Carl T. BergstromSep 27, 2023

Myth: academics make bank flying around giving talks.

Reality: prestigious university invites me out. I fly across the country and speak free. I front the cost and submit for reimbursement. First they lose the paperwork. Then they reject it because of a digital signatures. Now, six months later, they reject it again, because the receipt does not show the last four digits of my credit card so they don’t know if I actually bought the ticket.

They heard me talk. How did they think I got there?

Show threadDavePerrino ✅
@ct_bergstrom Lesson Learned: the next time this institution calls and requests your presence. You tell them, of course, let me know what travel arrangements you’ve made for me. 😉
Sep 27, 2023 at 10:52pmWeb
Show threadColin DanbySep 27, 2023

@DavePerrino @ct_bergstrom
The people doing the inviting are not the same as the people processing reimbursements. It's an interesting question, though, whether they could just buy the ticket for you -- we do it when we fly out job candidates, so it must be possible.

Don't even get me started on the hoops non-US folks have to jump through to get reimbursed.

Show threadDr. ir. Brian R. PauwSep 28, 2023
@DavePerrino @ct_bergstrom letting external party (B) pay for tickets and hotels is not allowed at my institute (A). Something something anti-corruption or so. There is a way to let B pay, but it involves A paying first and organizing everything, then sending a bill to B for payment. That never works and is overcomplicated, so I usually end up paying from our group’s budget just to avoid the ridiculous admin overhead. My time is (very) limited.