Every Last Cent
I work for an office and we have an eight-week busy season with mandatory overtime (12-14hrs/day). During this time, the company agrees to reimburse us for dinner, up to $13/meal. We just have to submit a claim with our receipts at the end of the busy season. Food options around my work aren’t great, so I usually brought my dinner from home.
But sometimes I was too tired to cook after a long day so out of the eight weeks, I purchased maybe 10 meals. Three of those meals I spent $13.50, going $0.50 over the limit. This resulted in a whopping $1.50 overage, which my manager said was no big deal and that I could include them on my expense claim. He signed off on it and everything.
A few days after I submitted my report, Head Office emailed me saying they rejected my expense claim and that I could resubmit after I removed the $1.50 overage. I wrote back saying my manager was fine with the $1.50 overage and even signed off on it, and they responded by telling me that they do not allow overages under any circumstances, that the $1.50 must be removed or they wouldn’t approve any of my meal expenses. Then they got snarky.
They ended their email with the advice that I should “actually read the company policy next time.” Fine, they were right and I was wrong. So I decided I’d read the policy very thoroughly before redoing my expense claim. Yes, the policy clearly stated a $13/maximum on purchased meals. Oh, and what’s this? The policy also allows a $10 per diem for meals you bring from home.
I very happily removed the $1.50 overage and added an additional $300 for the 30 meals I brought from home. I should read the company policy more often!