Employee books ‘cheapest flight’ for boss’s work trip — shocked by HR’s reaction: ‘That’s insane’

They gave the company a taste of their own HR medicine.

Whether or not you agree with a company policy set into place by HR, you unfortunately still have to obey it. That’s what one employee thought they were doing, but quickly learned the hard way that sometimes those same rules are bent when it comes to higher-ups.

User @ceraliza took to X (formerly Twitter) to share her recent experience, explaining how she worked at a company with a “strict ‘always pick the cheapest flight’ rule.” Since she once got a slap on the wrist from HR for “spending extra to get home earlier,” she figured that if she has to suffer on a cheap, inconvenient flight, her boss does too.

The company had a strict “cheap flight” rule, so this employee figured if the policy applied to her, it would also have to apply to her boss. lightpoet – stock.adobe.com

“Later, I had a work trip with my boss and I had to book the flights cause he’ll never book his own travel. enters my malicious compliance: I chose a cheaper flight with a 4hrs layover on a Friday evening, he was pissed cause he had an hour drive from our airport and had to cancel plans so I explained the policy,” the employee wrote in her tweet.

“Monday morning, we had a chat with HR about using ‘best judgment’ when it comes to booking,” her post concluded.

That is a classic example of “the rules don’t apply to them.”

The honest and relatable tweet received almost 2.5 million views, with over 1,000 reshares and 200 comments, many of which took the employee’s side.

“Funny how the rule only became a problem when he had to sit through a 4hrs layover flight,” one pointed out.

After booking her boss a flight with a long layover, on a Friday of all days, it didn’t take HR long before asking to meet with her. Viacheslav Yakobchuk – stock.adobe.com

“Nothing teaches management faster than experiencing their own policy firsthand,” chimed in someone else.

“I have a boss who is like this. Always want the cheapest flight but asks me to change his flight last minute. Like the one we booked was non refundable because you wanted the cheapest right??? So I just always book out of policy from now on,” another shared.

“I wouldn’t travel for a company with a policy like this. That’s insane,” quipped someone else.

“We once booked the ceo at motel 6 we then got a list of approved lodgings,” wrote another commenter with a similar experience.

“LMAO!! Policies always change the moment they inconvenience the wrong person,” another comment read.