Oversimplified Holyboard Rules
Installation Underwear
In December of 2012, Keegan and I were in Las Vegas for an
exhibit installation at the Discovery Children's Museum. We were wrapping up
the installation, but had to extend our stay due to some delays and city
inspections that, oddly enough, took place over the weekend.
Saturday night after a successful inspection. |
Underwear purchased, we headed to Hoover Dam for a day of tourist fun and then traveled home a few days later.
Keegan on the bypass bridge overlooking Hoover Dam |
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas |
After returning to work for a week, Keegan and I were summoned to the front desk. We had turned in our trip expenses and the Finance Woman in charge of going through the receipts had some questions for us. She had clearly been interrogating Keegan already, because he looked physically and mentally spent.
Keegan had tried to explain to Finance Woman that it was not
his fault that the trip was extended, and we didn’t have any other alternatives.
She said that she didn’t care what the circumstances were, but he couldn’t
expense underwear. I quickly understood that Keegan had put his underwear on his
expenses for reimbursement. I had not. I believe Keegan had purchased a few other things at Target
that were normal expense items and, shit, why not get the underwear paid for as
well. Our company would normally pay for clothes washing services, but it seems
they had a real problem with paying $9.99 for three pairs of underwear.
Keegan tried to argue that, if he had used the hotel washing
services, it would have cost $30 and he was actually saving the company money. She
didn’t buy that. She said the company would not pay for clothes the employees kept.
That’s when Keegan came up with a brilliant idea: he would give the underwear
back to the company. They would become Installation Underwear. We would keep
them in the job box, and if an employee out on an installation ever needed a pair, due to an extended
install or pants soiling event, they could use a loaner pair of Installation
Underwear.
It was a game changing innovation.
She said no.
Keegan was not reimbursed for his underwear, but I think
him paying $9.99 for story that will last a lifetime is completely worth it.