Patriot

We have this commtuing subsidy at my workplace. It really is kind of nice. They actually pay us up to $32/mo extra, if we ride enough days to work with our bikes, carpool, bus, walk, etc. Anyway, in order to get this stuff accounted for, you have to fill out a sheet of paper, showing which days you rode, and how many points you accumulate to determine how much of a subsidy you get. Of course, I commute up to, and sometimes over 600 mi/month (to and from), so I go way past the maximum points every month.

Anyway, for some reason, these little sheets of paper have to be turned in by the 4th of every month, or for some reason, some fat lazy person in payroll has a hissy fit. Well, I admit, I messed up and turned mine in today, so it was late. I figured, oh well, if they don't want to pay me, that's fine. It'll probably end up in the circular file. No big deal.

Well, I go back to my office and the phone rings. The guy who is in charge of the commuting program calls me, and starts giving me all this attitude about being 2 days late, and that he doesn't have to accept my points schedule this month if he doesn't want to. But, he'll accept it his time, because he's being nice. Sure, he's being nice, after b!tching at me for 5 minutes on the phone.

Finally, I started chuckling. I just couldn't hold it anymore. He's gets even more stressed out, and asks why I think it's such a laughing matter.

I calmed down, and said, "Look, I don't mean to make light of this, because you do have a schedule to keep, but let me ask you this. Do you honestly think I ride my bike 600 miles a month to and from work, in freezing weather, wind storms, and pouring rain for a lousy $30 a month? What are you, nuts? I mean really man, think about that for a minute. I'm going to say this, and want you to take it to heart. You gotta be majorly stressed out to get so irked over this, you seriously need a vacation."


Silence........





more silence.........





Then he says, "Well, yeah, but don't be late anymore, ok?"


"Ok."

ekimeno

Priceless!

PatrickMcCabe

Rock and Roll!!!!!!

Patriot

I just went over to my bosses office, and told him what happened. I couldn't help but laugh. I asked him if the guy was ok, because he seemd so stressed out on the phone when he called me. My boss said, "Yeah, we call him, The Commuter Nazi, he's just like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld."

"No soup for you!!!"

Or should I say....

"No subsidy for you!!!"

Bklyn

Excellent!

newbojeff

Well done! Very funny.

RonH

Hoshnasi

I want a subsidy.. Its like free money!

xB_Nutt

Great story and that is cool that your company gives you an incentive to commute.

bmclaughlin807

Daily Commute

Not paying bus fare, insurance, parking, gas or gym fees is free money. Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy nice stuff for my bike. But I wouldn't complain about an extra 30 bucks a month.

Topher_Aus

Exactly. It saves a fortune bike commuting.

CliftonGK1

I don't get any bonus from work, but I called my insurance company and got my rates lowered because I only drive my car 2 days a week at the maximum.
If you have a car, and you bike commute, talk to you insurance company and see if they offer lowered rates for lower mileage drivers.

khuon

Okay. I'm going to take the selfish attitude right now and state that I'm glad this happened to you...

... otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to share such an amusing story with the rest of us. This really made my day.

ollo_ollo

That was the only negative when I retired. I sorely miss my $2 daily subsidy for commuting to work. Now I have to subsidize myself.

khuon

You know. This got me thinking... I never bothered to check if my company offers subsidies for commuting.

ollo_ollo

I worked for Washington State. Their rules called for a unit of at least 100 potential commuters. When I left service, our office manager was worried because we only had about 20 participants (6 cyclists) & apparently after a certain amount of time, the program people downtown expected us to achieve increased participation over prior years, not decrease by 1... oh well. Be sure to check with your mgmt, I think it may be mandated for companies above a certain size.

bike2math

I don't pay the 425 yearly parking fee. That is like a subsidy. My wife thinks I just spend it on food with my bike fueled ravenous appetite.

balto charlie

Sounds like that guy needs to ride a bike to work. We don't get a subsidy for riding a bike but get up to 100.00/month by taking mass transit. I use the train and bike which turns out to be a free ride anyway you look at it. Thanks for the funny story.

smurfy

The company I work for would probably like to give a commuting subsidy but the problem is some of the whining crybabies that work there would be screaming bloody murder: "it's Not Fair...WAAAAAAAHAAAAA!"

Or: "I ride my Motorcycle to work (1800cc, 22mpg), can I get it? (yeah, right ).

The management where I work at are tickled pink that I ride to work. With ever increasing health care costs they're really encouraging exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

The janitor at work rides the bus and has never had a car.It's somebody like him that could really use the extra money of a subsidy.

RonH

If your employer doesn't offer any kind of subsidy or "reward", many cities have Transportation Management Associations (like Atlanta - see the list below) and/or air quality organizations, like Atlanta's Clean Air Campaign. They offer cash and other incentives.
If you want $$$ or merchandise, look into what your city, county, or state offers.

This is only a partial list.
https://www.batma.org/commuterrewards.html
https://www.midtownalliance.org/MTS_bicycling.html
https://www.centralatlantaprogress.or...MA_Rewards.asp
https://hatma.org/index.php?customern...08&pr=Services
https://www.perimetergo.org/Commuter_...erRewards.html

garydhatch

Sounds like the poor guy needs to start riding himself, it might relive some of his stress!

khuon

Isn't that usually a bad thing to have happen?

Billiam

The university I work for subsidizes a bus pass and carpooling, but not cycling. Of course, a bus pass that works over a 3 county area, with good metro service, for less than $25/month is a nice deal. If not for that, I probably wouldn't have gone carfree (which was about a $2000/year drain, better than a coffee money subsidy any day!)

ollo_ollo

For any one living in Washington State, here is the link go to https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TDM/tripreduction/

Legislature incorporated it into our clean air act & it appears Oregon may have something similar. Worth checking with your employer as the website claims over 1100 participating business. Don