‘No more overtime; Ok, boss': Machines overheat and shut down after demanding supervisor instructs delivery driver to ‘stop taking overtime’, leading to over $10,000 in damages

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Aug 30, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

When complying with your boss's request ends up costing the company tens of thousands of dollars, be ready to get fired… unless you have receipts.

Oftentimes, your boss has their head up in the clouds and doesn't know how things work down on the ground. There is only so much you can tolerate before you begin to maliciously comply with their recurring, ridiculous demands. This being said, you don't always know what your boss is going to stipulate, so at times, you will have to be flexible with said malicious compliance. 

In this case, u/GravityzCatz was working as a delivery driver for a plastic injection company in their hometown, moving finished products to a warehouse near the plant where the machines were running. OP worked long hours, also bringing raw materials and packaging supplies back to the plant. Now, because OP actually cared about his job and his coworkers, he asked people working at the warehouse if they needed anything at the end of the day, well aware that sometimes they forgot to give him certain supplies, which would lead to chaos throughout the night and well into the morning.

This led to some overtime, which was completely fine with OP's boss until it wasn't. One day, OP's supervisor called him aside and told him he was no longer allowed to take any overtime. OP attempted to explain why he needed to take overtime, but his explanations fell on deaf ears. Unfortunately, this boss had no idea what he was in for…

The next day, warehouse workers asked OP to pick up some more material and deliver it to the plant, but OP said, 'No can do.' The workers advised him to take overtime, per usual, as three machines would shut down overnight if the materials wouldn't get to the plant. What did this mean? Well, the machines would get so hot that they would melt the plastic being injected… if they had no material flowing in them, they would have to shut down, or they would overheat. The workers knew it would take forever for the machines to cool down, meaning that it would cost the company a whole lot of money to fix.

OP was adamant, clocked out, and went home. To find out what happened next, scroll down. For more like this, here is a head mechanic who removed all his tools from the store to send his employees a message about being grateful for the 'privileges' he gave them.

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  • 01
    Tire
    via @Canva
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/GravityzCatz 10 hours ago No more overtime? OK boss. Whatever you say. M OC
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 03
    Font - Years ago, I used to work for a plastic injection company in my hometown. It wasn't a huge company, but they had 2 plants in my state, 2 in 2 other states, one in the UK and one in Germany. So not small either. It was a 24hr production facility, which
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 04
    Font - means the machines run 24/7 except from December 23rd to January 2nd. I was one of two delivery drivers who moved finished product from the plant to a nearby warehouse, and brought raw materials and packaging supplies back to the plant. On
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 05
    Font - a good day I'd get 4-5 back and forth trips done in a 12 hour day. On my last run back to the warehouse, I'd always go around to the floor people and make sure they had what they needed to make it though the night (driver was the only floor position that wasn't 24 hours) so that
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 06
    Font - nothing would shut down. Well sometimes they would forget something and after my last run I'd have to go back. I wasn't complaining, I got an hour or two of overtime every few shifts and everything ran fine.
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 07
    Font - One day my supervisor pulls me aside and says I need to stop taking overtime. I explain why and he doesn't care. No more overtime. I say ok, and we go on with our day. Near the end of my next shift, I am 15 minutes shy of being able to clock out and I am just finishing packing up the truck
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 08
    Font - to do the next morning run, when one of the floor people comes over and tells me he forgot something. I say, sorry, no can do. I'm not allowed any more overtime to go and pick up the material. Apparently, if I didn't do it, 3 machines would shut down
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 09
    Font - overnight. If any of you have ever worked in plastic injection, you know those machines get so hot they melt the plastic being injected. If they have no material flowing in them, they have to get shut down or they will get too hot. It can take hours for them to cool down, and they have to
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 10
    Font - be started from a cold state when you go to reboot them. So if it runs out of material, production has to stop, the machines has to take about 10-12 hours to cool down and then heat back up. This is all very unfortunate, but I've got
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 11
    Font - to follow orders. So I clock out and go home. The next morning rolls around and I am called into the plant supervisors office, he is my supervisors, supervisors boss, and is one of the owners of the entire
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 12
    Font - company. He is shaking mad, because just as my co-worker predicted, 3 machines shut down overnight and were going to be out of commission until nearly 2pm that afternoon. He was going to fire me on the spot but gave me a chance to explain myself. When I told him what
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 13
    Font - I used to do, and what my supervisor had told me to do, he let out a big sigh and told me to go back to the floor, and that if I need to take overtime to keep machines from going offline, to just do it from now on. Shortly after that, my supervisor was called
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 14
    Font - into his office. Now unfortunately, he is the son of one of the other owners so they didn't fire him, but I never got yelled at about overtime ever again. EDIT: I forgot to include the fact that I later found out that
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 15
    Font - my little stunt cost the company something like $3,000/hr in lost production over the course of like an entire day, because one the machines heating coils broke when it cooled down and had to be replaced so all in all I
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 16
    Font - cost them 10's of thousands of dollars. Guess it was easier just to pay me time-and-a-half for a few hours every pay.
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 17
    Font - _Retired 10 hr. ago It's amazing that supervisor didn't understand the consequences of not getting the needed materials. Oh, wait, he was the son of one of the owners. Never mind ... Vote Reply Share
    via u/_Retired_
  • 18
    Font - ProblemFresh1587 10 hr. ago MC that costs the company big money is the best kind of MC Vote Reply
    via u/ProblemFresh1587
  • 19
    Font - RealUltimate Papo 9 hr. ago +2. That exasperated sigh must have been the most satisfying thing in the world to hear Hopefully they'll learn to trust your judgement a lot more
    via u/RealUltimatePapo
  • 20
    Font - GravityzCatz OP. 8 hr. ago It was years ago and I don't work their anymore, but yes that sigh was extremely satisfying. I got the feeling this wasn't the first time my supervisor had done something bone-headed like this before
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 21
    Font - RealUltimate Papo These people eventually become such a liability, than +2.8 hr. ago not even daddy can save them anymore Sooner rather than later, hopefully Vote Reply Share
    via u/RealUltimatePapo
  • 22
    Font - +3.10 hr. ago Nepotism costs money?! Who could have thought! Arrasor Vote Reply Share
    via u/Arrasor
  • 23
    Font - pathofuncertainty 7 hr. ago +2. Money, morale, reputation with customers.... Can down an entire company with just a little nepotism. ↑ Vote Reply Share
    via u/pathofuncertainty
  • 24
    Font - Ben_Hocking +2.9 hr. ago If I'm reading this correctly, the only mistake you made was not getting it in writing. Luckily for you, he didn't deny it. Reply Share Vote
    via u/Ben_Hocking
  • 25
    Font - GravityzCatz OP. 8 hr. ago I didn't think about that at the time, yeah. But like I said in another comment the sigh he let out made me think this wasn't the first time jr had fi something ↑ Vote important up. Reply Share
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 26
    Font - +2.9 hr. ago No, that supervisor cost the company that. You were following orders. Minflick Vote Reply Share
    via u/Minflick
  • 27
    Font - zathrasb58 hr. ago Sounds like they need to keep some stock at the plant, and only touch it if there is an issue overnight, or in getting the delivery. What happens if your truck breaks down, fails a commercial inspection, or there is just a traffic jam or detour?
    via u/zathrasb5

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management boss product malicious compliance materials plastic-injection-company delivery driver supervisor overheat overtime warehouse plant reproduction machine
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