So at the end of April, my boss is encouraging me to go out and meet & greet customers, get to know them and this that and the other. In a hidden guise, I’m making sales calls. One of the customers happens to be down the street from my house which is a good 25-30 miles away from my work place. So sure. I volunteered to meet them. This was last Wednesday, the 7th.
Thursday, the 8th, is the day Accountant lady comes in, so I printed out the directions from the client’s business to work, multiplied the number of km by $0.35 and submitted it for a cheque to be reimbursement of a car allowance.
Friday, the 9th, I am being questioned about the cheque that was cut. The main argument being “But you have to drive into work ANYWAYS.” Hey, I’d always been a firm believer that if one is working, and needs to use their own personal car, they should be reimbursed for it. Her argument is that she wanted me to visit specifically because the goal was to save the company money, but now that I am “nickel and diming her” that it saves the company nothing. She said okay fine to signing the cheque. So I got my $15.75 for the drive.
So this coming Wednesday I was supposed to go on a one day crash course on how to become a more effective communicator. Well during the same conversation I asked if the fact she was arguing with me about the gas expense to visit a client, that meant she had no interest in paying for milage to drive to downtown Toronto for said class. And again, her argument being “But this is close to you than work! I don’t pay you to drive to work! Why should I pay you here??” And obviously there was no getting through to her. And after repeating myself over and over because all she could do was repeat HERself over and over… she at one point did mention “I thought you were willing to invest in your future” (ignoring the fact that I have invested 4 years, and over $40,000 in my future by getting a university degree?) and “Well if this is your attitude, maybe I should just cancel the course!” (because it makes perfect sense to lose a deposit or have the company hold onto your money because of something so trivial?)… I just let it be and thought to myself “Okay fine you win. I don’t bloody well care!”
Well. Monday, the 12th, now. She pulls me into the office to ask me some stupid dumbass question about a quote I did where she always forgets our supplier’s rules and regulations. After which she asks me for the textbook that was required by the class, which I give to her. Then she tells me she is not sending me on the class anymore. Whoop-de-do. Apparently my attitude towards my opinion of being reimbursed for expenses incurred during work-related activities was so inaccurate, and the fact that I would believe my opinion to be correct was just so appalling. Also, she explained the situation to her nine year old son, who got it just like *snap* that. (I don’t know, I find snapping your fingers in front of an employee to be extremely rude, not to mention trying to say that I’m not as smart as a 9 year old who got a very one-sided opinion on how the world works) And so on and so forth.
So, the end result is, she’s put the class on hold. Til when who knows, because it probably would have been very beneficial for me to go, or someone in the company to go. She’s since confiscated the book that came with the class, either to return it or to make sure I don’t do any learning on her dime. And everyone in the company can do nothing but laugh at the childish antics of a woman who really doesn’t know how the world works.
