'Ok, game on': Entitled mom steals a coworker's shift priority, claiming her personal schedule is more important, then she gets stuck with closing shifts for weeks after their colleague uses company policy against her

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jan 26, 2025 9:00 AM EST

There's nothing more dangerous than the combo of free time and infinite pettiness. This employee found themselves weaponizing both after catching their snarky coworker stealing their shifts.

If you've ever worked for a business where the first employees to clock in are the first employees to leave, you've probably had your fair share of moments envying their shift priority. By hour 7 on your feet and with hellacious customers on your mind, there's nothing more enticing than the thought of getting cut loose early on your shift—which is why shift priorities are priceless. 

You'd never want to sully the waters with a fellow coworker, especially if they've got time on their hands and an overactive pettiness gland. But when this entitled mom thought she could use the FIFO policy on her coworker to get off earlier (since of course, her schedule was far more important than theirs), he decided to get even.

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    via studioroman

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

  • "Make me stay late for not being 15 minutes early? I'll show you how early I can be."

    I work at a casino as a dealer. We have a first-in-first-out way of scheduling dealers. So if you start at 7pm, you get to leave before people that started at 8pm when they are able to close tables down and send you home. Pretty normal and straightforward.
    via _CitizenVince
  • If more than one person starts at the same time, then who gets the option to leave first is assigned on a rotating basis. So if you have the first option one week, you will be second the following, the third after that, then back to one.
    via _CitizenVince
  • So one afternoon, I was reporting to work with 2 other dealers, all set to start at the same time. I was looking forward to a short evening, as I was the first option and I had plans after work. I arrived 10 minutes before my shift, and noticed on of the dealers who was
    via _CitizenVince
  • starting at my start time was already dealing. They (the dealer) must have been in the EDR and the pencil needed a dealer to start right away. I confirmed that they had started 15 min before their scheduled time, and they were the 3rd option.
    via _CitizenVince
  • Fast forward 6 hours, and we had tables we could start closing. I'm stoked to get out of there, when I look over and see the dealer that started early leaving before me. I pointed out that I was supposed to be leaving before her, and she gave me a sh
    via _CitizenVince
  • eating grin and said "Well I started before you, so I have the first option." And then she just walked off all smug. was super ped and said something to the supervisor. He shrugged me off and said "It's policy."
    via _CitizenVince
  • ココ DEALER R1 PLAYER 2 ПП
    via Anna Shvets

    We get it, lady. Being a working mom is tough. You have to balance your shift schedule, your babysitter's schedule, and your kid's infinite soccer games, but that doesn't mean that your time is more precious than anyone else's. We all have lives to manage and I'm sure if she'd actually had a conversation with her colleague about a time conflict, they'd be more inclined to help her. It's the sneaking around and the snarkiness that got under their skin and caused them to push back.

  • First to start leaves first? Ok, game on. I knew this coworker had kids, and had to wait for her mom to come over to babysit before she could leave for work, so she wasn't always early for her shift.
    via _CitizenVince
  • I have no kids or obligations, so I started showing up 2 hours before my shift and just chilling in the EDR. I would let the supervisor know I was there in case they needed me to start early (which they always did, because they would not refuse to open a table for lack of staff knowing I was on
    via _CitizenVince

  • Employee Dining Room (EDR)

    Cheezburger Image 10459066624
    via aldomurillo

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

  • property and available to work). Three weeks of this, and I had held the first option on every shift I worked. The dealer who was all smug about starting early was getting frustrated and angry at me. Having to stay super late every night was wearing her down.
    via _CitizenVince
  • "It would be nice to get off before close just once!" she said to me once as I was leaving early yet again. I told her I was just following policy, and she was welcome to show up early to make sure she was always first out.
    via _CitizenVince
  • 2 more weeks and many complaints to the boss later, the policy was changed. Now, in order to jump option numbers, you have to be called in over an hour before your scheduled time. 15 minutes wasn't gonna cut it anymore if you wanted to leave early.
    via _CitizenVince
  • I hope that it was worth it for her staying until near close for over a month over that 15 minutes. I am petty and I have a lot of free time.
    via _CitizenVince
  • Edit to answer some questions I'm seeing and give some clarification- • Yes I showed up 2 hours early for my shift. However, I was paid for nearly all of that extra time, as I was always asked to start work early since I was on property and available. I actually worked more hours and made more money during this time than I had previously.
    via _CitizenVince
  • • The difference in time leaving work was several hours. First option usually leaves around 9pm-10pm, while second and third options leave around 2am- 3am depending on business. My property is KYO, so the volume of hours is less important to us.
    via _CitizenVince
  • • Not really an excuse, but this coworker is not easy to get along with. She has had run-ins with just about every other dealer at some point. She is the type to quote policy when it works in her favor, and disparage the same policy the second it works against her.
    via _CitizenVince
  • • If she had something important to do the evening in question, or needed to leave because of child care or whatever, I would have happily passed my option to her. My plans were not as important as something like child care. It was the underhanded way she went about getting herself out early combined with her snarky remark and sh eating grin that made me want revenge.
    via _CitizenVince
  • Cerberus Aus "I am petty and have a lot of free time." Hahahaha. Thats a dangerous combo.
    via Cerberus_Aus
  • g1f2d3s4a5 When a coworker states policy to take advantage of you it is perfectly fine to use policy to take advantage of them.
    via g1f2d3s4a5
  • Citizen Vince Thats how I felt. She was cool with it when she used it to get one over on me.
    via _CitizenVince
  • OwlfaceFrank I used to manage restaurants. I started a new job once, and the servers were doing this. They'd show up 10ish minutes early and then later say, "I clocked in first, so I'm 1st cut."
    via OwlfaceFrank
  • It got really petty, too. Like "See, the computer says I clocked in 35 seconds before her!" This ignored the FOH managers' schedule and would leave us with inexperienced or just plain bad servers doing sh they couldn't handle after cuts.
    via OwlfaceFrank
  • I put a stop to that right away. I was the kitchen manager, so I totally stepped over the incompetent FOH manager. "This is the schedule. I don't care that you clocked in early without manager approval. The schedule says you're 3rd cut, so you're 3rd cut."
    via OwlfaceFrank

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boss closing shift worker blackjack employee dealer manager job work coworkers working ceo employees casino supervisor workplace overtime company card dealer coworker business
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