Movie theater boss refuses to let employees leave until they've shoveled all the snow: 'He had gone outside... and wrote them up'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 18, 2025 3:00 PM EST

If my boss ever asked me to shovel snow all day instead of doing my job, I'd quit on the spot, and I know I'm not the only one. 

Snow shoveling is incredibly physically demanding, though it can also be rewarding. If you have the time to do it, it's nice to clear your driveway for your spouse, or help your neighbor get that dusting of snow off of your shared sidewalk space. It'll certainly get that heart rate up, not to mention the nice workout for your arm muscles. 

Still, unless you have a job where you always do physical labor, you probably don't expect to have to clear the snow from your workplace's parking lot. They have snow plows to do that! Snowblowers exist for a reason! The kids who worked at this movie theater certainly didn't expect to wake up and shovel snow all day instead of clipping tickets, but at least the employees took it in stride. 

Because this boss messed with teenagers, aka the sassiest creatures known to man, he got exactly what he asked for. It's a wonder they didn't start a snowball fight in the parking lot just to spite their boss! 

Up next, read about the trad wife who got back at her husband, saying that "I told him I have a meticulous record."

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10456400896
    via Toa Heftiba For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    "You can't leave until you shovel ALL of the snow!" M OC This wasn't me doing the malicious compliance, nor the request, but the middle man who witnessed this gloriousness. I worked for a movie theatre company in a state that snows every winter. We had a contract with a snow shoveling company but my boss refused to use it because the costs of each removal had a possiblity of hurting his yearly bonus by a couple percent points (like $300 max out of $20,000). "Only if it snows more than six inches
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 03
    Unfortunately this meant that one of the ushers would have to shovel snow on the sidewalk. Since it's a safety hazard to block the emergency exit doors of a theatre it meant you had to shovel a path around the entire building and for each exit door. Ultimately due to the size it's about a quarter mile around the building. No one likes doing it because it's cold and shoveling a simple one shovel- length path can take two hours.
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 04
    During a snowy Christmas week (the busiest week for movie theaters of the year, imagine Black Friday shopping for two weeks straight) it had snowed just under six inches. We were extremely busy and my boss demanded to take one of our much needed ushers to go shovel snow (I was an assistant manager). When we asked if the company could come out instead of us doing it we were told no, to which one of my co-workers (we'll call him Dan) said he would do it. An hour later after he had gone outside one
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 05
    When Dan came back in the other ushers complained to him about it. Dan asked our boss why and our boss said that it was because no one wanted to shovel all of the snow, and if Dan didn't shovel all of the snow he would get written up as well. This all happened at the beginning of my shift, around 5pm.
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 06
    Cue the malicious compliance. What my boss didn't realize was that it was the last day of the payroll period. Being Christmas week Dan had already accumulated 40 hours of work earlier in the day. My boss left right after telling Dan to make sure ALL of the snow was removed. We worked the rest of the shift and everyone assumed Dan had finished and left.
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 07
    It's 3am now and we go to punch out for the week but can't because there is a shift that hasn't been approved yet. Someone is still working and is at 12 hours of overtime. It's Dan. I go out to investigate since it should only be myself and my manager. As I walk outside I see Dan coming back in, smiling the biggest grin on his face, and the most dry, un-snowed path I've ever seen in my life. It
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 08
    looked like two pictures cut together; there was not a spec or snow on the entire front path of the theatre. Dan spent ten hours outside making. Sure that he removed ALL the snow from the walkway. We had a good laugh, clocked off and left.
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 09
    We didn't hear anything until later that week when I was called into the office and had to write out a statement to why I let Dan work twelve hours of overtime. He had this smug look on his face like he had "beaten" us. He was not too pleased when he found out that all of our statements included him saying the phrase "remove all the snow" and that he refused to call the snow plow company. My boss was transferred to another theatre soon after.
    via u/SparkleFritz
  • 10

    Commenters really connected with the story: who wouldn't want to see their bad boss taken down a notch?

    JetpackZombie777 stupid boss gets owned by an employee. Always satisfying and with a nice fat check to boot
    via u/JetpackZombie777
  • 11
    Astramancer_ You can only pinch pennies so hard before you break your finger and have to pay the hospital bill.
    via u/Astramancer_
  • 12
    Waifer2016 I think I love Dan 303 Reply Share SparkleFritz OP. We all do.
    via u/Waifer2016
  • 13

    Never mess with a petty teen!

    Fakinsit There is no better fuel for motivation than pure spite.
    via u/Fakinsit
  • 14
    GrandWarchiefBeef ⚫ This sounds like the manager I had when I worked at a local chain of movie theaters. At the location I worked the platter for screen two did not automatically start to spin like it was designed to. Ushers were required to go in every time a movie needed to start on that screen to give it a spin because once it started it was good to go. An assistant manager told me it was a bad chip that would've cost under $50 to replace but that would have come out of the managers bonus and
    via u/GrandWarchiefBeef
  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 10456409856
    via Lawrence Krowdeed For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 16
    ModusPwnins Ah, this brings back memories. I was a manager during a similar Christmas season, and we were well-staffed with managers but a bit short on ushers. So, I would volunteer to do the shoveling, because I'm a sick son of ab who likes cold weather and working obliques. They were paying me more than an usher, but getting each theatre cleaned and ready for the next set while ensuring customer safety was absolutely worth it.
    via u/ModusPwnins
  • 17
    PuppetMasterFilms. D Dan, you're my new hero
    via u/PuppetMasterFilms
  • 18
    Useriky I think, the company should have transfered all bonus(es) of manager to Dan. That would be a nice lesson learnt for the manager. As he tried to decrease costs by adding them to a non- bonus related budget.
    via u/Useriky
  • 19
    MeEvilBob Aah the movie theater stories I have from over the years, there's so many, my favorite is the part time manager who told me not to start one of the projectors because he was going to do it himself so I could start another movie on time (not that I couldn't get both just like every day before and after that). He knew nothing about projection other than where the start button is, which might be why he didn't put any film in the projector before starting it. I found out via a radio call f
    via u/MeEvilBob
  • 20
    SolidSnakes Bandana . I have a feeling that nowhere in the employee handbook does it say that ushers have to shovel snow. As the story indicates, shoveling snow is a job done by an entirely separate person/company. A job that a separate individual gets paid a separate salary for. Am I wrong to conclude that what was occurring here was WAGE THEFT, for expecting someone to do an entirely different job for no extra pay?
    via u/SolidSnakesBandana

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boss workplace-stories jobs job snow bosses work coworkers movie theater movies workplace Horrible Bosses shovel
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