'8:24am- Sneezed, got tissue': Micromanaging boss gets exactly what he asked for when a sassy employee fills out his timekeeping card with over-detailed accuracy

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jul 2, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Working when your boss is looking over your shoulder is not only irritating, but makes your productivity way worse. Obviously work speed is going to suffer when you have a nepo-baby clipboard-poker breathing heavily at your back and judging your every move, but for some reason, management never gets that concept. Working from home has spiced up this managerial/employee struggle even more and micromanagers everywhere are writhing with discomfort about the fact that they can't see what everyone's up to at all times. One work-from-home employee recently got fed up with his company's micromanagement and turned the tables on their own game by playing the rules to a T.

Instead of hemming and hawing about filling out company the company's new timekeeping policy, he filled out his time sheet down to the MINUTE, including asinine daily tasks that would bore even the most aggressive micromanager possible. With this simple malicious compliance, OP put his manager in his place and gave him exactly what they asked for– and more. Scroll for the full juicy details on how this employee wasted company time by going above and beyond. 

For more malicious compliance that went too far, check out this employee that risked it all and got sent to the hospital for heat stroking on the job… all because his boss wouldn't give him a water break. 

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  • 01
    Product - se ON ONAC 1 0 SCORE s Price 2 00 3 r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/Tatymai So you want to know what I'm doing every minute? S OC
    via u/canva
  • 02
    Font - My work just instituted a new timekeeping policy last week where we must account for what we are doing every minute of the day(since we are remote and we 'shouldn't waste company time'). Me and my team really think this is a waste of our time, as we are now spending 30 minutes a day doing timekeeping instead of working. So we agreed to be super precise as possible. So all our timecards looked like :
    via Tatymai
  • 03
    Font - 8:01-8:14 Answered emails from Blah at Place and Vender 8:15-8:21 Peed, washed hands 8:22-8:23 refilled coffee 8:24- 8:26 Sneeze, got tissue
    via Tatymai
  • 04
    Font - and so forth. As Of today, we now just have a time entry for "unaccounted time" that we are supposed to just mark "Breaks" because "I don't need to know when you take a sh*t, GDI!" And time entries can be rounded to 5 minute increments. A small win, but we'll take it. ETA: Yes, we did put in the time spent entering said time, which accounted for about 20 minutes.
    via Tatymai
  • 05
    Font - Grand-wazoo 17 hr. ago I'm astounded when companies don't realize that micromanaging employees to this degree, especially when remote, is an incredibly dumb waste of resources and an exercise in futility.
    via Grand-wazoo
  • 06
    Rectangle - Psychic763 +1 . 16 hr. ago It's like trying to herd cats...futile and pointless.
    via Psychic763
  • 07
    Organism - The-Last-Lion-Turtle 15 hr. ago 8:00 opened timekeeping program 8:01 logged work done at time 8:00 8:02 logged work done at time 8:01 8:03 logged work done at time 8:02
    via The-Last-Lion-Turtle
  • 08
    Font - adept_amateur · 12 hr. ago We should be more concerned about the Quality Control and check each others work as well. 8:00 opened time keeping program 8:01 logged work done at 8:00 8:02 checked coworkers log for 8:00 8:03 logged work done at 8:01 8:04 checked coworkers log for 8:01
    via adept_amateur
  • 09
    Font - Euphoric_0929. 15 hr. ago This is priceless Imfao
    via Euphoric_0929
  • 10
    Font - Trevmasterfunk. 15 hr. ago It's not always the company. I worked for a company that did work for the navy and it's the navy requirement for it to be this precise to ensure the company isn't taking advantage of naval funds. Every 15 minutes required explanation.
    via Trevmasterfunk
  • 11
    Font - AuralRapist 13 hr. ago Worked at a DoD contractor. We were required to account for our time in 6 minute increments. So we charged 30 minutes a day to tracking time spent on projects. Apparently that was the expected practice.
    via AuralRapist
  • 12
    Organism - Useless_bum81 +2.12 hr. ago How much time did you bill for tracking the tracking, and tracking the tracking for tracking the tracking?
    via Useless_bum81
  • 13
    Font - Swiggy1957 +4. 15 hr. ago The only time this would even come close is if company allots X number of minutes to have each task done. If company says, we need 100 flipjurts made in 45 minutes, but it always takes 69 minutes, something needs to be done to correct that, but where to start?
    via Swiggy1957
  • 14
    Font - Codmando 14 hr. ago This is what my company started doing. They wanted to figure out how long is really takes to do a task so they can reduce budgeted hours. What sucks is my department has no backbone and reported it accurately. So now we're working without slow days cuz "it can be done in 8 hours." And of course did that reduce our bidding price? Nope. Did it give us raise? Nope. Just increased upper Management's bonus checks.
    via Codmando
  • 15
    Rectangle - TroublemakingB+2 13 hr. ago I would guess it's like coming up with a yearly fiscal budget...always pad it or they'll expect you to get by with less money/time.
    via TroublemakingB
  • 16
    Font - DJBabyB0kChOy - 12 hr. ago I truly don't get it. Like shouldn't the only question be if you produced what they asked for in the allotted time?
    via DJBabyB0kCh0y
  • 17
    Font - notaredditreader 10 hr. ago A lot of managers don't understand the concept of "results oriented." If they inform you of what is needed and you supply it that's a job well- done.
    via notaredditreader
  • 18
    Rectangle - AccomplishedAnimal 11 hr. ago It's so much easier to figure out how much work you can expect from someone, and ensuring the quality of their work is on par, over longer stretches of time.
    via Accomp1ishedAnimal
  • 19
    Rectangle - flavius_lacivious +1.8 hr. ago Because the people making those decisions don't care about the company. No one does unless they are a stockholder or their compensation is based on it.
    via flavius_lacivious
  • 20
    Font - SimulatedCow84 - 16 hr. ago You should enter in your time for entering in time Vote Reply Share Tatymai OP 16 hr. ago We Did!
    via SimulatedCow84
  • 21
    Human body - GO4Teater 14 hr. ago Is called "diarizing" and attorneys have been billing for it for a long time.
    via GO4Teater
  • 22
    Rectangle - vpblackheart 14 hr. ago Same here. We had an "Administration" bucket. Most people put in ½ hour daily for time tracking.
    via vpblackheart
  • 23
    Font - merRedditor 15 hr. ago I think that everyone stuck in pointless meetings, filling out TPS reports, entering time into a dozen systems, juggling unending false alarm notifications, logging in over and over again after excessively small timeout windows, and so on should record what a time waster these things are by detailing minutes lost to each of these activities in their timesheets.
    via merRedditor
  • 24
    Font - MeasurementNo2493+1 14 hr. ago The one time I had this happen, we talked it over, and did just that. "Worked over 7 mins doing task "A", spent 8 mins recording reason for overtime. Total overtime 15 mins. after a month it was decided that we should stop recording reasons for staying late.
    via MeasurementNo2493

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Tags

boss micromanager malicious employee timesheets toxic-workplace manager malicious compliance Professional At Work work coworkers micromanaging ceo workplace workers Reddit timecard compliance work from home wfh
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