'I had my employees call and wake up my boss': Plant manager demands employees tell him every single time an alarm goes off

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 1, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. After a weary and sleepless night, hopefully this glass manufacturing plant owner has learned the right lesson. 

If you've ever seen anyone perform glassblowing or watch an artist create a figurine out of hot melty glass, you know how hot this job can get. Glass doesn't like to melt until it's a nice toasty 2700–3100° farenheight. Anyone around these operations needs special protective gear and certifications to ensure everyone's safety. Again, if you've ever been near melted glass of any kind, you'd know not to mess with dangerous objects…but this guy, a glass manufacturing manager, wasn't too concerned about his employee's safety. 

At least the OP, u/johnt645, did the right thing. When you're given ridiculous rules to follow, it's important to record everything by leaving a paper trail, and then to ensure your boss knows you're doing everything exactly as they instructed. That way, you cover your own back, and your boss will have to own up to any negative consequences that arise from it. 

Scroll down to read this story, plus comments from the OP, who answered a few people's questions. Then, check out these workplaces whose employees were so fed up, they collectively quit to spite the company. 

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  • 01
    Gesture - We were trying to explain that the thermocouple needed to be fixed, but instead [our boss] continued to yell at us'
    via Romain Chollet on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - I had my employees call and wake up my boss every 15 minutes... S OC I supervised a glass manufacturing department. One night we had an issue with a thermocouple that controls the temperature of the glass. Because it was creating nuisance alarms, the operator disconnected it and forgot to notify the next shift to monitor it manually. We lost control of the furnace for a couple of hours, and scrapped product. The plant
    via u/johnt645
  • 03
    Font - manager came in that morning screaming and ripped the entire staff a new one. We were trying to explain that the thermocouple needed to be fixed, but instead he continued to yell at us, tell us we were idiots and told us to monitor it and notify him every time it went into alarm, or else he would fire us.
    via u/johnt645
  • 04
    Font - To further reprimand us, he insisted that we call him at home in the evening every time that temperature went into alarm so he could insure we were doing our jobs. What he did not know, and what we knew was that the alarm for the broken thermocouple happened about every 15 minutes.
    via u/johnt645
  • 05
    Font - My operator was worried and asked me what he should do. "Since the plant manager was so insistent," I told the operator to "wait until AFTER midnight, then call and inform him EVERY time it happened according to HIS direct request."
    via u/johnt645
  • 06
    Font - The Plant Manager came into work the next morning very bleary-eyed, and sheepishly told us that we did not have to do that again. He finally listened to us and we got the problem fixed. TLDR: if you are abi sive to my people, I will be a total dik.
    via u/johnt645
  • 07
    Font - Very well executed malicious compliance!!
    via r/MaliciousCompliance
  • 08
    Font - or kitkhat29 if you are abusive to my people, I will be a total d I will always be willing to work for someone like you. Took a rather substantial paycut once to do so. And never regretted it. 4.6k Reply Share johnt645 OP I agree. My best bosses have been this way. When I have done it, it has cost me a position or two over the years, but I have slept very well at night.
    via u/kitkhat29
  • 09
    Font - Aderhold22 Ive been in restaurant management for quite awhile and this is my same outlook. F with my people and i will fu your day up. Be careful how you treat your service staff. The movie waiting isnt that far off from reality
    via u/Aderhold22
  • 10
    Font - johnt645 OP People really are the most valuable resource. They can make your operation, or break your operation. They can make you look good, or make you look terrible. I too have always had the belief that you never mess with someone making minimum wage, and never mess with someone making your food.
    via u/johnt645
  • 11
    Font - joppedi_72 One might say he was alarmed... 323 Reply johnt645 OP (Cue CSI Miami theme music....)
    via u/joppedi_72
  • 12
    Font - loki444 Message to management... Listen to your f king operators! It's ridiculous that management thinks they are much smarter than operators. What do operators know? What's going on with the equipment, because they run the equipment all the time.
    via u/loki444
  • 13
    Font - johnt645 OP Exactly! All the education in the world doesn't beat a veteran who has touched, watched, listened to, and smelled the same machine for 30 years. I've had operators accurately predict imminent failure just on an unusual sound or a weird smell.
    via u/johnt645
  • 14
    Font - ZeroAssassin 72 Once again, until it impacted them personally, they didn't give a sl
    via u/ZeroAssassin 72
  • 15
    Font - johnt645 OP. You nailed it. The problem was essentially solved before he came in.
    via u/johnt645
  • 16
    Font - Harfus Oh man, props to being a furnace manager. I did that for a half year stint and it was way way too stressful for me. I remember staying five hours late climbing around in the cullet silo to unclog a maxon valve that got jammed. 18 Reply Share johnt645 OP You're smarter than I was. It took me twenty years to finally do something else. That and the fact that nearly every glass plant around me not making beer or wine bottles was going out of business...
    via u/Harfus
  • 17
    Font - mspk7305 I had a great supervisor one day tell me that the best way to change a bad rule is to follow it to the fing letter. I have lived by that ever since. 15 Reply Share johnt645 OP Thank you! This is the way.
    via u/mspk7305
  • 18
    Font - XediDC Reminds me many company's ago when a new person in IT wanted a ticket for each customer affected by an issue. Usually if an internal portal bug affected multiple/all customer's we'd put in one internal ticket and note the number of customer's affected (if large/all) or provide a list. The ticket's are important of course, but the duplication is just tons of wasted time to manage for everyone. Nope, he wanted one ticket per customer. And after much debate with execs getting copied i
    via u/XediDC
  • 19
    Font - Did I mention we were also sort of a dev team and had API access to this system? So the next time a bug affecting all customers was found, I was nice...and responded back to the thread vs just doing it...hence no MC post. "I'm about to run a script to create ~10,000 tickets for <minor issue> that is affecting all customers. Let me know by X if we shouldn't proceed."
    via u/XediDC
  • 20
    Font - Our CIO called me, apologized for not realizing what he'd supported, and squashed it. (And after the new guy had settled in for a few months, he actually worked out well...just needed to chill first and understand things before changing them. Later even added a cool way to link and track customer's to internal ticket's, including "all", that accomplished the good part of the idea.)
    via u/XediDC

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workplace-stories alarm wake up in-the-workplace workplace-story manager phone call work coworkers sleep alarms workplace phone calls plant sleeping waking up
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