'The company saved £5k on fees, but got one day of work instead of five': Penny-pinching company gets taught a lesson when their traveling salesman is forced to fly coach

Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor

Aug 9, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

Bureaucratic bean-counting threatens every employee's work-life balance, for none more than the traveling salesmen of the world. To be totally frank, there's always a disconnect between the bean-counters of a company and the footmen because financial decisions are made in an office whereas the salespeople are out there in the trenches. You'd think that the man in the field can see things a bit more clearly than the man on the sidelines…

In this case, a traveling salesman who was accustomed to flying business class, taught his company a tough lesson about corner cutting. In an attempt to save £5,000 (or $6,385), the company decided to 'trim the fat' on their expenses for their employees, shoving OP into economy class instead of letting him fly in the business section. Bannished to the back of the bus!

Because of the discomforts of the flight, the resulting jet lag, and the 16+ hours lost to travel time, OP made a dramatic point about the importance of taking care of your footmen before consulting the bean-counters. For more satisfying stories of traveling employees and their clueless bosses, check out this tale of a frugal businessman who turns his business trips into lavish vacations because of a nitpicking boss.