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'It ended up costing them more money': IT Guy told to be at his desk from 8-5 despite after hours callouts, starts billing all his overtime instead, quits

At this point in the story of the history of the office worker, it should be common knowledge that being a productive worker doesn't mean being tied to a desk for 8 hours a day between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM. In the yesteryear of the evaluation of working performance, previous generations would have sat stoically at their desks and, whether or not they were actually doing anything of merit to contribute to the company, their ability to have their behind in that seat for eight hours a day would have been a mark of a good worker. Then they'd go home to the house they afforded on a single income from that job they got without even graduating high school, where their house spouse waited for them with a home-cooked meal after handling the couple's administrative duties and children as an essentially full-time job. Then, after the barest acknowledgment of their own children, it was time for a glass of whiskey and then off to bed before another day of hard work, sitting at a desk with stolid determination. 

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Posted by Brad Dickson
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  • The point here is that the rules of engagement have changed. The vast majority of us are no longer compensated to the relative levels of income that our forebears were, and we're expected to do a lot more work for it, too. Heck, I'll pay more in interest alone on my mortgage for my first home, with both my partner and I working full time, than the inflation-adjusted dollar amount that my grandparents or parents paid for their first homes on a single income.  

    Advancement in technology has brought with it new types of work that don't need to be done under the watchful eye of a manager who has nothing else to do but monitor your productivity. Along with that comes a slew of insanely invasive ways to measure whether or not you're actually working. So, really, there's no reason why being in an office from 8-5 PM should be the sole determinant of your productivity. Not when your employer can electronically track the movement of your mouse and the movement of your eyes on your work screen. 

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  • 1
    "That stupid old school mentality means that people in the office need to see you at your desk all day long.
    Via Sigmund

  • This IT Guy shared how, after working well outside his expected hours, he sought to burn through some of his accrued time in lieu of leaving early when things were slow. This prompted his dinosaur of a boss to approach him, telling him that his earlier-than-usual departure times had been noted by “people” and that it was causing a stir and upsetting the other workers who were diligently gluing their bottoms to their respective seats for their allotted hours. 

    So, he too began diligently gluing his behind to his seat for “normal" working hours, clocking all the time he was working outside those hours as overtime and billing it to the company, resulting in some sweet paychecks before he eventually departed for greener pastures.

  • 2
    Posted by u/can3gxw 14 hours ago "People" don't understand why you're leaving early M OC First time posting here, but have to get this out. Maybe this could also be posted in r/antiwork I was working for a small-ish company, about 60 employees across several locations. IT support for both hardware (laptops, phones) and software. When I
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 3
    was hired (just under 9 years ago) it was verbally agreed that instead of clocking any callouts as overtime, I would just take the time in lieu. Callouts were always minimal and there were never any issues with me taking the time here and here to make up for it. Any calls in the middle of the night were quickly resolved, and I had no problem getting back to sleep. Appointments in the middle of the day were fine because of the additional hours from whenever... This worked well for almost my entir
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 4
    I also ALWAYS started early, just depending on when I left the house, got into the office, got my coffee - could have been anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes because I would leave the house earlier so as not to wake the family if school was off that day. I didn't care at that point. It never bothered me. They got free time from me, but again I DID NOT CARE because honestly what else did I have to do? It was a great job until it wasn't.
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 5
    One weekend I was working on some hardware maintenance (cleaning up wiring, ethernet, plugs, installing a new UPS) that took me the better part of Sunday to complete (6-8 hours). This was understood, approved in advance and appreciated.
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 6
    The following week I decided to start burning those extra hours up. I still came in early (as I had done for years), but started leaving an hour early from my regular end time every day if nothing was going on. This is important - if something needed done, I got it done. I was reachable via email until early evening, and phone pretty much 24/7. This
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 7
    particular week was slow so I had nothing going on. I left an hour early for the first 4 days. On Friday, my boss comes to me and gently says "people notice that you've been leaving early this week, I'd like you to make sure you stay in your office until the scheduled end of day in case someone needs you." I explained to him that I was burning up lieu days and he just reiterated that "it looks bad to others". Seriously? You can't tell the "others" that I work my 40 hours a week, just not at the
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 8
    I immediately submitted 4 hours of overtime for the hours that I didn't take in lieu. I still showed up at the office at whatever time I got there, but didn't not start ANY work until 8am. If asked, I would say "sure, 8am start time".
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 9
    If I got called outside of office hours, depending on how long I spent on the issue, I logged it as overtime. User calls me at 7pm to ask a question? I answer him in 30 seconds... one hour OT. When my boss then started to ask "how come you're submitting all of this overtime?" I responded with a simple "some people don't understand or like me taking lieu time, so I need to claim it as overtime since I am at my desk from 8-4"
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 10
    Because I wasn't available at his beck and call, it ended up costing them more money. 95% of my job could be done from home because of full remote access, but that stupid old school mentality means that people in the office need to see you at your desk all day long. I left the company very shortly after that for a much better paying job with full work from home. Know your worth.
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 11
    Grimsterr 12 hr. ago . I had this exact same problem 20+ years ago. Big dotcom, I was sole Unix admin responsible for keeping the e-commerce (aka our main source of revenue) online. 2 am Sunday morning is when our Oracle database did
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 12
    maintenance, it often locked up and had to be babied back online. No biggie take care of it, take in lieu of. Our main systems weren't even at the offices, they were 90 miles away and my home internet had a FASTER connection to the data center than our offices did, so I could work faster from home, literally.
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 13
    Came in one day to the office (usually worked 2-3 days per week from home) and my boss said some people had complained I'm almost never there. I basically said "so? I'm the only person responsible for the Unix servers and one of two (after you) responsible for the database, so I don't NEED to be here to get the job done." He
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 14
    replied that it would just look better if I were in the office more. So I said sure, I'll be here 5 days a week, 9-5, and when I go home, my phone goes to silent, and I will not be logging into the corporate email system until Monday morning when I return to the office. If the database crashes at 2 am as it
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 15
    usually does YOU will fix it, because hey, gotta be here can't be interrupting my sleep and risking being late, now can I. "Never mind just keep doing what you're doing", yeah, good idea. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 16
    Aware_Rough_9170 10 hr. ago I like to imagine they folded like a lawn chair immediately after hearing that Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 17
    StamInBlack 14 hr. ago I'm surprised you weren't demanding on-call pay. Vote Reply Share Vote ●●● yParticle 14 hr. ago Yeah, that's one of the most egregious things that IT folks put up with. If you're basically on call 24/7 your time is never truly your own. Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 18
    can3gxw OP 14 hr. ago It was always tough carrying that possible burden, but I hardly ever got called out, and if I did it was usually a short phone call. I still enjoyed my off time. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 19
    rentacle 12 hr. ago Good for you. Doing things just because they "look bad" or "look good" is so dumb, and yet so many managers follow those rules because they are too stupid to measure results in any other way.
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 20
    I did the same thing at a past job, except the other way round. I would come in 30-40 minutes late (not a morning person) but in exchange I'd stay until 7pm to finish all pending tasks and lock up. Out of the blue I was reprimanded
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 21
    because "being late is bad for optics" and I needed to be in the office at the same time as everyone else. The shocked pikachu face that my boss did when I returned the key and told them from today I'll be leaving at the same time as everyone else... Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 22
    can3gxw OP 12 hr. ago I can't upvote this comment enough. How about you be an actual manager and explain that "OP takes calls in the middle of the night. OP keeps the business running and deals with power outages and server down issues while you sit at home watching reality TV". Reply Share Vote ●●●
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 23
    bopperbopper. 11 hr. ago Hey boss, tell them that I don't see them at midnight when I have to come in to fix the server and that looks bad" Vote Reply Share can3gxw OP 11 hr. ago *emails boss at 2:30 am to tell him that I'll be late coming in because I dealt
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 24
    with a server issue for over two hours and am going to try to get some sleep. Also explains what the issue was just in case something happens before I get in. Boss calls at 8:30am asking where I am and why I'm not at work. Is everything ok? No, I sent you an email at 2:30 explaining in detail what happened. "Oh, what happened?" READ YOUR F- ING EMAIL! I will see you at noon.
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 25
    Houseplantkiller123 11 hr. ago "The server went down an hour after you left!" "Then it'll presumably be down at 8:00 AM when the shift starts." Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 26
    yParticle 14 hr. ago that stupid old school mentality means that people in the office need to see you at your desk all day long. "People" being the out of touch upper management. Your peers don't care. We have contractors who come and go at all different hours, the only difference being that they're being paid as contractors so they get to choose when they're on site. ✩ Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 27
    yParticle 14 hr. ago that stupid old school mentality means that people in the office need to see you at your desk all day long. "People" being the out of touch upper management. Your peers don't care. We have contractors who come and go at all different hours, the only difference being that they're being paid as contractors so they get to choose when they're on site. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 28
    captain_redballs 12 hr. ago We had a busy body admin at my old office job who could be very sweet and personable, but got into everyone else's business. I was working this special project with the Europe group so I had to start my day early. I would then leave early and one day I just hear "oh I wish I could go home early everyday".
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 29
    Unfortunately, I was still quite young and felt the need to explain my departures to her. Now I would just ignore it, but back then it made me almost stay later to conform. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw
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  • 30
    mmjmommamel. 14 hr. ago Im sure you know, its pretty standard in IT to use 'comp' time. We are salary. When we deploy a major release, we can work 12-14 hours days but since we are salaried employees, no OT. Most of the time, the bosses allow comp. Its
    Via u/can3gxw
  • 31
    a good setup. People like you and I don't abuse it. All it takes is one Karen. Ruins it for everyone Well done. Vote Reply Share can3gxw OP 13 hr. ago This is it, exactly. I was good with comp time. It worked for everyone until it didn't. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/can3gxw

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