Bureaucrats

A few years ago my wife worked for a university in Texas. She and another woman in her department were scheduled to go to a national university organization meeting in Houston. She was in charge of making arrangements, with the university picking up lodging and food, aided by a grant from some organization. My wife decided to book one room with two beds, at a lower cost than two separate rooms. That was the way she did things when she worked for Girl Scouts and YWCA. She and the other woman went to the meeting and returned. She turned in all paperwork associated with their stay at the hotel in Houston. She was called to the finance office to explain why she had not spent all of the money allocated for the meeting. She explained about the one room costing less than two rooms. She was told she obviously did not understand how things worked. She said she did understand that part of her job was to spend only what was necessary. She and the bureaucrat did not part on friendly terms. Last year from here in Arkansas she arranged transportation and lodging for 30 people for a Girl Scouts meeting in Houston. Rest assured she did not spend any more money than was necessary.

My wife should be running U.S. spending.