There’s Girl Math, And Then There’s Boss Math

A few years back, I was working abroad for my company on a project and was away in California for two weeks, which turned into an unplanned five weeks due to various IT problems. This was 6,000 miles away from my lovely family, and I was missing them. It was tough, but I was the senior project lead in my company, and there was nobody else with my skills to fill in.

Relevant later: I had a milestone birthday present which was driving supercars around a circuit for a day. This was a big birthday present from my wife, worth around £800 at the time. This event needed to be booked way in advance, and the voucher was valid for fifty-two weeks. Due to circumstances, I booked it for week fifty of fifty-two.

Problem: the latter part of the unplanned extra three weeks overlapped with the Driving Event day. I told my manager that I could not rebook it as it was so late and was non-cancelable.

If my company wanted me to stay that weekend, they would need to compensate me for the lost event money. My direct manager was fine with this given how much I was sacrificing, but the vice president of IT point-blank refused, saying it was “unethical to refund a present” to me and I should just attend it. He was trying to wheedle out of any expense as he 100% thought I would not go back to the UK for such a short turnaround.

Okay, then, Mr. Smarta** VP, I will!

The cost of a flight back to the UK on short notice, returning the next day, was £3,700, plus £300 in taxi fees to get me to and from home per company policy. So, it cost just under £4,000 in company expenses instead of them paying me £800. 😊

The cars were a Mercedes SLS around the Brooklands Circuit and an E63 (a 600hp estate/station wagon!) on a skid pan. Champagne and lunch after! It was great, but I was jetlagged as h*** the following few days!