'He kept sending bills for it': Boss refuses to let bridge keeper take his coffee breaks

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 17, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

Here's a story about one grandfather who had an interesting job as a bridgekeeper. I imagine that's the kind of job that's automated today. But in this man's day, he and his wife would keep an eye out for boats each day and let them through when they needed to cross under the bridge. 

Many years ago, people would take multiple breaks throughout their workday, like this grandpa who was supposed to take two separate coffee breaks. It also was fairly common to go home for lunch. Many school kids did this too, it's just the social norm of the time period. 

However, this guy's boss suddenly decided that coffee breaks throughout the day had to go. What better way to show your employee you don't care about them than by taking away their meager privileges? Giving an employee a brief break is such a small price to pay for their loyalty. And, as u/BlueberryKind's grandpa discovered, there was a financial price to pay, too. It's a great tale of malicious compliance! 

Next up, these employees were floored by their boss's most ridiculous requests, like one person who "was once ordered to rake up pine needles...[at] a camp named "Pinewoods." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10390460416
    via Chris Benson on Unsplash
  • 02
    Grandpa was not allowed to go home for his coffee breaks
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 03
    I met up with my grandparents Sunday and told my grandpa that i told some people on the internet his stories, he thought that was funny. And he told me another one we might like.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 04
    After my grandpa stopped being a captain he and my Nan became a bridge keepers. Included in that job was a house next to the bridge. From the front door to the bridge cabin was 50m/165f.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 05
    My grandpa and nan where the main bridgekeepers there both fulltime. So maybe 1 day or half a day a week there would be somebody else who did not live next the bridge. Then you would sit your whole shift in the cabin maybe listen some radio and later they got tv and even later internet.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 06
    But because my grandparents lived next to the bridge they would just be at home or in the garden. When a boat came (some days less then 5 depending on weather) he would get called up by VHF or boat horn honking. He would walk over open the bridge let the boat thorough close the bridge and go back home.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 07
    In my country its kinda normal to have 2 coffee breaks a day 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Grandpa would have coffee at home and no problems so far.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 08
    Then one day somebody from the office decided he was not allowed to be home when he was on shift. He would have to stay all day in the cabin like the other people who did not live close. My grandpa did not like that but he complied kinda.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 09
    But he now started adding his coffee break times to his hours (40 min a day) Also now the cabin needed to have allot more coffee suplies so he kept sending bills for it.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 10
    At the next quarterly review the amount of overtime for my grandparents was 3.5h a week resulting in 50+ OT hours. And allot of coffee.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 11
    He got another call from the office why he was declaring so much more costs and where all the extra hours where coming from. He said to her that she told him he was not allowed to go drink coffee at home so they would have to supply him with coffee now. And that he was not taking official break anymore cause he did not see the point to having a
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 12
    break all by himself in the cabin. She was not happy with all the extra costs so grandpa made her an offer, if he was allowed to go home when there was no boat they could forget about the OT hours. (Not like he really worked them he still went home) She accepted and for the next 30+ years he opened the bridges with my
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 13
    nan. And spend more time maintaining the garden and the house then being in the bridge cabin. Best Job Ever
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 14
    [deleted] It's nice that he got his way, but I don't believe he was entitled to any kind of overtime just because he decided not to take his mandated breaks -- particularly if they were paid breaks.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 15
    I don't believe that breaks are optional for employers or employees, and I think that particularly if the breaks are paid, the employer is still considered in control of the employee, so reasonable policies can still be effective.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 16
    BlueberryKind OP When my grandpa stopped working and got his pension. Grandparents had so many OT hours that they paid them to my grandmum for a couple months. She was not working but on paper she was free and was taking up the OT hours.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 17
    It happened very often that they where not suppose to work and somebody else was. But person was not able so they would call my grandparent to do It anyway. Considering they lived next to the bridge. Coffee breaks are not mandatory.
    via u/BlueberryKind
  • 18
    DarkNymphetamine ...your grandpa was amazing.
    via u/BlueberryKind

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