Workers Share Times Bosses Tried to Use Wage Theft as a Punishment for Tardiness

Why does it seem like the only thing most bosses are good at is pissing off their employees with micromanagement and straight-up bullying? I don't know who needs to hear this, but attempting to force your employees to work for free is not going to get you into anyone's good graces, not even the higher-ups. When u/Righthandedranger's boss tried to punish them for being one minute late by docking 15 minutes from their time, they sat down and refused to work until the 15 minutes was up. "I enjoy what I do, but I don't do it for free" they said. Other workers followed suit, causing a ripple of malicious compliance that resulted in the bossman getting in trouble.

Posted by Mel Dawn

“Boss says 'If you're 1 minute late I'm docking 15 minutes from your time' gets mad when I don't work the 15 minutes I was docked for free.” Posted by u/Righthandedranger

The comment section

Redditors in the comment section recounted times they experienced similarly frustrating bosses who only seemed to be good at pissing off their own employees.

“'Funny, that. I'd hope you'd have enough respect for me and my coworkers not to institute such a stupid scheme, but we see where hope gets us.'” said u/SuperFLEB.

“Also if I recall correctly, legally speaking, time required to get into uniform or the time that they're required to be at the location is when their time starts. I know the service industry is notorious for doing their time like that, but it's a pretty serious labor law violation to require employees to get ready on site and then clock in.” said OP.

“I don't know how so many managers think they can force a wage break without an actual work break. I've been salary for a long time now, but I still remember being hourly and I sure as fuck don't work for free! I guess enough managers think their employee should be ‘happy to have a job’ and be willing to work for free... Completely delusional.” said u/stumblios.

“Just shows that many managers don't actually know how to manage, they just know how to bully.” said u/DM_ME_UR_TITTAYS.

“Yup. Had a (62 yr old) boss at a different company when I first started construction that had us show up at the shop in the mornings and he expected everyone to get there early and load the work trucks up so we could leave right when our time started. Argued with him about it and he went on a tangent about how my (millennial) generation didn't know how to do what's best for the company and how we don't wanna work.” said OP.