'You didn't want to reimburse my ticket': Travelling employee spends hundreds of euros on taxi rides after company refuses to pay him back for one train ticket

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 2, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This company was so confused about why their employee started racking up big bills. They should've known… it was their own policies that made him do it. 

Travelling in taxis has become a tad outdated in these times of ride-hail services that utilize apps. There's a reason, though, that we've switched over. If you use an app to call a car, you pay before the ride starts, and then tip your driver at the end. Even if the driver takes a different route or sits in traffic, your cost still stays the same. Meanwhile, taxi drivers are known for racking up fares as much as they can. 

The last time I ever set foot in a taxi, I was on my way to a cruise, travelling from Penn Station with a large suitcase in tow. I just needed to get to a pier a few miles away. And since it was a cruise, it was not something I could be late for. I took a taxi, and the driver drove me up and down the west side highway for over 20 minutes. A ride that should've taken just a few minutes was now taking forever! I had to ask him several times what he was doing (he was driving the opposite direction!) and he just gave me non-answers, or turned up the radio. It was so infuriating to be both late and overcharged for such a short ride, that I've given up taxi cabs for good. 

Up next, this employee got in trouble for being 22 seconds late, and spent the next 11 years annoying their bosses over it!

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  • 01
    Tire
    via Fernanda Caetano on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Dont worry I made sure to get a receipt this time M My dad gets sent on business trips fairly often. As with most business trips, all of his expenses are covered. When he has to spend money during the trip on things that can't be paid in advance, he gets reimbursed by the company when he gets back and lets them know what he spent and what he spent it on. This is just stuff like the hotel, food and transport.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 03
    Font - During one of those trips, he was staying in a Swiss hotel, taking a plane back home the next morning. As he leaves the workplace, they ask him if they should order him a taxi for the next morning to get to the airport, which is about 50ish km away. My dad replies that its a 5 min walk from his hotel to the train station, so he'll just take a train to the airport instead.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 04
    Font - He does, and a few days later he gets a call from whatever finance departmant handles repaying expenses. They ask him if he's got a receipt for his train ticket, because otherwise they can't cover it.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 05
    Font - Dad replies he only has the actual train ticket which has the price on it but thats all he has, you just buy it at a machine in the station and all that you get is the ticket, there is no receipt. So the lady at the phone tells him they can't pay him the cost because he doesn't have a receipt.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 06
    Font - So a few weeks later, he's back in the exact same spot, and when they ask if he's going to take the train again, my dad goes 'no can do, I dont get a receipt that way. Order me that taxi. So the next morning he goes on a fairly long taxi drive to the airport. Fun fact: Swiss taxi rides are expensive as fu
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 07
    Font - Once again, a few days after he's back, a call from finances. About what the h this 200 euro charge is, and how he had to spend so much this time. Dads reply was something in the lines of
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 08
    Font - "Well last time I took the train, but you didn't want to reimburse my ticket because I didnt have a receipt. So this time I took a taxi, but don't worry, I made sure to get a receipt this time, so there should be no problem with paying me back for this right?"
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 09
    Font - I was told they accepted because technically there was nothing they could do: the expense was necessary (to get to the airport) and he had a receipt proving it. Later that day they informed that in the future he was allowed to use the train if it was cheaper, and he would only need to provide them with the train ticket.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 10
    Font - soda_cookie Haggling regarding expenses is the dumbest part of taking business trips. In your dad's case, I think at least my company would accept it since it had the price on it. Once I had to call a pizza place and have them fax me a copy of the order I made because the receipt they provided was not itemized, which is a requirement for meal expenses at my company. Maddening
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 11
    Font - SgtCheeseNOLS I'm in the military, and we had to travel from the US to Europe for the 70th anniversary of DDay. I began the planning a year in advance, and told my command wen needed to book asap before it became a bigger event and our hotel options would be limited. They said "Nah..70th is nothing, 75th will be the big event."
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 12
    Font - Well...we were at the White House when France's president arrived and gave a speech alongside Obama..in it he invited him to the 70th anniversary. Obama accepted. Before the end of the week, every major world leader said they'd be in attendance.
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 13
    Font - Hotel prices went from $70 a room in the Carentan area to $300...and sold out quickly. We could no longer fly into the are, but had to fly into Paris. The total cost of the event went from $15K to us spending $38K....when my command called me after we filled our travel claims, they asked why it was over double the original estimate. I said it was because they didn't let me book when I wanted to and waited a whole year...they swallowed the pill Thanks command for wasting tax dollars and no
    via u/MisterDerptastic
  • 14
    Font - o The Iron_Yuppie Similar story here. While on a work trip I skipped a full meal for breakfast and just got a coffee and donut. Submitted the receipt in my expense report itemized as breakfast for that day. Accountant rejected it saying it wasn't breakfast, it had to be a meal, and the company won't pay for my drinks and snacks all day. This resulted in a few emails and phone calls between her and myself about the charge and hilariously debating what defines a breakfast. We wasted about a
    via u/MisterDerptastic

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boss workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance bosses work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit Sweden dad Travel workplace trip receipt Father hotel business taxi
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