'I'm not paying that': Employee gets even with company's client following their refusal to reimburse expense report 1% over allocated budget, client loses $700

Eleonora Bader

May 22, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Receipt reimbursement systems in companies are much more complicated than simply giving employees a hard per diem. In this case, OP was working on an off-site short-term project (that in reality lasted about a year) in Singapore, and he was allocated $60 per day for food expenses. On average though, OP was actually spending about half that amount. As the project went on, the customer's client began raising some issues, and OP was told to take the client out for dinner and some drinks. His manager confirmed the extra expense, giving him a budget of about $250.

OP ended up going 70 cents above the daily limit (mind you, cents) but still hadn't reached the $250 limit his manager had confirmed. The client was still furious and refused to reimburse the receipt, stating that 'no receipt that goes over the 60$ limit will be approved'. OP decided then to maliciously comply with the daily budget, and instead of spending $20-30, spend the entire $60 daily budget, every single day, for the rest of the project. Malicious compliance, or fraud/embezzlement? You decide. The customer called OP, seething. Scroll down to read exactly what happened next.