Outside hire production manager declares 'No Overtime! No exceptions!' production stalls costing the company $120k: '[He] lasted about 3 months [after that]'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 1, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

You should always seek to understand any new environment that you enter. And while that reads as something you might see in a survival manual or hear uttered by Bear Grylls, it stands as good advice for any situation, including in the workplace. And it really doesn't matter who you are, who you think you are, or what role you're entering into—you should always seek to understand the job you're doing before you start doing it. 

When I was working for a very well-known cafe chain during university, the company's new general manager spent a full week of shifts working with us on the ground level, just as if he were the "new guy" taking everything in and experiencing the work firsthand so that he could inform his decision-making and direction. It was a little comical in some respects, watching what was essentially an episode of Undercover Boss playing out right in front of you, but he handled everything extremely well, and to this day, it's something I respect the heck out of and a style of leadership I think about often.

While you might think you're a bigshot when you're coming on board in a management position, it's arguably even more important to be humble and come to grips with where everything is and how things work. Someone taking on an entry-level position is pretty limited in the damage that they're able to do, most of the time. However, when you have top-level decision-making and oversight, even the smallest change or decision could be disastrous. 

That's basically how things played out here, in this example, where a new manager coming in from the outside made the fatal flaw of assuming that he knew better, without taking the time to make sure that there weren't things he was missing or hadn't considered. This led to a situation where production was stalled and the company was hemorrhaging money by the second.

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  • 01

    "I couldn't staff those two lines that day. For those wondering, not running those two lines that day lost the company $120,000 dollars"

    Years ago I worked in a meat packing. plant as a supervisor. It had its ups and downs, but overall it's was good. Until a new production manager was hired. We'll call him Bob. Bob didn't come from the floor, or even. leadership. He had an engineering background. Whatever, I'll try to keep an open mind. Well my mind was only open for about four and a half mins.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 02
    A supervisor reads off a clipboard to a production line worker
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 03
    First day, first time meeting, he declares he's going to "right the ship" Sure thing boss, right that ship that is already sailing in the right direction. He declares that going forward there will be no more OT. He states we are I away money with the amount of OT we pay. I asked for clarification "what about vacation coverage? Sick calls? Etc.). He replies "No OT! No exceptions!". Sure thing boss man.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 04
    Now I should point out, the department is work in is massive. My direct team at that time was 70 people. There were other rooms that other supervisors looked after for a total of 220ish employees. Now I'm assuming all of you reading this are infinitely smarter than Bob and have figured out that with a team that size, we dont just get one sick call, we averaged seven per day. Vacations? 10% of the workforce was our cut off. Usually we hovered at 12 people a day. Not to mention leaves of absence,
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 05
    So, on Friday I went to Bob one last time. I let him know that we are going to be short 19 people next week and ask once more for him to approve OT. I got a flat no in response. I considered going above him, but i figured letting the guy drown would be better. I didn't ask for OT. Employees were coming up to me "boss, are you sure there's no OT next week?" Yes I'm sure Bob wants it that way.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 06
    Come next week. Two production lines aren't running. Bob comes to me upset demanding to know why two of the lines aren't running? Is is mechanical downtime? No bob, i have no one to run the line. He stammers something about staffing appropriately and having better planning. "I asked you multiple times to approve OT, you said no each time. I was just following your direction". Cue the angry storm off. with him yelling ☐ people in here!" "get some
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 07
    Anyways, I then have to call people at home and schedule OT for the rest of the week because Bob sunk our ship instead of righting it. I couldn't staff those two lines that day. For those wondering, not running those two lines that day lost the company $120,000 dollars (no I'm not exaggerating). Bob gets a strip torn off him by his boss a guy I've known at that time for 10 years. He came and spoke to me about it outside (we both smoke) "what the f was he thinking? I thought engineers were suppos
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 08
    An engineer checks production line diagnostics on a laptop
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 09
    HamiltonPanda Not that I think I'll ever be management, but the one thing I've learnt from all the new manager/MC stories is that you never change things until you've worked there for a long while! And always listen to the people who repeatedly ask if your sure
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 10
    crispus63 Bob forgot how to engineer. Rule number 1: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 11
    Leolor66 Guarantee this engineer was hired from the outside specifically to cut costs. I would even bet someone above told him they spend a fortune on overtime. There is no way you come in on day 1 and announce no more overtime before you have a chance to assess the business. Also, someone told him the ship needed righting. This is on upper management.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 12
    DiaBimBim_CoCoLytis I was a newbie manager for a production line of 120. For the first week, I sat with my boss to go over my plan of introducing myself to the line, one by one. I went to each person on the line, introduced myself, and spent 5 to 10 minutes with them. I asked them to explain their job in their own words and the last question was "How can I help you make your job on the line better?". The results were astonishing. I went back to my boss every evening with a report. Changes were m
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 13
    to the line per the workers' suggestions and I became the good guy who listens to the workers and made their jobs more tolerable. I got invited to their Sunday barbecues. I treated them as humans first because if it wasn't for them there'd be no business. This "I'm the boss" bulls doesn't work anywhere in any company. It's a setup for failure. Be a leader, not a boss.
    via CrazyEhHole
  • 14
    Guilty_Objective4602 I mean, to be fair, if you averaged 10-15 people out a day, the better solution would be to regularly staff at least 8-9 extra people to work as "floaters," then only pay overtime for the difference. But you work over several months towards getting your flexible staffing up so you can get your regular overtime down. You don't start with bold cuts to OT with no backup plan.
    via CrazyEhHole

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