'I laugh a little, thinking he’s joking’: Employee scheduled to work at 8 AM clocks in at 8:01 AM, gets fired over being one single minute late

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Feb 9, 2025 10:00 AM EST

There are many ways to get fired, some more obvious than others. If you're trying not to get fired, then you obviously have to do things that please your manager, like show up on time, do top notch work, and then some. However, you also want to act your wage, you know? Especially at a place that keeps pushing any sort of promotion or raise. Excuses, excuses. But maybe they can say the same about you? Or maybe they'll find something to say about you…

 

Take this employee, for instance, who came to Reddit to rant about him recently being fired. He actually enjoyed his job and was good at his work. In fact, he was promised a promotion and raise months prior. He got called into the office one day and thought he might actually finally being getting those things that he promised. He is a great employee, after all. However, he walked into his boss' office with an air of caution because his manager did not look happy. His boss, arms crossed, asked him why he was late for the third time? The employee was perplexed. He was never late, but he did clock in right on the dot, so it was possible the machine said it was a minute later or so, but nothing serious…

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  • 19 JULIANOVA UAL ON OLON 10. 9 3 A 8 7 5
    via Unsplash+ (and Joshua Olsen)

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

    Turns out those couple of minutes were a big deal, because his boss used that as grounds to fire him. He was so confused. Fellow Redditors are commenting thinking there must be more to this story, but who knows? What it feels more like is that this job used him, kept him around with the promise of a raise, and then found a minuscule reason to fire him when they were done with him. Dang the man!

  • "I Just Got Fired Over a Fing Time Stamp."

    Bruh, I wasn't gonna say anything, but this is the dumbest reason to lose a job. I show up to work on time, like I always do. I clock in, get to my station, start my day. Everything's fine. No issues. No complaints. Business as usual. Then, two hours into my shift, my manager calls me into the office.
    via No_Excitement5215
  • I'm thinking maybe they need me to cover someone's shift, maybe they're finally giving me that raise I was promised six months ago. Nope. Instead, I walk in and see my manager sitting there, arms crossed, looking serious ash I. And I already know-I'm about to hear some bulls***
    via No_Excitement5215
  • He pulls up a screen, points to a time stamp on my clock-in records, and says: "Can you explain this?" I squint at the screen. It says 8:01 AM. One minute past 8:00. ONE. MINUTE.
    via No_Excitement5215
  • I laugh a little, thinking he's joking. But this man is de d serious. Stone-faced. Acting like I just committed fraud. I tell him, "Yeah, I was here on time. Maybe the system lagged or I hit the button a second too late."
    via No_Excitement5215
  • Doesn't matter. He says it's my third "offense" for clocking in late. (Mind you, the other two times? Also by one minute.) Then he hits me with: "Unfortunately, we have to let you go." LET ME GO?! OVER A SINGLE MINUTE?!
    via No_Excitement5215
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    via Unsplash+ (and Brad Neathery)

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

  • Said like it was rehearsed as h*ll too. I sat there staring at him, trying to process the fact that I just lost my job over three minutes total. Meanwhile, I've watched other employees show up 20 minutes late, multiple times, with zero consequences.
    via No_Excitement5215
  • THIS is stupid. And the worst part? I actually liked this job. I showed up, did my work, never complained. And they still threw me out over a technicality. This is why I don't trust jobs, man. You can be the hardest worker in the building, and they'll still replace you like you're yesterday's garbage.
    via No_Excitement5215
  • irony0815 Sounds personal to me. He wanted to fire you, I am sorry for you. No_Instance18 Definitely personal. They were looking for reasons. I used to arrive 10 minutes late to my job regularly and they didn't bat an eye. This is definitely a reach.
    via irony0815
  • thisisntmyOGaccount He was promised a raise 6 months ago and it's a clock in job. They got all they could out of him at the rate they were willing to pay. It was time to rinse and repeat.
    via thisisntmyOGaccount
  • ZebraHunterz My company has the same policy and they enforce it like hawks...they don't care about talent just blindly follow their idiotic rules.
    via ZebraHunterz
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    via Unsplash+ (and Graeme Worsfold)

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

  • Leading_Exercise3155 That's personal he just doesn't like you and wants you gone ElderberryOk469 Yep and a lot of companies have a 3 strike rule so they will pull any reason to count as a "strike". I feel bad for OP, this work system is garbage.
    via Leading_Exercise3155
  • Successful-Echo-7346 Ive had jobs where they don't want you punching in even one minute early. Sure boss. 50 people lined up at the time clock all trying to punch in at the stroke of 8:00. Don't be late either. Laughable. No_Excitement5215 OP It's a petty world we live in. And it's getting worse.
    via Successful-Echo-7346
  • kungfutrucker OP - I'm sorry your boss fired you. As a retired boss of a department, managers are trained at using technicalities to discharge workers they do not like or feel bring down morale.
    via kungfutrucker
  • buffybotbingo Sounds like there was another reason but being late is an easier reason. You're either late or you're not. Time stamps back it up. (Not saying I agree, I don't.) It's much harder to let someone go for quality of work or for personal vendettas. They don't want to settle a lawsuit or payout for unemployment.
    via buffybotbingo
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    via Unsplash+ (and Andrea Natali)

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

  • Wild-Lengthiness2695 I guess you work in America? Gemini_Schmemini Canukeepitup Georgia, most likely, most specifically.
    via Wild-Lengthiness2695
  • jamesroberts7777 Dude...I'm getting hit with the same kind of bs. I got a warning for clocking in from breaks 30, 15, and 45 SECONDS past the 15 min mark. Not even a full minute past break time. Manager didnt like when I laughed instead of being all serious and apologetic.
    via jamesroberts7777
  • BridgeCityBus That's pretty wild. I worked as a bus driver for a few years and if we were even one second late, they would give our work for the day to someone else, give us an "oversleep" on our record, and we could also lose work for that day, resulting in time. loss. That just came with the job, as we had to get the buses out on the road on time. But even then, 3 times likely wouldn't be enough to get canned. Our station agents would give us grace when they could.
    via BridgeCityBus
  • Internal-Security-54 As dumb as that was, it actually reminds me when I got a write-up one time for clocking in one minute late even after I called from the obviously noisy train station about possibly being delayed. Nobody liked that supervisor anyway
    via Internal-Security-54

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