'She can get lost': Karen complains about her shift schedule despite not following rules, supervisor maliciously complies, extends her shifts

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 14, 2023 2:00 PM EST

Usually when it comes to scheduling troubles at work, it is often the manager who does not honor their employees' schedules, but here we have a rare instance in which the employee was at fault. That's mainly because this person was a Karen through and through. Now, I do have sympathy for employees in freelance or part-time roles who make their schedules crystal clear to their managers and are then put in uncomfortable positions in which they are pressured to forgo their other commitments. My first professional job involved an important learning curve for me in which I had to increasingly put my foot down and communicate to my bosses that my schedule was not to be messed with unfairly. However, once again, this Karen had taken things too far.

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  • 01
    "Changing availabilities isn't allowed. So your coverage days will need to be permanent" 26
    via u/intlmanofmystery1

  • This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/intlmanofmystery1, who was the shift supervisor in this scenario. They had set a clear deadline before setting the schedule, which of course, this Karen did not honor. However, OP learned that Karen did not give enough time for her backup shifts as well, so he ended up having to extend her shifts in order to ensure that she was given the same treatment as every other employee.

    Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions in the comments section. For more content like this, check out this post about a boss who tried to make his employee come in to paint the office. 

  • 02
    Want to give me minimal availability? Enjoy the longer days then. M OC At work I am responsible for coordinating supervision coverage. we do this quarterly and I usually get this done 1-2 weeks before the following quarter starts. When it's 3-4 weeks out, I request everyone's availability. This includes their preferred days, the days they definitely can't work and any vacation days they plan to use.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 03
    Because life happens and there's unplanned PTO or sometimes call- in sick, I also schedule backups at the same time to fill in if this happens. One thing to note is that these supervision days can easily add 3-4 hours to their workday because of paperwork and such. It is an unfortunate part of their position, and I hate being the one to add to their workload, but they all agree that it's necessary. Hence sharing the responsibility.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 04
    Just about all the staff get me their availabilities by the due date without an issue. They're all generally pretty flexible and I try to be as accommodating as possible because, let's be honest, work is not the center of their lives and they already have full plates. So if they say they 100% cannot work a certain day, then I won't be asking them to come in on those days. Period.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 05
    There's always that one though, right? There's always that one person that is just ate up like a soup sandwich and makes every step more painful than it needs to be.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 06
    This person, we'll call her Elder Karen (EK), has been here for 20-30 years, can't be fired because of tenure and is nearing retirement. Basically untouchable disciplinary- wise. Here comes the malicious compliance...
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 07
    EK sends me her availability several days after the deadline despite my repeatedly asking. And when she did, she put her only available days as Mondays and Wednesdays. Every other day she supposedly can only work remote (I say "work" because she is logged in and just wiggles her mouse so her computer won't go into sleep mode. Doesn't do any real work.)
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 08
    and several of her Wednesdays are 100% no because she is taking PTO. So she arrogantly made life difficult. Again, I try to respect the days they say they cannot work, but in EK's situation, she can get lost. What I forgot to mention is that everyone needs to cover a certain number of days as lead and backup. I started working on it as fast as I could, placed a few days and got pulled into a meeting. So no suprise that I may have overlooked something. I sent out the email and went back to my wor
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 09
    A few weeks go by and I get a strongly worded email from EK berating me for putting her on a day as supervisor that she was unavailable (the day prior to that coverage). Suffice to say it was quite unprofessional and basically called me inept for a minor oversight. So I started moving other people around while still trying to consider their scheduled PTO days like one big sudoku puzzle with names. Remember how they all have a number of days they need to cover? Guess who was missing quite a few.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 10
    Since the schedule was changed, I highlight the edits to prevent confusion for the team. Then comes the satisfying feeling of writing an email. I reply apologizing for the error, letting her know I made the changes she requested. I also wrote "EK, I noticed that you had less days of coverage than required. I moved some people around and added a few more days on to the calendar for you. This should bring you even with the rest of the supervisors now. Unfortunately, due to your restrictive availab
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 11
    It was soon after I was Cc'd on an email from her to my supervisor. But that's a tale for another time... EDIT: Fixed typos and grammar.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 12
    JU re7swerb 2 hr. ago Ate up like a soup sandwich... now that right there is a separate tragedy if I've ever seen one.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 13
    intlmanofmystery1 OP. 2 hr. ago Lol an ugly metaphor for an ugly situation.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 14
    Prestigious_Gold_585. 3 hr. ago I don't understand what you mean, but if you aggravated an Elder Karen, then that's all that counts.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 15
    Substantial_Tap9674 2 hr. ago EK sent a nasty e-mail saying that she had been scheduled on a day she wasn't available. In order to find that day and fix it, OP had to re-run the schedule. While doing so OP realized that EK hadn't been assigned enough shifts as backup supervisor in case anything went wrong with scheduled supervisor. Fallout is that EK can't take her planned vacation time to skip all Wednesdays and may have to extend her shift on some days when she was planning on WFH but not real
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 16
    working. As backup supervisor you actually have to pay attention and may even have to do the work. All due to EK being late with her availability and then complaining about a small scheduling error. Most importantly, since EK waited until schedule was posted she can't do anything to shift supervisory (or backup supervisor) shifts. If she had gotten her availability in on time she could have negotiated or swapped etc with other supervisors.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 17
    Quick-Possession-245 2 hr. ago Well done. If she wants you to make her work life easy, she should get back to you on time to make your work life easy.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 18
    deathriteTM 1 hr. ago No one should be un-fireable. It just causes everyone else to suffer.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 19
    Dramatic_Stretch_665 So because you don't have enough staff, people have to do several hours of overtime? Scheduled? I'm on Karen's side here . 1 hr. ago
    via u/intlmanofmystery1
  • 20
    Contrantier 1 hr. ago You're only on Karen's side because you didn't read or remember half the story apparently :/ if you understood what you were reading you'd realize why she's wrong.
    via u/intlmanofmystery1

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karens manager malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit karens in the wild entitled reddit thread Reddit karen entitled people
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