'We don't pay you to be 2 minutes late': Retail employee discovers "interesting detail" with strict boss's plans to halt late employees

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 17, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Requiring your employees to clock in at exactly their scheduled start time each day is guaranteed to add some extra stress into their lives. It's not as if most employees are trying to be late. Most of them are stuck in traffic or caught on a train that won't move. They rush into work as fast as they can—they might even sprint to make it!—but if they're even two or five minutes late, their boss is still going to be annoyed. All that rushing around to try to make it on time, and the boss still isn't happy? It can really lower morale over time when management decides that this is the hill they want to die on. Instead of appreciating all the hard work their employees do 8 hours per day, they'd rather make a big fuss over two "missing" minutes of work. 

This person's boss kept doing exactly that, as u/afazihdob explained in their story of malicious compliance. At least the employee managed to get back at that boss, teaching them an important lesson. 

Up next, read about these wild concerts that were so bad they weren't worth attending, like one where the artist "just put on a CD… and left." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10404848896
    via Graeme Worsfold on Unsplash

    Image does not depict subject of the story. 

  • 02
    "We don't pay you to be 2 minutes late, over the course of a year, it's hundreds of dollars." Then I find out an interesting detail.
    via u/afazihdob
  • 03
    I've worked at many retail chains... have had MANY terrible bosses... here's one story I think I can give up without any repercussions. At a small specific retail store, 5- 6 years ago at this point, I was confronted by my old boss on a specific event that I was late by two minutes.
    via u/afazihdob
  • 04
    Previous day, he had asked me to come in on my day off - and at an earlier time than I normally do. I agreed to come in on my day off and work a shift I am not normally used to -but it's retail, it cannot be that difficult. My old boss asked me to work 7AM to 4PM, and I showed up at 7:02AM. Which, in my state, there is a 5 minute window for everyone, and this was 100% not a habit of mine at all. I am normally one to show up 5
    via u/afazihdob
  • 05
    minutes early everyday and wait aside the time clock. I clocked on, and walked to my department with a drink I had already purchased the previous day. As I walked into the department, the manager greeted me then said, "When I schedule you at 7AM, I expect you to be IN department by 7AM. Not a minute later. We can't pay you to clock on, buy something, and then start working.. over the course of a year that adds up to hundreds of
    via u/afazihdob
  • 06
    dollars of lost labor for one individual." I told my old boss that my drink was from the previous day, and that I just clocked on 2 minutes late. My old boss replied with, "That's not my problem, you need to plan better. You were scheduled at 7 and we are losing cost of labor each minute you are not here. Be in department AT scheduled time!"
    via u/afazihdob
  • 07
    Which is not true. I spoke regularly with a payroll employee - and she explained to me quite some time prior, that the company does not pay you 3 minutes before or after your scheduled time. So if you clock on at 7AM, you are not getting paid until 7:03AM. If you clock on at 6:57AM, you are not getting paid until 7AM. Same for when you return from lunch. However, if you clock on at 7:04, after that 3 minute window - you begin
    via u/afazihdob
  • 08
    getting paid immediately that minute. My boss was right, I NEED to plan better. I asked for a print out of my time stamps going back as far as they had record of... and I tallied up EACH day that I had arrived 3 minutes early - and did not get paid for it. I counted well over 330 minutes within a three month span that I was not getting paid
    via u/afazihdob
  • 09
    for which ended up being a little - over $110. I gave my old boss a copy and said, "You can pay me for these dates where I was in department, on the dot, without getting paid for it." My old boss then replied, "That's not how our company policy works." He then went into detail, to explain to me, exactly what I had already known - and gave him a copy of... yet my old boss is
    via u/afazihdob
  • 10
    now recognizing that he's contradicted himself and willingly lied to me. When everything clicked in his head that he's contradicted himself - it was far too obvious because his face went bright red and he started smiling... imo, like he had been caught. My old boss: Well you know the policy, we can't pay you for that. :)
    via u/afazihdob
  • 11
    Me: Then I will begin my shift when I am getting paid, not the minute you schedule me. It's not like you're losing labor if you're not even paying the employees that window of time. Schedule me at 7, if you like but I will not be clocking on until 4 minutes after the scheduled time, as you will not be losing any cost of labor for it, and I will not be losing pay over your personal policy.
    via u/afazihdob
  • 12
    For about three weeks, I clocked on 4 minutes late everyday, no matter how early I arrived. I eventually got a warning from the building's HR that it's riding the line and very close to getting a write-up, and down the discipline road. I explained to her the entire story, as she seemingly did not like this manager of mine either, she laughed pretty hard at the whole thing and offered me a department transfer, with a higher pay. She reminded me that
    via u/afazihdob
  • 13
    my behavior was listed under a category that could get me terminated, and thought the transfer would be a fresh start. Instead, I put in my two weeks notice and thanked her for the wonderful opportunity. The funniest part of all of this, years later I saw my old manager working at a new chain, in a similar position to what he was doing when I worked for him. He smiled, waved. I smiled, waved, continued on.
    via u/afazihdob
  • 14
    As time went on, I also bumped into the old HR manager, who was working in an entirely different field... I asked her why my old boss left that company... she laughed and said, "He didn't leave, we fired him for time theft!" Apparently my old boss would take a lunch, leave the building, and never clock out for it.
    via u/afazihdob
  • 15
    CatLady157 What a lying hypocrite you worked for! I am glad that you were able to show him up, and also that he was caught for doing way worse than what he accused you of doing.
    via u/CatLady157
  • 16
    rockthrowing I knew someone with a job like that. They wanted you there fifteen minutes early for a debrief on shift change but didn't let you clock in until your scheduled time. Took a few years but eventually they had to give everyone back pay. It was absolutely ridiculous.
    via u/rockthrowing
  • 17
    xzElmozx "That's not how our company policy works." "Cool for company policy, but here are some labour laws that supercede it. Feel free to tell a judge about your company policy though"
    via u/xzElmozx

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