'His phone bill was $1,400': Company bean-counters ignore their field salesman's advice; their ignorance costs them $1,400 on their next bill

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    rr/MaliciousCompliance Posted ş by u/jasonw_ray01 18 hours ago This cell phone provider won't work for me.... M OC
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    At the time of this story, my father had his cell phone plan with the V network (not sure if company names are allowed, but whatever, you probably know who I'm talking about). He chose
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    that provider because he lived in a rural area and at the time that was the only mobile provider that worked for him. He researched this, as best as his low-tech redneck mind could handle. This was the ONLY viable option.
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    My father has been in sales for most of his working life, specifically insurance sales. He is darn good at it, makes sure the client is taken care of the right way, the way he would want to be taken care of. He
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    also is the kind of guy that doesn't care where you are on a company's organization chart, he'll tell you exactly how it is with wanton disregard. If he's wrong, he'll admit it. But if he's right about something, he'll make extra sure you know about it.
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    The bean counters at Insurance Co he worked for decided they would provide him with a business cell phone, but with a different provider than the V company. He called his boss and
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    said "this probably isn't a good idea, it'll be in roaming where I live and it'll cost a ton in roaming charges..." (side note...remember roaming back in the day?) Boss says "nope, company knows best, use this new phone." Pops says "sure thing, boss man."
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    MC Hammer time....so he gets new phone. Uses it exactly 1 month's billing cycle. Uses it for all calls: business calls, personal calls, random calls to make a reservation at a restaurant, EVERYTHING, used the company phone. Instead of the company
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    paying around $50 or whatever it was for his phone plan, because of roaming in his area as he said it would, the cost of his phone bill was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,400.
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    Boss calls him on his personal phone and says "Put the company phone down, shut it off, don't touch it again unless it's to put it in a box. We're overnighting you a new phone on the V network and you will send the other phone
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    back to us." My Dad, in his ever so way, said "Next time, smart- maybe pay attention to the guy who knows how it is." His moral every time he tells this story is that education does not always mean the same thing as intelligence.
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    CoderJoe1 17 hr. ago Can ya hear me now? 4 Vote Reply Share jasonw_ray01 OP 17 hr. ago Yes! Although that guy switched to a different company years later
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    Techn0ght 15 hr. ago "Authority doesn't equal knowledge" Said more colloquially, just because you're in charge doesn't . I like your mean you know old man.
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    suoinguon 18 hr. ago Ah, bummer! This cell phone provider simply won't cut it for me. Their service leaves much to be desired. But hey, did you know that ostriches can run faster than horses? Mind-blowing, right? 9 Let's go for the unconventional and switch to carrier pigeons. It's time to embrace the avian revolution!
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    Odd-Artist-2595 19 hr. ago edited 16 hr. ago I not only remember roaming, I remember roaming plus international calls. I was the IT Mgr at a F100 manufacturing facility. I'd had a vacation trip to attend the theatre in Canada scheduled for months - all tickets and the B&B paid for and non-
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    refundable. I don't remember any longer what project/installation corporate had come up with that coincided, but it was, in the scheme of IT projects, totally minor in terms of what could go wrong.
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    My staff was briefed and knew what they needed to do. Corporate knew I'd be out of town and they were the ones running this particular show, anyhow. But, my newly installed boss got nervous. While he couldn't make me cancel my vacation, he made me promise that I would call in and check
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    on things every day; they'd reimburse me. I tried to explain that it was unnecessary and wouldn't be cheap, but he wasn't hearing it. Okay, fine. I did that. Using my personal cell phone. Every day, after my matinée performance, I called in to be told that everything was fine. This was early cell phone days. I'd only recently upgraded
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    to something other than the luggable I had to detach from my car and carry around like a boom box. The fees were horrendous. They'd have almost been better off reimbursing me for all of my tickets and the B&B.
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    When I returned, I submitted my bill and he was absolutely floored by it. He vacationed in Canada on occasion and called home. He knew that long distance wasn't that expensive. Why did I have to use my cell phone?! How could I expect them to cover this when I could have used a land line so much cheaper?!
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    In return, I asked him to explain what land line he expected me to use? Was I supposed to ask my B&B host to use their house phone and send me a copy of their bill so that I could highlight my usage and send them reimbursement after the fact - trusting that I would do
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    so, of course, and being okay with me and our company having a record of all of the calls they had made during the month because, all I could do was go through their call list, highlighting my own? He hemmed; he hawed; he paid the bill. And, he never again required me to stay
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    in daily contact while on vacation. In short, he trusted me to know WTH I was doing. Honestly, if this project had been so large and involved that I absolutely needed to be on top of it daily, I wouldn't have left. But, it wasn't; I did; and they could for not trusting me that it would be fine. well pay the price
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    jasonw_ray01 OP 16 hr. ago Oh wow, that was epic! That probably deserves to be it's own post somewhere if it isn't already. I bet your company's bean counters were hopping mad at your boss.
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