Okay so here's the deal......My husband has to go TDY to visit the guy he's replacing...no big deal....I am going with him so that we can look at houses....it's not like he's going to be busy all day and well I can go and look on my own with a realtor, I don't think I'm too worried about the one we chose doing me bodily harm.....I mean I could beat him with my cane if need be.....
Okay so back to the Army and money. We all know that contractors are paid an enormous amount of money for the things they do......and I know how much they pay for the special ordered filters to fit my 24x24 opening for my hvac on my house and it's just a ridiculous amount of money......but today just floored me.
My husband called and says "I have good news and bad." He and my oldest daughter are in competition for the PROCRASTINATION AWARD around here.....they both wait until nearly the last minute for everything, even with me hounding them daily......so after procrastinating for two weeks, ever since he found out he had to go on this trip and I was going with him, he finally decides to go and book our airline tickets today through transportation. Also known as Carlson Wagonlit where he tells me his ticket is $1004.00 (this is where I'd insert the shock smiley if I had one) then he tells me the other part, my ticket is going to be $1360.00 if I fly with him on this reservation.....now hold the hell on there smokey, we have a problem, they are supposed to save you money, not rip you off.....isn't that the point of having a GOVERNMENT TRAVEL AGENCY....???? I told him do not use that ticket, cancel the reservation completely that I would book our travel and they can then reimburse you. I whipped up Expedia and in 5 minutes had us both booked on flights for less then the price of the ticket they had me booked on, now the only catch is I have us leaving a larger airport that is about 40 minutes further then the one they had us leaving from, but still, come on.......$2304.00 for plane tickets......yeah, NO.
Oh and I asked my husband what the the good news had been after I called him back and told him what I got the tickets for and he said, "oh, well that was that even if I had to pay $1360.00 for you to go with me, I still wanted you to go"...... I was like not at that price your aren't Mr. Good News comedy guy...... even your ticket was outrageous, Government spending our tax dollars entirely too freely I see!
So it makes me wonder why does the government do things they way they do? They say report waste and abuse.....UM .....I sort of think the way our whole Military operates is waste and abuse...... here we are spending 1004.00 to send a soldier to his gaining installation to meet the guy he's replacing when they could do it for 1/2 that by just using EXPEDIA.com but nope, they have to use the GOVERNMENT CONTRACT.....oh please....everyone should start doing these TDY's the smart way, book everything yourself, then maybe the Government would stop using these overinflated contracts.... oh but that is too easy......and cost effective.....yeah cost effective my ass.
Over $2000? That's almost as much as my car cost! :-) I'm new to the whole blog thing (and the military thing lol), but I found yours and it's made me laugh more than once!
ReplyDeleteWell. Here I am, 23 years removed from active duty and I see things haven't changed A BIT when it comes to travel (except for the current contractor).
ReplyDeleteOTOH, ASW... can't you see what a freakin' ZOO it would be if your average PFC or corporal had to book his own travel? My last civilian company had a "do it yourself" travel policy (we were a start-up with about 200 people, i.e., VERY small) and you'd be amazed at the hand-holding I had to do with some people in this space...and in this day and age. The military could only be worse, not better.
OTO,O,H... Carlson could use Expedia, too, could they not? :-)
I hope your trip goes well. And I hear ya about procrastination.