Employee starts arriving to work at 7:00 AM to beat his boss, only to realize he's forcing his boss to come in 1.5 hours earlier: 'The director demands all managers to arrive before the first staff member arrives'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 22, 2025 8:00 AM EST

This employee sounds like a manager's worst nightmare.

This was the kind of person with an outdated approach to work-life boundaries and an over-the-top desire to go above and beyond for his boss… despite the fact that no one else really cares. 

Unfortunately for this manager, however, he had no choice but to care. There was a clear mandate in this unnecessarily strict workplace environment that managers needed to arrive at the office before the first person on their team shows up. To that end, they also needed to stay late until the last person on their team departs.

Now, to this employee's credit, he was unaware that his manager had to abide by that rule. Instead, he was actually trying to get extra "points" with his manager by attempting to be at the office before he got there. Little did he know, every time the employee arrived earlier, the next day, his manager adjusted his morning schedule so that he could be there before his subordinate. The cycle went on and on. 

One person was trying to impress his manager with an outdated view about corporate optics, while the other had to suffer as a result of those efforts just to follow policy.

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  • First of all, the real culprit in this situation is whoever is responsible for the policy itself. People should arrive to work when they're supposed to, according to the hours expressly written in their respective contracts. One has to wonder if this manager was even getting properly compensated for showing up earlier and earlier day in and day out. Based on how backwards this workplace culture is, our guess is that he was not getting paid  overtime…

  • "I'm forcing my boss to arrive at the office every day at 7AM."

    I just started a new job and decided I want to make a good impression by being in the office a little early (also so the manager cannot see if I'm only here for 5 minutes or if I was already here for 1 hour, so nobody questions me if I leave early).
    via Th3_Accountant
  • So I started coming in between 8:00- 8:15. The first day I noticed I was the first, but the rest of the week my boss would already be there as 8:00. Apparently he is an early bird as well.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • So the next week I arrived at 7:30. Again; I'm the first one on the first day. But the rest of the week that guy is already in the office before I arrive. I am truly wondering now, at what time this guy goes to work.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • So last week I arrive at 7:00 on Monday and the same thing happened, Tuesday that guy was already sitting at his desk when I arrived.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • So yesterday I asked him; what time do you usually arrive at work since you are here extremely early. And he confessed that the director demands all managers to arrive before the first staff member arrives and leave only after the last staff member leaves.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • So me trying to beat him to to the office was forcing him to get out out bed 1.5 hours early to be at the office at the ass crack of dawn, while still having to work until the last team member leaves at around 5:30 PM. Anyway, tomorrow I will be at the office at 8:30 sharp then.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • A man sleeps at his desk with coffee and his laptop nearby.
    via Vitaly Gariev

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

  • sustainablecaptalist • My only worry was that, if it had continued, then you'd both be at the office yesterday for today's shift.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • DutchTinCan Now I'm honestly wondering which company this is... S
    via Th3_Accountant
  • flowerandmoons_ Respectfully, wtf
    via Th3_Accountant
  • kae0603. If they use a computer, they have access to when everyone signs on. Your co workers don't know when you start work, but your manager most certainly does. They likely have cameras as well.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • greywar777 • LOL, I once had a similar issue with workers overseas. They were told they couldn't go home until *I* asked to call it for the night. Me? Id never been to China before so had no idea what the work ethic was. We worked non stop 16 hour days for over a month.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • One day the local guy is chatting about how much his family misses him and I find out he went from 8 hour days 5 days a week to 16 hour days 7 days a week because of me.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • Most-Present972 Damn you sound difficult
    via Th3_Accountant
  • GabrielXS . Take him aside, look him dead in the eyes and say this can carry on or you can make me a manager too.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • MilkTeaSwirl Interesting. In Hong Kong (and maybe other Asian cities/countries), while not a formal policy, it's somewhat expected for employees to be there before their boss/manager and leave after the boss leaves.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • Arefue Well that sounds like a badly run organisation. Good luck.
    via Th3_Accountant
  • dandyflyin . "I can be CFO in 5 years" frankly, you sound like an idiot. You are more concerned with the time than the product. I'd fire you once I learned your immature, time wasting (and money wasting) game.
    via Th3_Accountant

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commute workplace-stories employee morning person horrible-management Office supervisor toxic-work-environment
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