'I cannot stop laughing': Employee gets a 5% raise after watching movies on their work laptop, management monitoring their activity thinks they're working OT for free

Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor

Aug 17, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

Micromanagers LOVE when their salaried employees work after hours, as this remote worker found out with a surprise raise.

It's rare that employees get fairly compensated for the hard work they put into their jobs. Hilariously, the nepobabies and the slackers of the world are the ones who rise to the top effortlessly. The hardworking class–you know, the craftsmen who do the work of 5 employees, rarely ask for PTO, and always do their best–would like to see a little bit of that extra cheddar every now and then. Perhaps the secret is working smarter… Not harder.

And in an unfair working world, we'll take every scrap of a raise they're willing to give us!

The remote employee in this next story used the toxicity of a micromanaging environment to their advantage. Without attempting to rig the system or seem like an overachiever, this worker accidentally looked like a superstar to upper management–at least, according to their laptop productivity monitoring software. Anyone who's ever been under the scrutiny of a laptop that measures your productivity can attest that it's not the most healthy working environment; but if your micromanaging bosses are willing to offer a 5% raise because they've noticed a spike in your productivity after hours, who are we to question it?

Keep scrolling to read the hilariously satisfying tale of an employee who's after-hours movie sessions were the reason they got a gold star–and a nice little raise–from upper management.