Picking up the Check

In these days of massive layoffs, picking up the check has changed; you'd think that people on a business lunch would follow the same protocol, but apparently not. Not only is unemployment rampant, but corporations are scaling back their expense accounts.

Last year, when I was traveling, and rarely responsible for feeding myself, our per diem was about $80. I paid for breakfast at the airport and was reimbursed later, but most of the time, I was traveling with a corporate employee who put all the meals on a corporate card. Before I was cut from the project, there was talk at a higher level, of cutting the per diem to $40 a day. That's not much when you're trying to get three meals out of it.

Of course, they were likely looking at lower-end hotels. By "lower end" I mean Hampton Inn rather than the Hilton. Either is fine and the Hampton usually had breakfast included. In which case it becomes easier to eat on $40 a day. At the time, I don't think they scaled back because their employees viewed the nice hotel and nice dinners as their reward for being away from home for the week. By now, in this economic climate, I would be surprised if they hadn't cut back on the pricy hotels. Granted, in some areas, you'd have to stay too far away from the work site if your hotel was cheaper, but in others, it wouldn't be a big deal.

While I miss the points and having the nice dinners, I'm happy to forego traveling.