Corporate rules and policies are a great thing that really allow businesses to simplify many processes, facilitate the integration of new employees, make many things clear... This list can be continued for a long time, but on one condition - if corporate rules are not abused to the detriment of common sense.
Unfortunately, it often happens that people put the rules above elementary logic, without delving into each specific situation. And then literal compliance with the rules begins to harm the company, and employees who are forced to obey the requirements of corporate policy become less productive.
A great example of such a situation is this Reddit Malicious Compliance post, which in just a few days collected almost 15K upvotes and over 600 different comments, with many people giving similar stories from their own experience - so the Original Poster is far from alone with their tale.
More info: Reddit
The Original Poster has to travel a lot for work and the company gives them $35 a day for food expenses
Image source: slgckgc (not the actual photo)
So the Original Poster is paid a total of $35 per day for food while traveling, and they have to buy food separately for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Under corporate policy, the OP is also required to buy food strictly at designated time periods - that is, for breakfast from 8 to 10am, for lunch from 12 to 2pm, and for dinner - from 5 to 7pm.
Image source: welcomenal
The OP used to have their meals not exactly within assigned time frames due to work calls from various time zones
Of course, it was not always possible for the OP to eat at these particular times, because they often had to call people from different time zones for work. Thus, in order not to harm the work process, they sometimes ate at other times - and the employee who approved the expenses never found fault, because she understood everything properly. But recently, according to the OP, she was replaced.
Image source: welcomenal
The new person responsible for covering food expenses rejected the OP's payment made at the "wrong" time
That day, the superiors only paid the travel expenses for the cheapest flight, so the OP had to leave their home at 3am. They stopped to grab coffee and a bagel around 5am. What surprised the OP was when the new person responsible for covering food expenses rejected the payment, stating that money should be spent only within the specified time frame.
Image source: welcomenal
The OP maliciously complied and started fulfilling all the new demands, though their productivity decreased
The OP admits that they worked more than once during their own lunch, but now they just have to reject work calls - simply because they are having breakfast or lunch. As a result, their productivity has decreased, but they've been strictly following corporate policies. Moreover, they started to leave at 5pm, because dinner also cannot be missed.
Image source: Alan Levine (not the actual photo)
Moreover, if the OP could not spend the entire amount for food expenses before, now they are specifically trying to spend exactly all the $35. The OP ironically adds that they should be healthy and not skip meals. By the way, coincidentally, hungry homeless people also enjoy their meal periods.
People in the comments told the OP that their company probably underpays them for food expenses
We must say that people in the comments supported the Original Poster and actively shared their own similar stories. However, commenters believe that the OP should report this situation to their higher-ups so that they can return to the previous conditions with increased productivity again.
Incidentally, many commenters have also pointed out that the $35 a day that the OP is given from their company is quite a small amount, and many other employers give, for example, $30 for just one meal. Furthermore, some people advise the OP to check on their state's food allowances and, if they are under the allowance, to refer that to the management as well.
Image source: Tracy Vickers (not the actual photo)
If you have encountered a similar situation at work as well, we are sure that you are already eager to tell us about it. So do not hold back - just feel free to write everything in the comments, or just tell us what you think of this situation. Comments, as always, are highly welcome.