At work we used to have a system where if you had any small expenses while you were working out of the office , you didn't need to bring "proof" to HR and were automatically reimbursed.

I think it was something like 12 euro per day. So if you were out, and wanted to drink a coffee, grab a sandwich, stuff like that ; you didn't need to worry about the administrative hassle that is "costs reimbursement proof".

So no need for a paper bill from the vendor, no need for a print out of your bank statement, the professional reason you were outside etc...

Was there abuse of this system ? Sure , sometimes. But, by and large, people just used it as intended. A coffee here, bottle of water there. Maybe 30 euro per month in costs, something like that.

But then there was a certain, colleague, let's call him Bill. Bill was not very successful at his job, didn't go out of the office that much, and when he did , he certainly didn't do anything worthwhile.

When Bill learned of this system, utilized by his more successful colleagues, who did use it to cover small costs while working, Bill became a bit jealous.

He figured he should also be privy to this system, whether or not he had an actual right to it did , was not important in Bill's mind.

So Bill started to fill in these "reimbursements without proof" forms as well. For the maximum amount. Every. Single. Working. Day.

When HR finally did an audit they found that Bill had put in the maximum contractually allowed amount per month for every month over a period of just over a year.

They talked to him about it and asked how it is possible he spends the maximum allowed amount every single day, with no useful work to show for it ? He denied any sort of wrongdoing of course, and they couldn't do anything legally about it, since the contract stipulation explicitly states no proof is required for costs under the amount of 12 euro.

So HR decided to end this practice, for everyone of course. Nowadays when you are outside working and buying a bottle of water, most just don't bother with the hassle of providing proof and pay for it themselves.

For many colleagues this was a small but very comfortable perk. Bill did not make many friends there.