In my line of work I have to spend a fair amount of time away from the office working on projects outside. For overnight projects, where we are gone for three or four days at a time, lodgings and fuel are paid for by the company and we are allotted a certain dollar amount per meal per day. Last week my coworker and I had wrapped up for the day and went into town for dinner. Coworker ordered one $2 taco and I ordered a $12 entree. The max is $13 or so. I asked Coworker, why not max out the per diem? Coworker's response: “Well, I don't know, I'm just trying to be nice. They are paying for it after all…” Later on I thought, who on earth would project this “nice employee” thing by deliberately making yourself go hungry for the night (and we were in a very rural area with no nearby resources like a convenience store) just to show Accounting that you avoided making them spend a few extra bucks. I say, fuck that. We had a meeting recently where the president only had good things to say about our financial numbers and that 2022 is looking good. Employees who are “nice” like that are rewarded with less (food in this case). I have absolutely no qualms maxing out our per diem. They gave it to us, so use it. I think actions like that tell management that folks could possibly be taken advantage of, like lowering the per diem. Take everything your employer gives you and never feel guilty. You already give them effort and time and energy.
I also refuse to put money in our honor system box for breakroom snacks. Make me pay for a bag of chips while celebrating a good year? Get real.