Work trip - no food in hotel!

[Boxingshibes]

I'm way for work for the week. I'm staying in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It took me 4 hours to get here in v hot trains.
Room and hotel lovely but I went down to the bar/ restaurant and asked about dinner- to be told as they have an event on the kitchen is closed.
They offered me a free drink but apologised and said unfortunately there are no takeaways that deliver.
I'm on a meal allowance. I'm pissed off!
And I'm having to pay £200 for taxis for the. Grr
I'm hot hungry and annoyed. Aibu?

OP didn't have money for an extra taxi journey or to buy food as she was expecting to be fed at the hotel.

I did nil by mouth before my c section and that was quite hard because I had no idea how long I was going to have to wait! And then when I finally had my tea and toast I was sick afterwards. I also fast for religious reasons once a month and it's definitely different, because I know it's happening and for how long. If I turned up somewhere I was expecting to be fed and was refused I'd be cross. I always take snacks with me though. Cereal bars are great for travel. 😊

Are you using a debit card when you travel for work? Do you not have a personal credit card you can use? Most people don’t mind the pay it themselves and get reimbursed model because that way they earn the points while the company foots the bill. The reimbursement comes before the credit card bill is due and you just pay it off entirely.

It doesn’t always work though.

I remember my very first business trip, I didn’t have enough credit to pay all the expenses as the bill for just a week was nearly 10K. (And this was in the 90s). A colleague had to pay some of it. Thankfully I got a much higher credit limit very quickly because asking was quite embarrassing even though expecting me to be able to front that was ridiculous.

if you can’t get a credit card for whatever reason, I would ask for a cash advance on reimbursement. I worked for one company that did these as a matter of policy for everyone that didn’t have a company card. That way you had cash for things like taxis and food. You still had to file an expense report, but you weren’t out do pocket.

Walk into the kitchen and help yourself

I'm glad you got fed tonight.

Is anyone else singing 'Away on a work trip, no food in hotel' to the tune of Away in a Manger?

Glad you've been fed @Boxingshibes

I was not offended. I am just worried about the general reliance on AI. It's doing all sorts of damage to people at the moment. One of these things is making people lose faith in their own knowledge and experience, another is making people doubt their abilities and their own decisions. It's making people passive.

There are not even things such as AI induced psychosis. There is even worse, but I don't want to derail the thread any further.

Think Op really needs to get a personal credit card for times like this, then she can claim expenses and pay it back when she gets paid. It's madness that she has to use family money and is literally stranded for the sake of a few pounds for a taxi.

OP had a meal allowance included in the hotel booking. Everything else had to be paid for on a personal card and claimed back at they’d end of the trip. There were limited funds on the card and she was working to a tight budget.

You missed that OP can’t afford extra taxi journeys or paying for takeaways as she has a limited budget and food was covered by the hotel and army barracks.

You have never lived in a rural village have you?

I can think of several where this would be an issue and the taxi has to be booked well in advance. Even small towns are not heavy on taxi services and those which do exist will prioritise local traffic - lots of short runs being more lucrative than an out of town round trip of ten miles for which only about half are chargeable service. Then of course there is ensuring you can get a taxi back after dinner. Taxis are not public transport, they don’t waste time on non profitable journeys.

As a general rule of thumb - if you are not in range for food delivery services you are unlikely to find a taxi easily either.

I agree, but I have a feeling from something the OP wrote that she is unable to get a personal credit card for some reason? I might be wrong, and if so, that is indeed the obvious solution, in case of future hassles, a credit card which she uses only for work, and pays off monthly immediately she is reimbursed.

I got that impression too. I think it may be that money is tight, so credit isn’t an option they want to take on.

It might be like where I work. They won't reimburse spending on a personal credit card. Only cash or a debit card.
Whoever wrote the policy has no clue about cost of living and not having lots of spare money at the end of the month.

Well good newish, as I didn't eat on Sunday I have 30 going spare ( sort of) and 30 for tonight so my friend is going to come hand we can both eat for free.
Which will leave me with money.
I actually make goodish money but as the only person earning it needs to go far and I rent in the SE which doesn't help.
I travel 1-2 weeks a months so am always paying around £4-500 a month on expenses which I do get back quickly but as soon as I get them I need to use it for the next month if that makes sense.

Op, I’m glad you will have a nice dinner and if I’ve missed what you’ve said about not being given expenses up front from your employer - why can’t the pre pay you for your trips?

You really need a credit card OP. Then you wouldn't have to worry about budgeting family money if you've got no wiggle room.

I've seen a lot of businesses give staff a "float" up front to use for expenses.

If, for example, your employer gave you a float of £500 now that you held separately in a different account, you could spend from it, then claim back the spends for them to top it back up to £500. If you went over it, then you'd claim back the excess too but at least you'd be less out of pocket.

There would have to be an agreement in place that you'd repay it in full if you leave, but they could deduct it from a final pay.

The key would be to make sure it's definitely ringfenced and not mistakenly used for anything else, but it would ease the burden.

I'd definitely try and get something arranged in advance for next time. What if you didn't have the money available to spend? What would they do then??

@Boxingshibes if you are travelling monthly for your job then I would expect your employer to give you a company credit card!!

I travel 1-2 weeks a months so am always paying around £4-500 a month on expenses which I do get back quickly but as soon as I get them I need to use it for the next month if that makes sense.
@Boxingshibes - but there must be a better way, this way you are subsidising your employer for the honour of working for them, it’s absolutely unfair on you.

You need to talk to HR about this.

If you're away for half of every month, there is no way you should be forking out up to £500 of your own money and then waiting to claim it back.

It doesn't matter if you're earning £30K pa or £300K pa. Everyone has their own personal expenses and the fact you 'need' the money to pay your rent is irrelevant. It's the principal.

You need a company credit card.
Have you asked?

Why are you the only one working? Are you a single mum?

if you have a partner I’m afraid they need to get their arse into gear

My dh is disabled so cannot work. We get £600 pip a month which helps. But it's all on me.

The OP has said in an earlier post that her partner is disabled, so very probably unable to get their arse into gear.

Hopefully they get the amount of AdP/PIP they are entitled to as well as UC to make a contribution. OP should inform work if her caring responsibilities and outgoings means she struggles to buy food on her work trips maybe they can make some sort of allowance for her, or not insist she takes these trips leaving a disabled partner at home

i am disabled and ensure I get all I am entitled to so I can hand some in and pay my way. They may have to rein things in if they’re struggling like this it’s not feasible long term for her to risk being stuck on work trips without money for food