Boss demands worker 'clock out' every time she's not at the desk. 8 hours later, she made him eat his words

A Reddit user, u/CommercialAlarming13, shared a story that perfectly captures what happens when management forgets common sense. The September 1 post, which gained 55,000 upvotes on Reddit, has since been deleted but reshared on Bored Panda, where it struck a chord with readers who have dealt with unreasonable workplace rules. The employee explained that they worked retail under a manager who thought "customer service" meant staying chained to the register. When the boss complained they were leaving the till too often — whether to grab change, restock bags, or even take out the trash — he introduced a new rule, "If you step away from the register, even for a second, you must clock out."

The employee decided to follow the instructions exactly as written. "At 9:10 AM, a customer smashed a jar. I clocked out, cleaned it up, then clocked back in six minutes later," they explained. "At 9:40, the receipt printer jammed. I clocked out, walked three feet to maintenance for a new roll, and clocked back in seven minutes later." It didn’t stop there. Every time they were asked to step away from the counter, they followed the same process. "By 11:15, I had already clocked out thirteen times," she recalled. "All of it was for things like grabbing coins, larger bags, or cleaning up small messes — normal parts of the job I was supposed to do on the clock."

By the end of the shift, the timecard showed nearly two hours of unpaid breaks, all for basic tasks that should have been covered on the clock. Payroll flagged the unusual record, and HR called the employee. When they presented the email from their boss spelling out the rule, it became clear who was at fault. "The rule vanished overnight, and magically we were trusted to use common sense again," the employee wrote. This situation is a classic example of malicious compliance, when employees follow orders so literally that the rules become self-defeating. Researchers found that this behavior often arises from perceived injustice and ambiguity in workplace protocols.

A 2018 study revealed that lower procedural justice within organizations strongly predicts higher instances of malicious compliance, particularly when workers feel unfairly treated. The story sparked plenty of discussion online, with many readers pointing out how they would have handled the situation. u/Perky214 commented, "I’d just have never left the register — I’m sorry, I can’t get change for you because if I do, I have to clock out, and I won’t get paid for that work task. Perhaps <manager> can help you? That makes these non-register customer service tasks 100% his problem, while you give excellent customer service at the register." 

u/desquished saod, "I used to tell my employees that I didn't care when they took their lunches, and to just clock out after a straight eight hours, basically giving them a paid lunch. I got in trouble with HR. They didn't care that I gave them the paid lunch, but not punching out made their timecards look like I was denying them a lunch break altogether, and if we ever got audited by the state, we'd get in trouble." u/Moontoya added, "'But if you're clocked out, you're working unpaid.' *blinks* Ohhhhhh, that's why the manager got a bollocking, so much exposure to involuntary risk."

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