New manager insists that employees fill in payroll sheets after hours, faces fortnightly Friday hold ups while they did them after 5PM: 'We decided we'd take our time'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Sep 24, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

It is often said that employees do not quit bad jobs, but rather, they quit bad bosses. In all kinds of roles, the way in which we are managed is one of the most important factors in how satisfied we are at work, so it is quite unfortunate that genuinely good managers can seem hard to come by. Working under somebody whose only job seems to be making your life harder and more uncomfortable is not a pleasant experience.

One of the few upsides of having an annoying manager is if there is an opportunity to get back at them for their unacceptable behavior. It doesn't always happen, but if it does, it is often the result of their own mistakes. Needless to say, this can make the process all the more satisfying. What is even better than quitting a job with a bad boss is seeing them leave first.

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  • This is what happened for one employee and their coworkers after their normal supervisor took an extended leave of absence and was replaced by a man who wanted to change things up. To the annoyance of the whole team, one thing he wanted to change was when payroll sheets were filled out—making them do it at the end of the day on Friday, so the forms couldn't be processed until Monday morning.

    Thankfully, it wasn't that difficult for the employees to make an example of why this change was a bad idea for everyone involved, and karma took its course.

  • a man writing while sitting at a desk
    via Vitaly Gariev

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

  • Manager insisted we do timesheets after hours

    At our work, time sheets have to be filled in every fortnight on a Friday, by close of business, to be processed first thing Monday morning. Our manager was a really chill woman who would sign off on timesheets Friday morning, and then send them to payroll before 5pm.
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • She went on leave because her daughter was having a baby, and we got some young dude to temporarily fill in as manager. This guy was a total d-bag. One of the things he did was insist we complete time sheets only AFTER we'd worked our fortnightly hours.
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • someone writing at a desk with papers and a calculator
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • This meant we had to work until 5, then get our timesheets signed, and then get them to payroll. Except payroll closes at 5. Which meant we couldn't get our timesheets to payroll until Monday morning, and they'd be processed late.
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • So we decided we'd take our time filling in timesheets, a lot of us hang around chatting on a Friday because there's a bar across the road that does cheap drinks 6-7pm. So we'd leisurely do our timesheets, and dbag manager would have to hang around to sign them all. One week we didn't give them to him until right before 6pm. He was PISSED.
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • This lasted about 6 weeks. I guess something got flagged somewhere that our whole department wasn't getting paid on time. Dbag manager was quickly identified as the culprit and given the boot. They ended up getting one of my coworkers to take over until our real manager came back.
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • close up of office building windows at night
    via Mitchell Luo

  • Commenters marvelled at the lack of logic on display.

    PAUL_DNAP Surely you added the hour overtime you spent to fill out the timesheet to your timesheet?
    via PAUL_DNAP
  • JoeyJoJo_Senior OP Oh yes. And he had to approve the overtime as well
    via JoeyJoJo_Senior
  • Real UltimatePapo Dbag did not think this through at all. What did he have to gain by staying back himself?
    via RealUltimatePapo
  • Fightmemod As a manager the last fucking thing I'm doing when filling in for another manager is rocking the boat. I've got way more than enough shit to do than needlessly piss off a whole other department. This tells me that d-bag had nothing better to do and was a drain on the company. All I do when filling in for another manager is approve time sheets and PTO, maybe take a few calls and monitor their email so they don't come back to a mess.
    via Fightmemod
  • Cakeriel Don't forget to include time doing time sheet in the time sheet.
    via Cakeriel
  • bstrauss3 Filling out your timesheet is work. Work gets compensated. If they want you to fill them out after the close of the work week, that's the first 15 minutes of Monday's work time.
    via bstrauss3
  • Zoreb1 At my place we did time sheets Friday morning. If there needed to be a correction (like leaving sick in the afternoon) it could be done Monday morning. I suppose it is easier to change one or two time sheets Monday than to input them all.
    via Zoreb1
  • vandon Filling timesheets is part of the job. If you were doing it off the clock, someone in management is going to get in trouble.
    via vandon
  • JustSomeGuy_56 "Excuse me boss. What is the charge code for the time I spend filling out my time sheet?"
    via JustSomeGuy_56
  • Astarath Bro arrives at a new place and immediately start pondering how to ruin whats already working
    via Astarath
  • Dirty_Dragons That's really weird. My boss sends out reminders every two weeks at 2 pm to do the timesheets. We also get another reminder at 3 pm from payroll telling us that we better have signed the sheets. The team lead reminds everybody on Webex around noon to sign them.
    via Dirty_Dragons
  • appleblossom 1962 D- bag manager, let a tiny bit of power to his head. He just proved he's not ready for the position yet.
    via appleblossom1962
  • AlaskanDruid At my place, you must fill out your timesheets 3 days before the end of the pay period. Somehow, we are supposed to magically know what will occur 3 days in advance.
    via AlaskanDruid
  • TheCheshireGhost I had a manager try and explain to me that it was inappropriate for me to report the hour it took to do my time, as billable work. They insisted it was my responsibility. I insisted they paid me for work I produced for them. I never stopped doing it but he did stop complaining eventually.
    via TheCheshireGhost

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Payroll manager work timesheet workplace employee malicious compliance reddit thread Reddit
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