Employee takes a firm stand when new manager forces him to change his name tag

We all have heard countless stories of managers making absurd demands of employees. From having to come in on holidays to unreasonable deadlines, one would think they have heard it all. But a Reddit user shared a hilarious story about his boss who insisted that the individual replace the name on his name tag because he felt that they were lying about it. The post has become widely popular with over 21.8K upvotes and 4.1K comments.

The individual mentions how he had a new day-shift manager who wanted to conduct the most "ridiculous flex of power." He basically wanted the individual to change the name on his name tag. He talks about the manager, saying, "He has even gone as far as to order me a new one, which I have already told him I will not wear." The individual mentions that he was currently working at a retail job while attending school after work.

He does not fully reveal his name, but many commenters guessed it to be 'Christopher.' The individual mentions how it was a very common name and most people who had the name chose to be called 'Chris.' However, when he was in school, he had other people in their class who had the same name, so he shortened his name to 'Topher' to prevent any confusion. The new nickname stuck with him for the rest of his life, with even his parents calling him that.

The manager insisted that he change what was on his nametag so customers would be able to call him by name. The individual simply replied that 'Topher' was his name. Hearing this, the arrogant manager replied, "That's not a real name, you can't just choose to name yourself." The individual clarified that that was not the case and made it clear that he would not change his name according to the whims of the manager.

Knowing he was losing the argument, the manager decided to threaten the individual by withholding their shifts till he changed what was on his nametag. The individual reasoned, "I'm pretty confident that is illegal. You can't hold my shifts over my head because I won't change my name to suit your ideal picture of what a white guy's name should be. Are you telling me that if my name was Patrick, I couldn't go by Rick? Because that's what you're saying." The manager insisted that 'Rick' was an "established name," which made no sense.

The individual was not willing to back down and mentioned a celebrity who also had the same nickname. The manager replied that he was not going to "play this game," and he expected the individual to wear the new tag when it came in. The individual replied that he would be happy to lose his job if he kept insisting on changing his established name and would sue him for "wrongful dismissal." The manager did not have a response to this and walked away angrily.

He spent the next two days trying to find reasons to get the individual fired. People supported the individual's stance and shared their thoughts in the comments. u/Alert-Potato hilariously suggested, "If they refuse to let you go by Topher, insist on Christ." u/charmbomb11 pointed out, "It's weird to me that he is saying you can wear a badge with one nickname but not the nickname you choose." u/theboytripstar said, "Why on earth does it matter if customers know your real legal name or not? What a weird hill for a manager to die on."