'Change your meeting times to [when] I am available': Remote worker gets back at employer by working scheduled hours, to their employer's immediate regret

Employers and managers tend to have a habit of assuming they're getting the worst end of a deal and that you're holding something back from them—as if their workers are colluding against them and not just desperately trying to keep up with their current workload. Even if they're already grossly underpaying you for your work and the value that you provide, they'll still try and convince you that you really could be doing more if you weren't so inefficient. Whether or not they actually believe this or are just trying to squeeze every last drop out of you remains uncertain and probably depends on the (emotional) intelligence and penchant for cruelty of the person calling the shots.

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Author image for Brad Dickson Brad Dickson
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  • This remote worker, the original poster's coworker, had grown used to working strange hours in order to accommodate the needs of the business and to better serve clients. But, when the owner of the company came to the realization that they weren't working the “usual” hours of business, they demanded that the remote worker stick to their contracted hours. Of course, the remote worker was more than happy to oblige, since working their contracted hours no longer meant being up working at odd hours into the night. The disruption to the business that followed immediately afterward cause the owner to immediately regret taking issue in the first place.

  • 01
    Posted by u/Royal_Librarian4201 58 minutes ago We'll, if you are quoting company rules, I'll follow them exactly as it is! LOC This was done by ex-colleague. We'll this happened a few years ago, when I was working as a techno-manager in a startup IT firm. It was a small firm with less than 50 employees and there were two founders. Let's call them Vicky and Joel. Vicky had worked a short time in an MNC, but was not able to stand authority and had to resign, where as Joel had no real work place ex
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
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  • 02
    Now we had an HR lady, who was okayish with the older employees and strict with the newer ones. As for me, I was not that good technically compared to my colleagues but was good at people management. Also I was one of the longest serving employee too. I was friendly with most of the employees especially the new ones. This was due to the fact that I knew it was not easy to work with the founders and I wanted the show to continue as it was my first company too.
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
  • 03
    So a new joinee, named Bob, joins and after 6 months he is assigened to a project. Because of the time zone difference he worked upto 4-5am and the client too was happy with him. Since he was sleeping late this guy always reported at nearly 11:30 am in office. Out of the blue founder calls me and HR and asks that why Bob is late to office and said he has to be in office by 10:00am as other guys.(btw forgot to mention Vicky and Joel came into office only once in a while and it was pre corona time
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
  • 04
    HR lady, calls Bob in her office and questions him about the timings to which Bob says "okay, mam, will comply" Now Bob and me have a good rapport and he comes directly to me and tell me what happened with the hR. Then I ask him, "what are you going to do?", to which he says, "I will ask for a clarification via mail and then will comply". I understood where it's going and give him a best of luck, trying hard to contain my laughter. After 10 mins, HR comes to me with her laptop in panic and show
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
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  • 05
    This is to inform you that as a request from my office to comply to the office timings, from tomorrow onwards, my work timings would be 10am IST to 7pm IST (ie 10:30 pm to 7:30 am Chicago time). I request you to change your meeting times to the times when I am available and if any inconveniences, please contact HR, Vicky or Joel. Thanks Bob" I asked the HR, if this was somewhere mentioned in the offer letter and she nods yes. The. I tell her to take the matter to Vicky.
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
  • 06
    At Vicky's room, since the narcissist guy he is, scolds HR for not nothing this in the offer letter. Then asks her to correct this. She goes to Bob and asks for correction to which Bob firmly says no to. HR lady being stupid tells that she told this because Vicky asks her to, and Bob still stands firm and asks HR, if Vicky have said it, then ask Vicky to formally reply in the mail thread asking to revert to his old timings. Bob also says that he is not going to get back to old timings unless Vic
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
  • 07
    HR comes to me for help and we go together to Vickys room and brief. Vicky lash out at HR and at this point I interrupt and says, it's better to address the issue as in 4 hours client will get involved and we have to take a decision before that. Vicky hesitantly send out the mail saying it was a mistake as Bob's special case was not considered during the decision making and Bob can continue his earlier timings. As I walked back to office, I saw Bob looking at me and laughing really hard and I ha
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
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  • 08
    keithww 32 min. ago . In Texas so same time as Chicago, I use to support customers in Washington, California, and the Pacific Basin. I would stumble in about 10:30 local and leave for the bars at 8ish in the evening. We had two fifteen minute breaks and an hour for lunch so this was my 8 hour day. I was informed that this was not acceptable, and that I needed to be inthe office at 8:00. Second day a customer in Guam called my home number about 6:30 (pre cell phone days) and I had fewer than 100
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201
  • 09
    010 w luisdomg 11 min. ago These little power trips sometimes backfire, do they? It's hilarious how some people can't be bothered to ask a little question before disrupting someone's work, and I'm very grateful to have never encountered this level of assholery Vote Reply Share
    via u/Royal_Librarian4201

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