'I'll make sure it's $30 Every. Single. Time': Employee gets reprimanded for going $1.02 over expense limit, maliciously complies with boss's orders

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Apr 28, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Some employees are not worth reprimanding the one time they do something "wrong." This dude travels for work regularly and manages to consistently remain way under the daily expense limit for food. This is particularly impressive when you consider the fact that the amount of food he was allowed to spend daily was $30. If you have to travel that much for work, you deserve a little more than that, but that's just my opinion. 

On one occasion, the author of this tale went over that expense limit by a small amount of $1.02. Of course, that minimal difference was enough for his boss to lose his mind. After receiving an unnecessary "talking to" at work, the employee decided that moving forward, he would comply with the rules, albeit maliciously. Keep scrolling below to see how this guy managed to spend more money during his work trips on the company credit card without technically going over the limit!

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  • 01
    INVOICE INVOICE NUMBER: 223 DATE: 01-23-22 AMOUNT DUE: $440 ENT METHOD: BANK
    via Unsplash+ (Behnam Norouzi)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The funny thing about this guy's malicious compliance is that there is no way this boss could have predicted that his outburst would end up costing the company more money. The author decided that the best course of action was to spend that daily limit every day, despite the fact that before this instance, he was usually getting by without spending much of it at all. Kudos to this employee for knowing his worth!

  • 02
    I do a lot of fly-in fly-out travel for my job. Usually I am so busy with work while onsite or I am stationed somewhere with food options I don't want to waste my calories on and I don't eat anything the whole day or just buy a coffee.
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  • 03
    Our employee expenses policy at work is $30 a day which is mostly fine. But there are some high cost of living cities and sometimes my meals go above that policy because there is not many options,
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  • 04
    especially if I want to eat healthy which is important when you are constantly on the road. Plus so many airports have completely shut down their food courts and haven't reopened them yet so there's hardly any options but fast food.
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  • 05
    So I submit my expenses one month and I have gone $1.50 over the daily limit because I treated myself to a coffee that morning as well as a lunch because I was tired after the god awful early flight I had to take.
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  • 06
    The company had recently changed their policy and now a different set of people are approving expenses. The previous people didn't mind going over by a few bucks because it balances out
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  • 07
    with trips where I didn't eat anything but this new group are absolute sticklers and rejected the expense citing I was over the daily limit.
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  • 08
    I tried to argue I had 10 other visits that month in which I didn't eat a single thing but they still weren't budging. It really left a sour taste in my mouth.
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  • 09
    Now every single visit I force myself to spend as close to $30 as I them. My can because husband is happy because it means I now bring back (slightly squished but free) food for him. I feel bad for wasting food but often I just buy a meal and eat a few bites and throw it in the bin.
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  • 10
    However, the expense policy is $30 a day and by god I am going to stick to it now.
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  • 11
    While in the past I might have billed $100 for the entire month because I didn't bother to eat, I am now billing twice or three times that. I also used to push myself to keep working all day but now I religiously take my 30 minutes to go and buy some food so that's 30 mins less work they are getting from me too.
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    Cheezburger Image 10498703616
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 13
    SweetDove. Hey man, if you still want to stick it to em, just pay $30 on someone's bill who looks like they could use the help, win win.
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  • 14
    Jonesy1939 THis is actually the best lol. Just go around paying for random people's meals, on the company dime, lol
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  • 15
    night-otter My first business trip, my manager called me in and pointed out my food expenses were low.
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  • 16
    "Well I grabbed McDs for breakfast, a sandwich at the convention center and we did Denny's for dinner."
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  • 17
    "Your per diem is $75 a day. $15-20-40 B-L-D is the split and you only need receipts if you go over $50. Now what were your food expenses again?" ***ETA: Holy Bat Guano! 5K upvotes. Thanks.
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  • 18
    No Pineapple6086. Beautiful. I used to do the same at my last job. If we had to stay past 8pm we got a free meal, delivered and cab expenses. After being ducked around on a few minor items, guess who started staying until 8:01 pm, a lot.
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  • 19
    dezignator Our expenses policy is $33.33 per meal period (so 3x daily, hundred bucks a day), and we just get the full amount as part of travelling, counted from when you leave your house to when you get back. No need for claims, and if you spend less, the difference is a thank you for the pain in the that is travelling for work. If you spend
    via CinnamonBunBun
  • 20
    more (in this case, covering any work-related expense, not just over-limit food), the customer just has to sign off on it (since they're billed directly) for that to be claimable as well. No customers we'd bother to travel for would quibble over a rounding error's worth of extra coffees.
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  • 21
    Tomatillo Accurate475. I used to expense account the unused balance right on to a gift card at the restaurant to make up the difference up to the allowable amount, did this every time. Then you have about 3 options here is where it's fun to be malicious:
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  • 22
    1. Use gift card toward next meal that you expect exceeds allowance 2. Save all these small gift cards (a dollar here, five dollars there) to take home and use on your own tabs on a night out away from work.
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  • 23
    Or my favorite 3. Use the gift card that your company is paying for to immediately towards your alc ol beverages separate tab, right then and there.
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  • 24
    Lord_Schmurda Ouch $30 a day? I think that is well below most expense policies. 10 years ago it was $75 a day at my first real travel job. Sometimes if I had money left in my daily budget I'd stop in at a restaurant and get myself a $25 gift card to use later. I don't don't really have limits now -
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  • 25
    they just don't want bottles of Dom P showing up on the lunch tab (unless clients are there - then spend whatever). If Im traveling away from my family, sleeping in a bed that's not mine, I'm going to at least enjoy full service meals.
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  • 26
    Cinnamon Bun Bun OP. It's like $100 if it's an overnight trip but I prefer not to do those as I miss my family.
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  • 27
    But yeah after this I really plan on looking for a new job next year. I cannot stress what a bad mood this put me in. As you can imagine, as you've done it, FIFO work is work and anyone that does it deserves their comforts.
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  • 28
    I am just waiting as I am up for promotion in January as I have been there X months and I can use that to leverage myself I to a better paid job. I tried looking for a new job a couple of months ago but although the pay was better I couldn't make the jump into the promoted role I am hoping for.
    via CinnamonBunBun

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