the drive and nonsense on the road. Glad you found a way to make it work in your favor! Vote Reply Share
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    Font - Business Duck132 16 hr. ago As a man who formerly lived in both those areas, why the hell would you do that to yourself for a single job? If it was that worth it, wouldn't it be more worth it to more closer ? ✩ Vote Reply Share
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    Font - WolfieVonD OP. 16 hr. ago I was basically homeless for almost 3 years. I did have a place to stay (one of those homedepot sheds in a mutual coworkers backyard) but after paying for gas/train, bills, and the utilities i used, I wasn't able to save up enough for a new place with deposit and moving costs until I
  • 16
    Font - passed my test and got my raise. I was 4.75 years into a 5 year apprenticeship program and wasn't about to drop out that close to the end. The first 2 years weren't too bad. Was in Riverside in a fancy 10'x20' shed and actually started to get comfortable in my little minimalist "tiny home" but they needed the space for family and got me in
  • 17
    Font - contact with their buddy down in San Diego. The halving of my living quarters to a 10'x10' shed and doubling of the commute is what made me put my nose to the grindstone, cut all unnecessary spending, and get out of there. Vote Reply Share
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    Font - magster823 12 hr. ago Major props to you, though it's a damn shame you had to do it! Reply Share Vote WolfieVonD OP. 11 hr. ago Life has been amazing since. Started flying working on my license, moved to a big place, getting married this year. It was absolutely worth the struggle.

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