I just got a new phone in my office since my cell phone no longer works in my new office.
This month, I called home seven times, at $0.07 per call (<1 minute each, long distance because my wife has a cell phone). I was asked to identify and reimburse for any personal calls - a total of $0.49. It would be less expensive for the employer to let this amount slide than for me to spend the 1-2 minutes (or more) that it would take to deal with reimbursing the company. For that reason alone, I feel silly even acknowledging the bill, but I don't even know who to ask for clarification, or if I should report this inefficiency to someone who makes the rules (and if so, to whom?). I would rather just pay $20/year and never think about it again.
In addition, many calls to my wife are business related - the fact that the calls were so short mean that they were all logistical - to arrange to stay late, to arrange to have my lunch delivered so that I can work through lunch, and etc. So perhaps I could justifiably owe 25 cents.
Furthermore, I previously used my cell phone to make both personal and work-related calls, and have never asked for reimbursement since the request would have been so trivial.
I have two questions:
Do I have any alternatives to spending a few minutes each month to identify and add up the cost of a few personal calls and then walk the cash payment upstairs to the billing office?
What is the definition of a personal call, e.g. one that I should reimburse my employer for? For example, is calling home to ask if I can stay late a personal or work related call?
update: to clarify - it seems that this is a systemic inefficiency. The phone bill was sent with a standard request for reimbursement; but my group's accountant responded "No need to do anything with it unless you incur exorbitant charges for personal calls"