'If you're on time, you are late': Employee starts showing up 30 minutes before shift to be paid overtime after boss claims being on time is not good enough

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 23, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Sometimes the best way to deal with a boss's unreasonable demands is by showing them just how unreasonable these demands are. Since telling them that usually doesn't do any good, because they refuse to listen to anyone but themselves, most employees must find other and more creative ways to get the point across.

While some employees really do find creative ways to prove to their managers that their requests are crazy, others don't have to go that far. All they have to do is follow said request for a while, and simply by doing so to perfection, the manager will see for themselves that what they asked for really doesn't make any sense. This way, nobody had to confront the manager, nobody risks losing their job, and the mere concept of following orders is what gets the orders to go away. It is the best solution for absolutely everyone involved. 

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  • The same can be said about this story. This manager started demanding that employees arrive at work 15 minutes before their shift starts. Despite the fact that the manager refused to pay for those extra 15 minutes, one clever employee decided to show the manager just how unreasonable the demand actually is.

    If you want to find out whether or not the employee managed to make a change through their actions, then keep scrolling to read the full story.

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    Cheezburger Image 10508244224
    via Minerva Studio

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

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    Manager said "If you're on time, you're late" and so I started showing up 30 minutes early… and charging them for it

    A few years ago, I worked at a company where our manager was obsessed w/ punctuality. She had constantly say, "If you're on time, you are late." She
    via MadrasMusez
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    wanted everyone there at least 15 minutes early and unpaid, of course and would shame people who showed up just on time.
    via MadrasMusez
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    I asked once if we had be paid for those extra 15 minutes, and she laughed like I told a joke. So I decided to comply. Maliciously.
    via MadrasMusez
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    I started arriving 30 minutes early every day, clocking in exactly when I arrived. When she confronted me abt it, I told her I was just trying
    via MadrasMusez
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    to be really prepared "You always say 15 minutes early is the bare minimum, right?" She tried to argue, but since I was hourly and our
    via MadrasMusez
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    system logged every minute, payroll started paying me for all that early time. After a month, upper management noticed and asked her
    via MadrasMusez
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    why overtime had increased for her team. She backtracked so fast. Suddenly ON TIME was fine again.
    via MadrasMusez
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    8 registration SERIA No. 2,055,787 Mg. No.9 765 -│ │ 4.
    via Pete Alexopoulos

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

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    TheLightingGuy Just a reminder for those who have managers like this. If you're at work, you're on the clock.
    via TheLightingGuy
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    Welski247 The best way to get rid of a stupid policy is to follow it
    via Welski247
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    Professional-Lie3039 When I worked for a large telecom, another large telecom got hit with a class action lawsuit because they required their employees to be fully signed in to all systems
    via Professional-Lie3039
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    and ready to go right at their scheduled start time. The employees successfully sued on the grounds that setting up for work, was work, and that they should be paid for it.
    via Professional-Lie3039
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    It scared my company into blocking out 15 minutes at the beginning of each schedule, and scheduling accordingly, to allow for a full 15 minutes of time that you didn't need to be in Ready at the beginning
    via Professional-Lie3039
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    of your shift. This started in the Western region and very quickly spread company wide. Over time, and with the advent of terminals instead of dedicated CPU's for each workstation, so you could
    via Professional-Lie3039
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    leave many systems still up and running, it was shortened to 5 minutes. But it's still on the schedule for 100% of phone based employees even now that they are fully WFH.
    via Professional-Lie3039
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    PomegranateReal3620 Never work one minute more than they are willing to pay you for. That's the deal. You want my a there at a certain time, I get paid for it. My time for your money.
    via PomegranateReal3620
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    Igpajo49 The company I work for now actually tells us if we get a work call during our lunch break, we need to clock that as work time and are authorized to start our lunch 30 over again.
    via Igpajo49
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    Flewis14 I worked at a hotel where I started my shift at 7 am. I was always upstairs in my uniform ready to go just before I went out to the lobby. The manager
    via Flewis14
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    said to me "you should really be ready to go at 6:45" and I said to him “put it on the schedule and I'll be here". He did not.
    via Flewis14
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    Bee-Aromatic OP should have gotten written proof of the policy and brought it to the labor board. That's wage theft.
    via Bee-Aromatic
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    Besides that, that whole "if you're not early, you're late" thing has always pi ed me off. It's incredibly disrespectful of my time.
    via Bee-Aromatic

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boss shift time workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace reddit story overworked-employees workplace overtime Reddit company funny
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