Boss gives same penalty for being 6 minutes late as for hours, so an always-early employee decides to lay back his mornings, making the most of every write-up: ‘I had a leisurely 2-hour breakfast and got the same write up’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jul 7, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

Some bosses love rules so much they forget about common sense, and this supervisor is a prime example. Our punctual morning person, the type who treats early arrival like a religion, gets caught in a rare traffic snarl and ends up six minutes late. Instead of a shrug and a "thanks for usually being early," the supervisor decides to make a public spectacle, shaming him for daring to have a coffee in hand and then slapping him with a write-up. Never mind that the coffee was purchased before the traffic apocalypse, rules are rules, and apparently, six minutes late is just as bad as three hours.

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  • Same penalty for being 6 minutes late as for being 3 hours late? Ok boss.

    "Rather than take the penalty for a lousy couple of minutes, each time I'd extend the late time a couple of hours and have a nice, relaxing breakfast"
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The company’s policy is a masterpiece of logic: five minutes late is fine, but cross that magical threshold and you’re eligible for a write-up, whether you’re six minutes late or you roll in halfway through lunch. Supervisors are supposed to use discretion, but this one prefers the drama of a public call-out. So, when fate next delivers another delay, our hero takes the rule at face value. Instead of sweating over being a little late, he leans into it, pulls off for a leisurely breakfast, and strolls in two and a half hours late, bacon in belly, stress nowhere in sight, and exactly the same penalty as before.

  • I have always been the kind of person to arrive at work/events early. I hate the stress of running late, so I always allow more than enough travel time on my commute to avoid lateness.
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  • I always stopped for a coffee first thing on my morning commute to work. It was a half-hour drive to work on the highway, so I liked to sip my coffee and listen to tunes to relax before work.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Even though it's only a half- hour commute, I would leave for work an hour before my start time just in case there were any unexpected delays.
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  • One particular day there's a massive jam on the highway. Now normally I get to work 20-30 minutes early because of the extra travel time.
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  • But this traffic jam was bad enough that it still made 6 minutes late for work.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Supervisor starts giving me sh for coming in late but having a coffee, publicly calling me out in front of the other employees.
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  • "Hey everyone, look at Icy! His morning coffee is more important to him than respecting his coworkers!" No amount of "I bought the coffee before I knew there was a traffic jam" would get him to stop hassling me.
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  • He wrote me up for being late.
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  • Cheezburger Image 10523923456
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Now, my company had a policy that less than 5 minutes late is ok, but 5+ minutes late means a potential write-up.
    via Icy-Computer-P@@p
  • Doesn't matter if it's 5 minutes and 30 seconds or 2 hours late, the punishment was the same.
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  • However, supervisors were given leeway on this and were encouraged not to penalize people unless they were consistently late.
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  • I was almost never late, almost always early, but my supervisor decided to punish me anyway.
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  • So fast forward a couple of weeks, another delay, and looks like I'm going to arrive at work about 15 minutes late.
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  • So, knowing that I'm going to get written up no matter what, I pulled off the highway, found a nice little restaurant, and had a leisurely 2-hour breakfast.
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  • Showed up at work 2.5 hours late, and got the same write up I would have done if I had been 15 minutes late, but at least I also got to relax and eat bacon.
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  • I still showed up at work early 99% of the time, but every now and then there might be a delay that would mean I'd be 6 minutes late, or 10 or 15.
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  • Rather than take the penalty for a lousy couple of minutes, each time I'd extend the late time a couple of hours and have a nice, relaxing breakfast.
    via Icy-Computer-P@@p

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management boss workplace-stories hr manager bosses work PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
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