Company says employee owes it 38 cents after weeks of work travel — the way they repay the company turns the request into a joke
Keeping company finances accurate is important, but chasing down tiny differences of a few cents can leave employees annoyed. One employee learned this after receiving a letter about a small discrepancy in their travel expenses. The amount was only a handful of pennies, yet the company still wanted it returned. Rather than simply signing a form to have it taken from their paycheck, they decided to respond in a way that made the situation more memorable and hilarious. The incident was shared on Reddit on Sunday, September 27, 2026, under the username u/flufffyninja.
After receiving the letter, the employee decided to return the 29p (about $0.38) in the most literal way possible: with 29 individual pennies. They had traveled regularly for work, making several trips across Europe each week and using a company cash float of around £300 (approximately $398) for expenses. Once the travel ended, they returned the remaining money and submitted their final expenses. A few weeks later, accounting informed them that their expenses were short by about 38 cents. They could either approve a wage deduction or send the money back in cash. The employee found the request amusing and showed the letter to their boss, who laughed as well.
Their boss then handed them a penny and joked, "There's one to get you started." The individual later went home and searched through their penny jar for the remaining 28p. Since the company had specifically asked for the money to be returned, they decided to make sure every penny was included. The issue was minor, but the employee saw an opportunity to add some humor to an otherwise routine workplace matter. The following day, they prepared the coins for the company's internal mail system. They got a new envelope, used expensive company stationery, and wrote a short note saying the requested funds were enclosed. They then joked, "I’m hopeful my reply cost them more than the 29p."
Sometimes, the pettiest revenge is simply following the rules exactly as they were written. In another similar incident, a family received an old dental bill after the clinic discovered that an invoice from 2024 had been missed during a billing system change. The bill was for $80, but the clinic added another $5 as interest because the payment had been delayed. The customer asked if the extra charge could be removed, but the clinic refused and instead offered a payment plan. That response led him to find a rather unusual way to settle the amount.
He then went to his bank and asked for coins so he could pay the full amount in dimes. When he arrived at the dental office, two billing employees had to count the large pile of coins before completing the payment. The process took about two hours, making the small dispute far more time-consuming for the staff. He later described the scene as "satisfying to watch two billing admins count out my coins, and then have to issue my four pennies in change."
For more interesting stories, follow u/flufffyninja on Reddit.