New management seemed to think that they knew how to do his job better than he did

This boss has an odd incentive structure, and it is not at all favorable towards his hard-working employees. When you go to an interview at a movie theater, I imagine they ask you about your customer service qualifications or your background working in retail. They probably don't ask how much snow you can shovel… these employees had to find out the hard way that it was part of their workplace requirements. U/SparkleFritz had a boss who insisted that when it snowed, the employees should be the o…

Work smarter, not harder

What was this manager thinking? Working for a union, you'd think you'd know your way around labor laws–especially when it comes to your own team of hardworking employees and their overtime shifts.

Employees who regularly work expected overtime as part of the job come to rely on that money to earn their living. Time is money and money is time, right? So what happens when employers can't seem to afford that overtime payment but somehow maintain the expectations that employees should be completing that extra work? Well, if the employees are empowered enough, then they should let their bosses know the simple and fair truth: if employees must say goodbye to that money, then their employees mu…

You step into your boss's office, your heart hammering in your chest. This is gonna be good. Breathe in, breathe out. They'll take it well, you're sure. You say the words, watch your boss's face fall, and realize that they did not, in fact, take it well. Quite the opposite. Oh well, if they take it personally, it's their problem, you think. But then they give you the cold shoulder, act strange, and make it weird for both of you. To each their own… but why? This employee gave their two-week noti…

It's a common misconception that cutting overtime hours can be a structurally sound decision for a company. This boss told a call center manager that management was no longer allowed to work overtime. Now despite this new bogus policy, he didn't say anything about the employees that report to management. At the end of every day, this manager tends to check up on his team to help them wrap up their calls and get them out of work on time. This often results in him having to stay after for a littl…

This customer tried to get some petty payback on a company that he felt had wronged him. It didn't end well for him! Customers tend to fall into two groups when they've been wronged by an establishment. Let's say for example a customer buys a product, and it's faulty, and they try to return it. The store refuses and won't budge. The customer may get so irate that they declare, “I'm never coming back here ever again!” Here's where the two groups come into play: some of those people mean it, and…

Managers always seem to need us when we're clocking out, but they're the first one to complain when we stay a little too late.

Congrats, you got a new job! You go over the contract, notice the 40-hour work week, say ‘Cool’ to yourself, sign, and move on. A month later you begin training, and everything is falling into place… except for one thing. Deadlines. The company expects you to work way more than 40 hours a week… but you're only getting paid for 40. Basically, the managers don't know how to manage their time very well, leading to a big workload. Then they work overtime to complete the projects they've been given.…

Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to never work for a business off the clock. If your company requests that you carve out any extra time outside of your regularly scheduled hours, you are well within your right to request that you be paid for that time or, at the very least, that a negotiation process can take place. Let's be clear: the higher-ups at your company are fully aware of what they are asking of their employees. If the topic of payment for that extra did not cross their mind…

If you're in a line of work that frequently deals with emergency break-fix scenarios where you're effectively permanently on call and might be expected (or required) to spring into action at a moment's notice at any time, having an expectation set that you'll never work overtime doesn't really work. Yet, that doesn't stop petty managers from setting petty rules for their frontline staff who are handling these types of situations. But, to be fair, it's not as if they really understand the indust…

'I'm out of here!' — Or at least, that's what some brave employees say when their manager comes up with the next ‘best’ micromanaging thing to say. It's almost like managers don't get how they're hurting the company. They think that ‘nobody wants to work these days’ but they couldn't be further from the truth. See, people do want to work these days… They just don't want to work for you . Maybe if you'd be nicer and take your employees into consideration, they would. But that's too hard, right?…

After being abruptly banned for working overtime and being called a 'time thief' by a new manager, one employee decides to maliciously comply with the new rules. Even though he's never worked overtime by more than 30 minutes, those 30 minutes add up in the long run. Because of this newly instated rule, projects start falling through the cracks. But the employee actually has no choice but to let this happen, considering the new strict rules. Things get worse when the new manager comes running to…

Why is it that so many bosses are too concerned with enforcing minor rules rather than focusing on what should be their priorities? The answers are almost related to money and ego. If it's money, you have a boss who can only think about budget, budget, budget, and nothing else. There's no concern for the wellbeing of your employees and, in some cases like this one, there isn't even much thought given to the overall wellbeing of the company (i.e. sometimes, overtime is necessary to keep things a…

If you've ever pulled an overtime shift, you know the psychological warfare that goes on throughout every step of that OT journey. Once you pass hour 8 of your work day, your concept of time starts to warp, turning your workplace into an inescapable purgatory in which you're trapped until your next 15-minute break. For the nurse in our next tale, her accidental overtime shift turned into a nightmare after her relief no-showed...