Welcome back
and best to everyone for a happy and healthy 2022. Here’s hoping your holidays
were COVID-free.
But on
to today’s missive.
My
first introduction to completing an expense report came courtesy of the head of
accounts payable at the publishing company that was kind enough to give me my
first job.
Jean
was a dour, moody individual who managed to intimidate everyone – from the
office maintenance staff to the CEO of the company. She ruled the department
with the subtlety of Vladimir Putin and if your expense account contained
something that was not allowed it was returned in an interoffice envelope with
DENIED underlined and in bold red letters.
Once
she discovered an employee going through her desk searching for a paper clip
and in less than 30 minutes, he was a former employee. A short while later, one
of the women in the classified department attempted to write off a fur coat. I
kid you not. It was also one of the few times I saw Jean laugh – perhaps it was
because said employee was last seen being escorted out of the building by
security.
But
that was then, and this is now. With what has been termed “the great
resignation” with scores of workers ditching their present posts for greener
not to mention remote, pastures, a manufacturer of expense management software has
compiled a list of unusual expenses that were approved over 2021 – items that I
could not conceive of passing official muster even 10 years ago.
