In July I wrote a column about bad bosses and referenced a bad boss that I worked for years ago. I wish I had more examples of bad bosses to write about because not only is it cathartic, it’s amusing too. But even somewhat competent bosses say and do amusing things and that’s what I’m going to share with you today.
While you’re reading this, I’m in Dublin, Ireland, beginning my first day of a nine-day vacation. This story dates back to a business trip I took in 1987 during my early days as a trade magazine editor for the office technology business when I was still a novice in the ways of business and business travel. I was attending a National Postal Forum conference in Washington D.C. Back then we used to have loads of editorial and advertisers related to mailing so this was a must-attend conference for us. As an FYI, prior to my first editorial position at a cable TV magazine I spent a few years working in and then running the mailroom at a community college so I know what it’s like starting out in the mailroom.
Our daily meal allowance when traveling for business was $33 a day. That was doable if you were like me and had a light breakfast or if the press room was stocked with pastries at breakfast, and on the rare occasion, sandwiches for lunch. Plus as a member of the press, there were the vendors and PR people who’d invite you out for a meal, which went a long way towards stretching that meal allowance out. I was still flying under the radar of a lot of these folks at the time so I wasn’t getting that many invitations yet, especially at the National Postal Forum conference. I don’t remember if there were pastries in the press room, but I wasn’t much of a breakfast eater then. As for lunch, you were on your own.
There were a lot of companies exhibiting back then, not nearly as much and as much variety as you’d see at NOMDA, but enough to keep a young editor busy all day long. And usually keep me too busy to go off site and find something for lunch. The best option was the coffee shop in the hotel. That’s what I’d do, and that’s what got me into trouble.
A couple of weeks after returning from the conference and submitting my expenses, I’m sitting in my cubicle banging away on my electric typewriter when I hear the publisher shouting to me from his office, “Hey Cullen, cut out the high living; just because you get $33 a day doesn’t mean you have to spend all of it!”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You spent $15 for lunch on Sept. 23.”
“All I had was an iced tea, a sandwich, and a piece of pie at the coffee shop in the hotel. It was $15 with tip.”
“Next time just get a hot dog.”
Later I went back and checked and discovered I’d only spent $30 of my $33 meal allowance on my three meals that day, including the $15 lunch.
Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up.
In the interest of full disclosure, on my first business trip to Washington D.C. the year before I went to dinner by myself at a fancy restaurant and ordered pheasant under glass and ended up exceeding my budget for the day. He never said anything about that.
Thanks for reading.
