Micromanager makes employee take an entire day of PTO just because he needed to leave 5 minutes early: 'Boss wasn’t happy with me [...] but I did follow their policy'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Apr 10, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

As long as the work gets done, employees should be allowed the courtesy of needing to dip out early if they need to... 

When micromanagers are strict about this sort of thing, it's usually because they have an insecurity or superiority complex. They need to feel like they are being strong managers, so they focus their energy on the silliest of details, such as clocking in and out a minute behind or ahead of schedule. Of course, any confident and intelligent person would know that unless an early or late departure seriously jeopardizes the work day—and it usually does not—then it really should not be a problem at all.

Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10491732224
    via Unsplash+ (Kübra Arslaner)

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

  • This employee had to deal with his new micromanaging boss, who decided if someone needed to leave 5 minutes early to make a doctor's appointment, it was unacceptable. Now, employees had to request PTO under these circumstances. Of course, that's not going to stop employees from needing to go to the doctor, so when this author took a personal day for their next appointment, his boss finally was able to see how unnecessary and silly this new policy was for everyone involved. Several members of the online community chimed in with their reactions. We've included their thoughts below as well!

  • 02
    For background, my old boss used to be more flexible. As long as we got our tasks done, if something came up and we needed to slip out a few minutes early, they never had much of an issue. I rarely took advantage of it, but if I had to, I always made sure to make up those few minutes elsewhere.
    via Bella4077
  • 03
    This new boss comes along and is such a micromanager and control freak. Now, we are not allowed to be even a minute late or leave a minute early. We need to actually put in for PTO, either for a half or
    via Bella4077
  • 04
    full day, just to be able to slip out a few minutes early. I had an appointment one say and offered to work through my break time just to leave a few minutes early.
    via Bella4077
  • 05
    Boss balked at the idea. I arranged ahead of time for a whole personal day off. I booked myself a massage and went out to lunch before my appointment. Boss wasn't happy with me for taking a personal day, especially since we're currently short-staffed, but I did follow their policy.
    via Bella4077
  • 06
    CptGetchagearoff ⚫ "If you wanna leave 5 min early you need to book a half or full day off" books a day off for appointment Boss: Surprise pikachu tAkInG dAys Off like that iSn,T beiNG a TeaM pLaYeR
    via Bella4077
  • 07
    HUAWE
    via Unsplash+ (Kübra Arslaner)

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

  • 08
    Pegasus2022. I learnt the hard way with my company i used to happy start work early etc, until i had a physio appointment. My manager expect me to travel 40 mins to work for a hour than go back home to my appointment
    via Bella4077
  • 09
    than travel into work once my appointment was done. Yet people who live locally were allowed to go home after their appointments. I now start work when i am meant to if i need to start earlier than i get that off the same day.
    via Bella4077
  • 10
    SnakesCatsAndDogs Today I told my boss that I had to run across the street for a bl d test and then I would be back to finish up my last half hour (I wfh) and he responded by saying it was safer to drive across the street than to run. I got dad joked
    via Bella4077
  • 11
    msdiggz I once worked for a small company where the owner was my boss. My start time was 8 and I usually showed up at about 5 til and was never late. He insisted that I should be there at 7:45 every day but would not pay me for that extra
    via Bella4077
  • 12
    time. I continued to arrive at my regular time and one day he started yelling at me for arriving late. I wasn't but he had changed the clock to be 15 minutes behind. I continued to arrive at the actual time and just
    via Bella4077
  • 13
    told him the real time when he mentioned it and show him on my phone. The malicious compliance came in because I left every day precisely when the clock in the office turned to 5. It took him a really long time to figure out that his little trick backfired and I left 15 minutes early every day.
    via Bella4077
  • 14
    YourWise Old Friend⚫ Except for work environments where availability requires the employee to be right on time every time, no job-none-, is so important that you can't slip in 5 minutes up or down.
    via Bella4077
  • 15
    John Denver I had a friend that started working for a company after contracting with them for a while. He had a doctor's appointment coming up so he worked extra the days before so he wouldn't have to take the time off his weekly work. Nope.
    via Bella4077
  • 16
    The next day he got called into a meeting with his manager and HR to explain that just because he worked extra earlier didn't mean that he could "bank" that time and use it for his appointment. He said, "Oh, okay. I guess I made a mistake taking this job. This is my two week notice."
    via Bella4077
  • 17
    Woollyprimate What is up with bosses balking over 5 minutes? Seriously. Are they on glue or what? I hate petty micromanagers like that.
    via Bella4077
  • 18
    I_Have_Questions95. Forreal. I'm taking classes while working full time (current job is entirely unrelated to my field of study). One of my classes means I'll be roughly 30 minutes late twice a week for 5 months.
    via Bella4077
  • 19
    I checked in with my boss regarding the lateness before I enrolled and he just goes "Ooh cool what class is is?" Like, zero given, just down for me continuing my education.
    via Bella4077
  • 20
    jlb183 I once put in an official PTO request to leave about an hour early for a doctor appointment for a chronic condition that has to be managed. My manager responded that she'd have to see how busy we were that day,so basically a no. I hadn't
    via Bella4077
  • 21
    wanted to go through the trouble of getting FMLA certified, just because I wasn't going to do all that paperwork if I didn't have to. But after that refusal, I had to. It was no problem getting intermittent FMLA approved, and after that I
    via Bella4077
  • 22
    could go to any doctor appointment or call off and my boss couldn't do a thing about it. I would have been happy to schedule appointments on days, or times of the day when we were likely to be less busy, but after that I didn't care.
    via Bella4077

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

workplace-stories employee work stories toxic-workplace job work toxic-boss overworked-employees Horrible Bosses company toxic-work-environment
Scroll Down For The Next Article