Employee forced to use his car for trips, boss won’t pay for repairs, cue malicious compliance: ‘Since they won’t provide me with a car, […] I would no longer go to the meetings'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jan 2, 2025 8:00 AM EST

Constant traveling for work is a big ask for many employees. It takes a certain kind of stamina and bandwidth to be able to go on multiple business trips each week, especially in the age of remote work. If there isn't a concrete reason why a meeting cannot be virtual, why go through the trouble of paying airfare, hotels, and other forms of transit for employees, only for them to spend a mere hour or two in the actual meeting? Sure, face time with clients and coworkers can be important but within reason.

This employee was asked to travel an unreasonable amount without any of those common benefits. In fact, he was pressured by his bosses to use his own car for these frequent trips. While he would be replenished for gas, the real trouble began when his car broke down due to overuse. He asked his bosses for financial assistance for the repairs, a request that was almost immediately rejected. 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more stories like this, check out this post about employees who got fired for justified reasons.

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    Cheezburger Image 10448591872
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Please, I need a car for business travels! Hi, I've been reading compliance Reddits with great passion for past several weeks, and I just wanted to share my own experience on MC. English is not my native language, so please bear with me.
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 03
    For the past decade I've been working as IT Project Manager for an SMB. About 120 employees, mostly doing at-desk jobs with almost zero business travels. However, I was the point-of-contact for majority of our division's clients, most of them being either
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 04
    government entities or public companies based several hours from my office. These clients always demanded face-to-face meetings even for a very short issues, 5 minutes tops. For that 5 minute meeting I had to drive 2-3 hours to get there, resolve any issue, then drive 2-3 hours back to office. Even during the e ic
    via lilis_skyremix
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    they still requested my presence. (For clarification, I live in South Korea and it takes maximum 5 hours to get from Northern border to the Southern border, so 2-3 hours of driving is not a short one for us.)
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 06
    Anyway, our company leased several cars for such travels. Or, that's what it was supposed to be. Management leased luxury cars(Audi, Benz, BMW..) for all C- level personnel's private use (Typical Korean SMB). When I asked for a company car to use,
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 07
    they just told me to use my own car(which they did not subsidize in any way) for the travels. This was my first professional job, and I just obeyed their instructions. For nearly 10 years I drove my own car racking up 140K kilometers on the odometer. Honestly, it didn't bother me that much because they
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 08
    2430 B
    via Oziel Gómez

  • Let's pause right here to highlight the complete lack of sympathy this dude's employers showed after his car broke down. Sure, he couldn't necessarily prove that the main reason behind the malfunction was all the business travel, but let's all be real with one another here. That's 100% what happened, and if these guys couldn't contribute some funds for him to rent a car for these trips, they should have always known there could be consequences for that choice.

  • 09
    at least reimbursed me for gas and tolls. Then one day, my car broke down and needed some serious and expensive (couple K) overhaul. Since most of the miles were because of work, and since I worked my off day and night, and proved loyal to this company
    via lilis_skyremix
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    for 10 years, I thought my company could help with repair bills. I was so naive. The management absolutely went berserk that I had the gall for even asking for such a thing. They continued on saying that since it was my car, I have full
    via lilis_skyremix
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    responsibility for it, I should of course pay for its repairs and the company has no obligation. whatsoever. Wow I was so I. I know it's not normal practice in the Korean business culture, but I thought
    via lilis_skyremix
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    they would be more understanding than this. So, naturally I turned to the dark side. Now, I stated above that I was the point-of-contact for my division's clients. For a company with yearly sales only USD 15 mil, my division
    via lilis_skyremix
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    was responsible for half of that. I always took calls and went to meetings on behalf of the company, did what I could best for our clients and the company, and my clients knew this.
    via lilis_skyremix

  • That was the last straw for this guy, who subsequently decided that if his boss was not going to ensure that the company paid for these car repairs and if he could not request a company car, then he would not attend these meetings at all. Power to him!

  • 14
    I had several weeks scheduled ahead for meetings all over the country, ranging from simple meet&greets to full-fledge project management. I decided since they won't provide me with a car, or provide support for my car's
    via lilis_skyremix
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    repairs, I would no longer go to the meetings. The ones with means of transportation can go themselves. So, I wrote to my next day's meetings that due to unfortunate and untimely problems, I would not be able to attend the meetings. If you would set up meetings on
    via lilis_skyremix
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    Zoom or Teams, then I would attend it, but otherwise, I have no means of transportation and cannot be there physically. If you do need a physical appearance, please contact my superiors and ask them to come over.
    via lilis_skyremix
  • 17
    I sent out this mail everyday for two weeks for each next days' meetings. When my bosses tells me to get my down there, I just tell'em I have no car. Will you let me use yours? No? Then I can't go. They b d but what choice do I have? They did make me take a cab one time, but it cost them USD 400
    via lilis_skyremix
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    one-way. So, clients started calling my bosses to come over instead of me. Bosses had to drive several hours by themselves to meet clients countrywide. They did not have the faintest idea what stage each project was at (I, of course had
    via lilis_skyremix
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    written up weekly reports with details for each project, and they skipped all but our sales). Projects went haywire, clients dissatisfied, penalty fees racking up, and eventually losing businesses.
    via lilis_skyremix
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    Meanwhile I deliberately didn't fix my car until our management finally cave in and paid for the repair. Then, I threw(ever so politely) in my resignation and left the company for good. So sue me. I have records.
    via lilis_skyremix

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