Boss enforces rule that doesn't allow employees to work overtime but still assigns last-minute work on Fridays at 4:50 for Monday, so the employee complied: 'I clock out, grab my bag, and walk out while he’s still standing there with his mouth open'

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Sep 24, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

If they can't work overtime, then don't force them to…

I'm always finding out new ways in which bosses end up mistreating employees. Is there a secret power they acquire when they get promoted to the manager position? Is there something, mentally, that changes into making them completely unlikeable and always looking for new ways in which they can make their employees' lives harder? I don't think so. There are bosses who are kind and try to teach everything they have learned through their years in the industry. They are completely likeable, and when your work relationship with them ends, you always keep the good memories you made. So the fact that some bosses are horrible is not exactly associated with the promotion. Most probably, they were already awful people who got more power than they deserved, and that makes them think that any other employee was below them and deserved zero respect. Would you agree with that statement? I certainly do. 

In the case of this story, it feels like a great example of my statement. This person is trying to make employees work more than they should, as it definitely requires more than office hours to complete the task, but without having to pay them one more cent. When the employee confronted his boss, magically the task wasn't offered to him anymore, especially not on a Friday at 4.50 p.m. So did it magically disappear, or did this boss just get his mouth closed by somebody cleverer than him? Whichever the case is, he definitely got what he deserved, which was someone showing him that hecouldn't get away with EVERYTHING. There is a limit to power, and that limit is set by the most clever person in the room. So be that person. Stand your ground, be sensible, and don't ever transform into a boss who feels like he's better than everybody else and so his employees can just be mistreated by him. You have to definitely promise that last part. We don't need any new bosses behaving that horribly in the future. The change starts with you. 

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  • 01
    My old office had a strict "no overtime without pre-approval" policy. Fair enough. But my boss was the type who would dump last-minute work on you at 4:50 and then act shocked when you stayed late. One Friday he hands me a stack of client files at 4:47 and says, "I need these reviewed and the summary email sent before you leave."
    via plaintextcoder
  • 02
    The boss at the company. Featured likenesses do not identify those mentioned.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The boss at the company. 

    Featured likenesses do not identify those mentioned. 

  • 03
    I look at the clock. "It's 4:47. Policy says I have to be clocked out by 5:00 or I get written up." He waves it off. "Just finish it. Don't be difficult." I smile and say, "Of course." I open the first file, start reading... very... slowly. At 4:59 I save my progress, close the documents, and stand up. Boss: "Where are you going?
    via plaintextcoder
  • 04
    You're not done." Me: "It's 5:00. Policy is clear. Clock out exactly at 5:00 or written up. No exceptions." I clock out, grab my bag, and walk out while he's still standing there with his mouth open. Monday morning he calls me into his office, red-faced. "You left those files unfinished on purpose."
    via plaintextcoder
  • 05
    Me: "I followed the rule you enforce every single day. Would you like me to write myself up for the overtime I didn't do?" He never gave me another last- minute dump after that. The files somehow got finished by someone else over the weekend. Sometimes the best way to win is to follow the rules harder than they ever wanted.
    via plaintextcoder
  • 06
    An office with employees working in their cubicles.
    via Israel Andrade

    An office with employees working in their cubicles. 

  • 07
    Needless-To-Say I had a great manager once who told me that sometimes you just need to let things fail. My role was a fixer, whether that be customer relationships, technology or communication. It was hard for me to just let things go but it sure is effective at fixing underlying issues.
    via Needless--Say
  • 08
    Bladrak01 Why didnt the boss just tell them they were approved to stay late.
    via Bladrak01
  • 09
    Nuo_Vibro I was in the RAF when my squadron leader ambushed me on a Friday afternoon. I volunteered to stay behind to close of play so everyone else could beat the traffic and go home for the weekend. 1600 rolled over and he opened my office door and asked me if I could do XYZ which would have taken me around 4hrs. I just looked at the clock and sighed and he stopped and said "no vibro you're right. Make a note and get on
    via Nuo_Vibro
  • 10
    it Monday morning." Top bloke
    via Nuo_Vibro
  • 11
    BagBegBigBogBug My employer frequently asks for volunteers to work at remote locations with longer hours/days, but they sweeten the pot with bonus pay and overtime. Except recently they would wait till the employee got on-site, then cancel the OT pay approval. So the employees work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, but get paid for normal 40 hour weeks. They're stuck where
    via BagBegBigBogBug
  • 12
    they are for several months, then many of them immediately quit as soon as they get back home. Employer's response is to push for hiring inexperienced people for less $ and just eat the attrition while delivering crappier service for the customers.
    via BagBegBigBogBug
  • 13
    hypothetical_zombie I had a boss who would do this to me. Sure, drop a stack of bug reports on me at 4:45pm on a Friday, no problem. That stopped quickly, because without fail, I would find a bigger problem causing the small problem the user had reported. And the bigger problem was for the upper database management team. Which meant my boss and the two guys making 6
    via hypothetical_zombie
  • 14
    figures weren't going home at 5, but I was.
    via hypothetical_zombie
  • 15
    18k_gold my old boss said no OT unless the director approves it or get written up. During a team meeting after my shift on a call with the team. 2 people called out, he immediately asks if anyone wants to work OT? No one volunteers, he asks me since I was the OT king. I asked if the director approved this OT? No, he didn't. ok sorry I can't do it then, don't want to get written up. He was ped while others laughed.
    via 18k_gold
  • 16
    Main_Bake6972 The part that always got me is they genuinely believe both things at the same time. In their head the policy is real and the overtime is also real and it's your job to make those two facts get along. And if you can't, that's a you problem. You're being difficult. What you did is the only move. You can't argue with it because arguing means admitting he was asking you to break the rule. So he just has to stand there and watch you leave.
    via Main_Bake6972
  • 17
    Jwiere03 I've worked for a few of those companies; they dump a week's worth of work to be completed by the end of the day and then act surprised that you aren't in the parking lot by 5:01. Then they start prefacing all assignments with something like "Shouldn't take long if you focus..." or "Our staff has great work life balance as long as they buckle down when it's time to work".
    via Jwiere03

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corporate malicious compliance office life petty revenge overworked-employees
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