Hardworking employee has the last laugh after micromanaging boss punishes him for coming late

Many employees often turn out to be crucial to a company's functioning. However, some employers do not realize how important they are and underestimate their importance, which can sometimes backfire on them. u/fire_me_anytime shared a fantastic story about how their friend Bobby turned the tables on his foreman, who caused him a lot of trouble for being late one day. The story has gained traction on the site with 26K upvotes and 1K comments. Bobby worked as a CNC machinist for his company and had a crucial role in making the company's products.

The finished product went on the market for a high price and Bobby's contribution to it was very important. The individual wrote, "It took 3 hours to make this piece. Bobby would make 3 a day. He'd make one in the morning, take his coffee break, then make another, and take his lunch break." So, making two pieces would almost take up 7 hours. However, Bobby was a hard worker, so he would stay back on overtime to make the third part of the day. All was going well until a new foreman came in who troubled Bobby unnecessarily.

The friend revealed, "He'd try to get Bobby to do other tasks, and Bobby said no, as he needed to monitor the CNC machine during all stages of the cycle." The foreman was not too happy with this and complained to the plant manager about Bobby, but was ultimately asked to leave him alone. He decided to get back at Bobby for refusing him when there was a snowstorm and Bobby ended up coming into work 10 minutes late. The foreman was there to greet him with a "demerit slip" because Bobby had clocked in a minute late the week before. According to Union rules, if any employee was found to be late twice within 14 days, they would receive 20 demerit points.

Bobby was naturally not too happy with this. The individual shared, "Bobby and foreman got into a bit of an animated conversation and the Union Steward came over and said that Bobby had no choice but to take the demerit hit." The foreman's behavior was getting to him, so Bobby decided to do something about it. His shift was originally intended to be from 8 AM to 4:30 PM, but he stayed back till 6:30 to make the third part. After this incident, he stopped the machine at exactly 4:30 and exited work.

The following morning, his foreman informed him that the assembly team was short a part. Bobby said, "Yeah, I know. I'm working on it right now. It'll be done in 2 hours." The foreman replied, "But they need 3 a day. Why didn't you make 3 of them yesterday?" Bobby casually replied, "Because my shift is over at 4:30, and I went home." The foreman was shocked to hear this and pointed out how Bobby usually stayed back to finish making the third part. Bobby pulled the demerit slip out of his pocket and informed the foreman that he would no longer do that.

Bobby had figured out that the company relied heavily on him making three parts a day. The post read, "Foreman tried to sweep it under the rug, but within a few days, chaos ensued. The assemblers had no core part, and their team went to the Plant Manager to let him know that production was falling." Soon enough, a meeting happened to resolve the issue and the foreman blamed Bobby for refusing to work overtime. The Union Steward quickly pointed out that according to Bobby's contract, he only needed to work overtime in case of emergencies.

The foreman got frustrated and started yelling at everybody. At this point, he was asked to leave the meeting. The Plant Manager asked Bobby what it would take to get him to work overtime. Bobby stated, "As long as Foreman is my supervisor, I won't be working a minute of OT." The foreman quickly got fired and a new one was hired who was explicitly told not to mess with Bobby. Being a nice employee, Bobby worked on Saturdays to make up for the lack of pieces. People loved how Bobby handled the situation and shared words of support in the comments section. 

u/PM_ME_C_CODE suggested, "A smart plant manager would hire a second CNC guy and have Bobby train him to also make the part. Then just put one of them on a night shift and up the output to 4 parts per day." u/an0mn0mn0m said, "The dream job. The single point of failure for the whole company. He's got them over a barrel until they learn not to depend on just him." u/Old-AF pointed out, "That doesn’t sound like a very sound business plan if something untoward happens to Bobby."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 17, 2024. It has since been updated.