'My colleagues found it hilarious': Worker faces 'worst case scenario' during storm, takes eight hours to get to work

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 31, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

Some bosses don't trust their employees to work remotely, even when it's a necessity. This is especially true if the boss is a micromanager. They can't stand to let their employees have any autonomy over their days. If they let their workers do their jobs remotely, how will they know if their employees are actually working? Sure, they might get all their work done (or even be extra productive!), but if the boss can't make sure they're working exactly eight hours, they won't like the remote-work setup. 

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  • 01
    Font - 'I get a call from my Manager stating that "You need to come in to work, now. Head of IT has decided that if he can make it into the office, so can everyone else.""
    via Jonathan Bean on Unsplash

  • U/JRVanillaBear had a story to tell about their own WFH-hating boss. Their story takes place during a major 2018 storm that hit the United Kingdom. Snow and cold temperatures made it difficult to travel by car or train during this legendary winter storm. 

    But you know how some bosses are: they choose money over everything else. So what if it might take your worker eight full hours to do their commute? And so what if they could've done their job perfectly well from home? Some bosses just want to feel powerful while they watch the world burn. 

    Check out this dude's story below. Then, these customers love eating some really ridiculous foods when they go out to eat at restaurants, and their servers and chefs told all about their wacky eating habits. 

  • 02
    Font - You need to come in to work, now. LOC Obligatory, this happened a while back but as the cold weather sets back in, I thought of this sub whilst regaling the story to my new boss. TL;DR at the bottom, I am a notorious long story teller.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 03
    Font - I shall set the scene. The UK has just been hit by 'The Beast from the East' at the start of 2018. As per usual when there is the slightest bit of adverse weather in the UK, the rail system is up the wall and trying to travel to the station, let alone actually commute into London is proving difficult.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 04
    Font - I work in IT, on a Service Desk and therefore basically take phone calls, remote onto peoples machines and then go to their desk if absolutely neccessary. Our Service Desk split these tasks so that someone is on Deskside whilst the rest are on calls and if your call escalates to the need for a deskside visit, you pass it over. I spoke with my Line Manager ahead of the impending storm to say that the areas some of our team lived (including myself) were due to get hit hard and therefore it
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 05
    Font - The Beast from the East hit, and the weather worsened, and the snow hit the fan. Monday morning, I wake up to a wall of white and call my Manager to say that I will struggle to make it to the Station, let alone the office. quick check of the rail website reveals cancellations and delays galore. Manager says not a problem, she has had some other calls of the same nature and has asked that I get logged in remotely to handle calls and resolve issues remotely where possible. Some of our team
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 06
    Font - This same setup continues on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. It works well. The people at home answer the phone calls and take care of what they can whilst passing anything they can't to the people in the office to do local visits. There aren't a huge amount of people in the office due to the weather conditions anyway.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 07
    Font - Over the Tuesday / Wednesday I hear rumblings that the Head of IT (My managers manager) is unhappy with the fact that some of the Service Desk are 'getting to work from home' and I have been keeping an eye on the weather and the train situation and neither has improved a great deal.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 08
    Font - Thursday morning, there has been no extra snow overnight and my train company declares that they can run some extra services, but they will still be limited and they will be 'slow' trains, so delays are expected. However, the road conditions to get to my local station are still abysmal. So I call my Manager again and say 'Trains are getting there, but the roads are still rubbish. Happy for me to man the phones from home again today?' and she is fine with that, as expected.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 09
    Font - I head downstairs and get logged in nice and early and start helping out. I know that my Manager is doing me a favour by not forcing me to come in, and so I am happy to do her a favour and help out where and when I can! Then, at around 9am, I get a call from my Manager stating that 'You need to come in to work, now. Head of IT has decided that if he can make it into the office, so can everyone else. If you can't you need to take today as Holiday'. Cue Malicious Compliance.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 10
    Font - A couple of my colleagues who live real far out say that they cannot make it into work, so they take holiday. I don't really fancy using my holiday because the Head of IT is being unreasonable, so I say that I will head in. I tell my Manager that I don't know how long it will take me and she says 'Thats' fine, I'll see you when you get here'. So I sign out of my computer and I get myself booted and wrapped up and head out into the cold. 9:15am.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 11
    Font - I haven't prepared my car at all this week, so it is covered in snow and has been sitting cold. So I start clearing the windshield and the sides and then make a start on the roof, need to make sure the car is clear of snow before setting off to be safe for myself and others. Once all the snow is clear, I start her up and let her idle for a little while. Don't want to cause damage to my car setting off from cold, and this allows the inside to get warm and the windscreen to clear off fully.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 12
    Font - The roads are, as presumed, terrible. I can't drive at any where normal speed and considering it is now 10am, the roads are busier than when I leave for work normally. My normal 15 minute drive turns into an hour, and I can't even make it to my normal parking area as the roads are even worse there than where I started. 11am, I abandon the car and start walking.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 13
    Font - It slippery. Even in heavy duty boots. So I take my time. No point injuring myself trying to get to work. As I get closer to my station the pathways clear up as they have gritted, thankfully. 11:30, I get to the station. This is normally a 20/ 25 minute journey.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 14
    Font - The trains are buggered. All reports that I had seen about them being back to relative normality is bulls. There are lots of people milling around waiting for a train and a quick chat with the station staff reveals the last one came in an hour ago and there isn't another one in sight at the moment. I knew this moment was coming so I find a seat, pull out my thermos and get to waiting.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 15
    Font - A train finally arrives at 1pm. Set to head into London. Normally a 45 minute journey. The poor soul driving the train apologies for the delays and warns us that despite stopping at less stations, we are still in for a journey. I won't bore you with the particulars, but when he said we were in for a long one, considering the weather, I thought he did quite well. We got to our station in London for 3:30pm.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 16
    Font - Luckily for me, my office was just round the corner from the station, so I rocked up at 3:45pm. I got settled in and logged in, said Hello to my colleagues and Manager and then had a look at the time. Would you look at that. It's 4pm. I started at 8am. So I finish at 4pm.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 17
    Font - So I logged out, said bye to my colleagues and my Manager and started the trip home. To answer some questions that I am sure will come out of this. My manager was chill. She knew my personality and knew exactly what I was going to do and I knew she would have my back. My colleagues found it HILARIOUS. The Head of IT was less than impressed.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 18
    Font - He had a meeting with my Manager that day and she basically told him to stuff it as the Service Desk was hers to manage and we all went back to WFH on the Friday and some days the next week til the weather cleared up. My colleagues who took holiday got their holiday days back. Thanks to my Manager. I got home at about 10pm that night because everyone trying to leave London was a nightmare.
    via u/JRVanillaBear
  • 19
    Font - TL;DR, Snow stopped me getting to work but I could do my job from home. Head of IT threw his toys out the pram and made us go into work or take holiday. I headed into work at 9am after doing an hour at home and got to work just before 4pm. Logged in, then logged out at 4pm, my finish time and went home.
    via u/JRVanillaBear

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