2. When I started working there was a lady who made all flight, hotel and rental car reservations for employees who traveled. She had approved vendors and seldom compared rates.

A savvy employee who studied such things found that on his regular trips he could save a lot of money by flying out of a large, hub airport several hours away and he could arrange things so that he could visit his sister there for the night before boarding his flight to boot. Even paying mileage the company would save a few hundred dollars.

The employee made his pitch to his manager - offering to drive during off hours to boot - and the manager reared up, gave him a stern look and declared that if the employee wanted to visit his sister he could "...pay for his own damned ticket." Otherwise he was to go through the company process.

The story did have a happy ending though. A few days later - after the story got around - the manager was overruled and the employee was congratulated very publicly for his cost saving approach by a much higher manager.