Employee's hilarious way of complying with boss demanding them to work overtime amuses the internet

Working overtime is a bitter pill for most employees, especially if they are expected to spend hours at the office with no meaningful work to do. It brings down their morale to a certain extent. Many stories on the internet talk about how managers or bosses have unrealistic expectations from employees. One such instance was shared by u/Fun-Pin9061 on Reddit recently, where the employee had a witty idea to comply maliciously with their boss' ridiculous demand. This hilarious story not only amused many on the internet but also made them reminisce about similar situations they had faced.

The employee recalled their experience working with a boss who demanded that the workers stay late even if there was no work. "It was one of those toxic environments where productivity was measured by the hours you spent at your desk rather than the actual output of your work," the employee explained. One day, as the Reddit user was in the process of wrapping up their daily responsibilities before leaving for the day, their boss approached them and asked them to stay at their desk for a few more hours. "That's just how things are done around here," was the boss' reason. Though the employee had no more tasks, they decided not to argue with the boss and played along with his "ridiculous demand for overtime pay."

Picking up a book they had planned on reading for a long time, the employee spent their overtime reading at their desk. "For the next two hours, I sat at my desk, flipping through pages, occasionally pretending to jot down notes and looking as busy as possible," they shared. Eventually, the boss, who expected to see the employee working hard on "imaginary tasks," was perplexed when he came to check on them. Seeing the employee reading a novel, the boss asked, "What are you doing?" and the employee brazenly replied, "Well, you asked me to stay late. So, I figured I might as well put in some overtime. This book has been on my reading list for a while."

The employee's response left the boss speechless. Even if he wanted to argue, the employee left him no option because they were "technically still on the clock." Their smart yet amusing retaliation worked out and the boss never asked them to stay late from then on unless they actually had some tasks left to do. "Malicious compliance at its finest," the employee wrote. Many found this story too relatable and were keen on sharing their own experiences.

"I miss working for the military. My job was to test software. I knew it was broken, but the logs were empty. So many a night, I spent reading a book and just waiting for it to crash with the hope that I'd catch it in the act. I never did figure the damn thing out, but I got a lot of reading in," wrote u/grauenwolf. "During Y2K, our support team was told to do overnight on New Year's and plan to be on 16-hour shifts for a week. Food was provided. There was a hotel nearby to crash. The company had spent two years preparing everything for the four-digit year. We sat there collecting our overtime, eating Chinese food and subs and whatnot for three days. We got four actual tickets between the twelve of us," commented u/Starrion. "'We are going to pay you overtime whether you like it or not.' Bill comes due. 'We are not paying for overtime, like it or not.' Conclusion: Clearly what the employees wanted didn't matter," wrote u/Perfect-Scene9541.