I'm a contractor. While working on a project in a 'very' remote location, I arranged to buy and bring two rounds of breakfast tacos for the staff of the county facility where I would be working for the next week in exchange for free copy privileges. The boss gave approval on the phone and the total for the tacos that week came out to just over $100. A great exchange as the copy budget was upwards of $1,000.

My receipts along with the supporting cc statement I submitted at the end of the billing cycle, between a week and 2 weeks after he'd verbally approved the expense, was declined. I wasn't too angry but a deal's a deal and I called the boss to remind him he'd approved the expense. His response, "You should've gotten it in writing." pissed me off royally but I finished the project as promised and was working on another project, for another client, less than a week later.

A couple of months go by and the boss who'd chiseled me out of the $$ called to see if I was available to work on another project, beginning on the first of the next month and after some haggling, I agreed. The work schedule would be tight, and, in his words, this was an all-hands-on deck project with nights and weekends expected (I was also told this was a new client and they wanted to impress).

A couple of days before the project was set to begin, the chiseler called to tell me the engagement paperwork was on the way and check my email. I told him I had decided not to work the project after all and he was furious. He screamed, I mean screamed, "You agreed to work on this project weeks ago!" I repeated his words verbatim.

"You should've gotten it in writing."

While the other flight risk is out campaigning...