The conference organizer promised that during the noon break a “luncheon would be served”…

The ‘luncheon’ turned out to be a conciliatory box with shrink wrapped sandwich and a piece of fruit inside. Bait and Switch. I ducked out for a proper meal at the Tortilla Factory uptown. What the hey! I’m on an expense account! A true road warrior would be proud. However — when it came to my car rental I blinked. Smertz asked if I wanted to accept/decline the insurance (a 49 percent daily price enhancement). The ultimate test of your expense account vitality is to let THEM refill the tank at $4.99 per gallon.

Now if we can just get them to offer a lunch-box upgrade…