Employee maliciously complies with boss' 'mandatory 40 hours' work policy to teach them a lesson

Many people have started to ridicule the 40-hour work policy that companies treat as a common thing. In reality, such long hours hinder productivity and can be counter-productive in the long run. u/oopspoopsdoops6566 shared how they tactfully got back at their employer, who had a stringent 40-hour working policy. The post has gained 3.6K upvotes and 140 comments on Reddit.

The employee begins the post by sharing that they worked for a company that tried with as "little labor overhead" as they could manage. So, they would hire under-qualified individuals and then go on to expect excellent results. It was managed by a husband and wife, who ran it "like it was a Fortune 500 company." The organization consisted of roughly 30-40 employees.

They write, "They'd implement all sorts of policies. Most of them were arbitrary and very micromanaging." One of these policies included "mandatory 40 hours," which meant that employees would have to come in on Saturday if they missed any work during the week. Every time this happened, employees would get a "strike." If anybody got three strikes, they would be fired.

One day, the employee had to leave work half an hour early and they cleared it with their on-site boss. A few days later, the employee gets a call from one of the owners "double checking" that they would show up on Saturday for the time they missed. They write, "I explained it was only a 1/2 an hour I missed and she said there were no excuses accepted. I needed to work my 40 hours otherwise, I'd get a strike."

The employee decided to teach them a lesson and said they would be there on Saturday. They arrive at the site at 7 AM in the morning and see that the boss is assigning duties to everyone. There are about 15 people at the place and the employee deliberately stands at the back. Soon enough, their boss approaches them and it is already 7:25 AM. As the boss begins to tell the employee their duties for the day, at that point, the employee cuts him off.

They write, "I explain to him that I was told I needed to work my 40 hours and that since I missed 1/2 an hour of work, I only needed to make up 1/2 an hour and would be leaving at 7:30 AM." Upon hearing this, their boss inquired why they couldn't stay all day and get some overtime. The employee promptly told him they were only required to work 40 hours a week and they had other plans.

Later next week, the employee got a speech from the bosses when they returned to the office, but that was about it. Funnily enough, the redundant policy was stopped a few weeks after the incident. People on the platform loved the story and expressed their thoughts in the comment section.

u/Effective-Ladder9459 said, "This is one of those places that think work should be your main focus and everything else comes second." u/ShadowDragon8685 pointed out, "Check your local labor laws. There may be a minimum number of hours working-shift that the employer is required to honor; like, if they call you in for half an hour, they still have to pay you two hours' wages."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 16, 2023. It has since been updated.