'I’m not clocked in yet': Coworker tries to use employee, boss takes coworker's side, employee maliciously complies

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jul 22, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

Early morning routines are sacred, and when a coworker tries to intervene, tensions can rise. That's what happened to this employee, who worked as a phlebotomist at a hospital and usually had shifts from 3 am to 3 pm. First of all, I already have a crazy amount of respect for this person because the thought of me getting up to work at 3 am is about as realistic as the sky being green. But I digress…

Naturally, this employee, who shared her story via Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, formed a routine that would allow them to make this grueling schedule all the more doable. That routine entailed getting to work 15 minutes early to set up. Eventually, her coworker noticed this and tried to manipulate OP into taking her pager during those 15 minutes as well. Of course, this is a ridiculous thing to ask of your coworker. Maybe in an emergency one-time-thing situation, but she wanted OP to essentially do her work for her on a regular basis. That's when the coworker became OP's nemesis.

When their boss got involved, he shockingly took the coworker's side and said that if the pager goes on, he will readjust the time that OP clocks in. That's when OP decided that it simply wasn't worth it to show up early anymore, so she stopped and she gave herself an extra 15 minutes of shut-eye.

Keep scrolling below for the full story. For more, check out this post about an employee who was unjustly fired.