Boss insists employee stay late for no reason, employee gets paid overtime to do nothing: 'There was literally nothing left for me to do'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 17, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

It should not be revelatory that the number of hours one spends at the office is completely separate from the amount of work one completes. Productivity and efficiency are relative to the individual worker, and there is something to be said for leaving employees alone when it comes to how they get their work done, provided that no other team members are negatively impacted by their process.

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/Fun-Pin9061, whose boss insisted that he stay late despite the fact that the employee already completed all of his tasks and responsibilities. However, instead of arguing with his boss, the employee decided to mess with this rule a little. After all, if he was staying after hours, he was going to get paid overtime. And if he had to stay late for "optics" rather than due to an actual work issue, he might as well get paid overtime to do absolutely nothing. So, he took out the book he had been meaning to read, stocked up on the office free snacks, and got paid extra to barely pretend he was working at all. 

Keep scrolling below to see what happened when his boss found out. For more stories like this, here is another one about three overworked employees who all quit and left their company in shambles. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    "Boss demands overtime pay for zero work? Okay!"
    via Carl Heyerdahl
  • 02
    boss demands overtime pay for zero work?? Okay!! S OC So, this happened a while back, but the memory still brings a smirk to my face whenever I think about it.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 03
    I used to work for a company where the boss had this habit of demanding that we stay late, even when there was absolutely no work left to be done. It was one of those toxic environments where productivity was measured by the hours you spent at your desk rather than the actual output of your work.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 04
    One day, after wrapping up all my tasks well before the end of the day, my boss came over and told me that I needed to stay late because "that's just how things are done around here." Mind you, there was literally nothing left for me to do.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 05
    Now, instead of arguing or trying to reason with him, I decided to play along with his ridiculous demand for overtime pay.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 06
    I nodded, grabbed a book I had been meaning to read, and settled back into my chair. For the next two hours, I sat at my desk, flipping through pages, occasionally pretending to jot down notes, and looking as busy as possible.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 07
    At the end of those two hours, my boss came by to check on me, expecting to see me toiling away at some imaginary task. Instead, he found me reading a novel. He looked puzzled and asked, "What are you doing?"
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 08
    With a straight face, I replied, "Well, you asked me to stay late, so I figured I might as well put in some overtime. This book has been on my reading list for a while."
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 09
    Needless to say, my boss was speechless. He couldn't really argue with me since he had asked me to stay late, and I was technically still on the clock.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 10
    From that day forward, he never asked me to stay late unless there was actual work to be done. Malicious compliance at its finest.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 11
    TL;DR: Boss demanded I stay late for no reason, so I decided to put in overtime by reading a book at my desk.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 12
    JustSomeGuy_56 - 9 hr. ago I had a contracting gig with a large financial services company. My little group was part of a much bigger department that generated the annual tax forms. They were incredibly busy from January 2 through April. The guy who ran the department issued an edict that everyone had to put in 10 hours each day and work Saturdays if necessary.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 13
    Our little group had nothing to do with the tax statements but people complained when we were seen leaving at 5PM. So we were told to stay late as well. I asked if that applied to me and and the other contractors and was told "Everyone. No exceptions"
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 14
    We were happy to do so since we were being paid by the hour. When we submitted our invoice for January he almost wet his pants and decided that the OT rule didn't apply to us.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 15
    grauenwolf 9 hr. ago I miss working for the military. My job was to test software. I knew it was broken, but the logs were empty. So many a night I spent reading a book and just waiting for it to crash with the hope of I'd catch it in the act. I never did figure the thing out, but I got a lot of reading in.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 16
    20 IlikethequietZeppo. 8 hr. ago I had a colleague that finished at 4pm. People got I off because she was always leaving "early". No, she got there before her 8am start, they just didn't see her working until they casually strolled in some time after 9.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 17
    One day, when big boss (who she worked directly for) was away, manager was in charge. He sneered you can't leave before 5pm.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 18
    "Ok, let me go and talk to our CFO and see about overtime rates. I work from 8 until 4pm. I manage my time well, and get all my work done."
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 19
    He spluttered about being salaried and therefore no overtime rates applied.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 20
    With perfect timing big boss called from overseas. I gleefully transferred the call to her. Best thing about a fairly open plan office, is you could hear everything from the reception desk, also one of the worst things too.
    via u/Fun-Pin9061
  • 21
    I heard her say manager insists I stay until 5pm, with no overtime pay, or reason mentioned. Have you got a particular task requiring me to stay?...... He wants to talk to you face"
    via u/Fun-Pin9061

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job malicious compliance work malicious-compliance-reddit toxic-boss Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
Scroll Down For The Next Article