A new workplace expectation can feel a lot different when it requires buying your own equipment.

One NYC office employee was caught off guard after management announced that weekly visits to the company’s field office would now include a mandatory bike ride, and employees without one were expected to purchase their own. Hired to work full-time in the city, the worker couldn’t help but question whether this new requirement was reasonable or simply an unexpected expense.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with biking to work every single day. Actually, I think it’s a great alternative to cars and public transport, and also involves a bit of physical activity. Although biking in the middle of New York City cannot be as romantic as I’m describing it to be, I still think it’s a great idea and something to consider. However, this story has something else to it that changes the game completely.

In this case, we have a man who was hired to work in an office located in the middle of the city, and since most people don’t own cars, we can get there by using public transportation, and that’s it. Now, his boss is demanding that they all visit a field office located outside NYC to interact with the fewer employees who assist there, at least once a week. Here’s when the issue arises.

Of course, there’s no public transportation available for that part of town, leaving the employees with their bikes as the only alternative. And our employee doesn’t own one, so his boss told him that he would need to purchase one to arrive at the office. And that’s my problem: he demanded that he buy a bicycle because there’re no other solutions. We’re talking about someone who was hired in another location to do something different than what he’s been asked to do now…