May 27, 2009
Thanks to all disciples who contacted Guru with details of the most ridiculous and bizarre expenses claims they have come across. Here are Guru's favourites so far...
Some time ago an old boss of mine submitted an expenses claim to replace six 'antique' (?) work shirts that had been in his family for some time, and that had been lost by the dry cleaners. Unfortunately, I was not privy as to whether these were approved or not - I only know they were submitted!
Disciple larameg
We had a claim for a £12.50 haircut for someone whilst on business in Africa. OK, he was there to represent the company but was only away a week; might they not have thought to have got themselves gussied up prior to travelling?
Also, in my very early days in HR one of my first memories was to meet one of the expats from Hong Kong who had just arrived back in the UK. "My he has a good set of teeth" was my initial impression. A couple of weeks later the bill for £2,500 arrived from his dentist in Hong Kong.
Disciple Brenda
Some time ago an old boss of mine submitted an expenses claim to replace six 'antique' (?) work shirts that had been in his family for some time, and that had been lost by the dry cleaners. Unfortunately, I was not privy as to whether these were approved or not - I only know they were submitted!
Disciple larameg
A £20 pair of shoes for a business meeting, the explanation being: that the hire car for an early next day meeting 300 miles away was not delivered, meaning a late, rushed and hasty departure in his own car, as a result of which was that he left his shoes behind and didn't realise.
This necessitated him having to purchase a pair of shoes from Tesco, being the only shop open at that time which sold shoes, since it would have been unprofessional to turn up at the meeting in a suit and a pair of trainers. He claimed the only other alternative was to wear the trainers and shorts and t-shirt. The mileage claim was £210.
Disciple Taxed
I received a claim with a supplier's invoice for a cable film Ladyboys of Bangkok, claimed by a training consultant while staying overnight delivering a residential training course. (Guru hope this is genuine, but cannot be sure).
Disciple Rosemarie
We recently had an expense claim that covered the following: £80 on food for a day visit to two clients - claim included breakfast; mid morning snack of kit kat, crisps and two bottles of fruit juice; lunch (alone) including bottle of wine; mid afternoon snack of mars bar, crisps, bottle of water and coke; another afternoon snack from M&S of sandwich and fruit selection; and lastly dinner at his local pub (even though it wasn't an overnight stay) alone with more booze.
Then on the same expense claim had a hotel after a night out with fellow sales people (networking), breakfast and lunch the day after - this was a Saturday. To finish it off he also claimed for his taxi home on the Saturday at £45. Needless to say, we didn't pay this.
Disciple WestieMad
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Comments (1)
Dear Guru
I can assure you that the claim for the Ladyboys cable film was completely genuine and circa 1997 when naughty cable channels in hotels were still a bit of a novelty! The poor man (a health and safety trainer now retired) who slipped it into his overnight expenses claim hadn't read that the hotel listed the film's title on the bill. There were all kinds of revelations that emerged as a result of this, but I will leave them to your imagination...
Posted by Rosemarie | May 27, 2009 7:18 PM
Posted on May 27, 2009 19:18