There’s always one coworker that works harder to leave their shift early than they do at their actual job!

And hey, I respect the hustle more than anyone, but when you expect me to start picking up your slack? That’s where we run into a problem.

So when this user’s coworker kept taking advantage of her coming in early, she was left no choice but to stop coming early, and left the woman in tears when she couldn’t clock out early!

Check it out!

Boss says I can’t come in early to set up my cart. So I come in right at clock in. Coworker who leaves early gets mad at me

So this happened back in 2015 through 2016. I (now 28F) was working as a phlebotomist in a local hospital and I worked first shift, which was about 3 am to 3 pm.

I loved to come in about 10 to 15 minutes early and just set up my cart.

Nothing fancy, just metal wired shelving types and we had our own personal phlebotomist trays that we put in the top section of the cart.

I didn’t always restock my tray before leaving my shift, so I’d typically come in early to organize it and get my metal cart ready.

It usually took me maybe 5 minutes to put my tray on a cart and put the handful of tubes I needed in place, then I’d spend the rest of my time waking up in the break room with coffee.

But OP said that when a new nurse started working at her hospital, things became a little contentious…

Well, one woman (can’t remember her age) who came in to work a few months after I started and I had issues.

I found her lazy and rude. Examples: she would come in and snap at people when they tried to help her.

She would take a book with her during morning rush (which was 3a – 6/7a) and sit on the floor to read and not come back to the lab to help after collecting her labs.

And that was only the half of her infuriating behavior…

She would hang out during the nurses celebrations and not come back for hours at a time.

She wouldn’t clock in until the last second and then she’d clock out the earliest minute she could.

When it was time to start the morning rush, she’d get mad if someone took the stack of labs she wanted and she’d go demanding them.

She and I worked the same overnight shift, but I got tired of her attitude and switched shifts.

Unfortunately, the shift change didn’t stop the woman from being a thorn in OP’s side…

Well, like I said, I liked to come early and set up my cart before I clocked in.

She figured this out quickly, so she would try to hand me the stroke or trauma pager

This was something that needed to be handed to the next phlebotomist who was scheduled to take it that shift, but she’d try to give me hers even if I wasn’t scheduled for that one.

I refused, saying “I’m not clocked in yet”.

But that fact didn’t keep the woman from leaving it with OP!

So, she just left it on my cart a few times without telling me, which lead to it going off for a call to the ER and I had to clock in early.

When I saw her in the lab again, I told her to never do that again, the conversation got heated, which lead to a meeting with me, the coworker, and our supervisor.

Our supervisor took her side and said “Just take it and if it goes off, you clock in and then I will adjust the clock in on the computer”, saying she’d shorten my time on the clock.

So OP decided if that’s the attitude her boss wanted to take, than she would just stop coming in early!

So I said fine. I set my alarm for later in the mornings and I started coming in the last minute I could to clock in at 2:59 am. Yes, it made me start my rush a little later.

But the look on my coworkers face when she saw me later (right before she was to clock out) as she was trying to hand me a pager I wasn’t scheduled to have and I already had the one I was supposed to, was priceless.

She complained to the supervisor, who tried to talk to me, but I said:

“Well I’m not supposed to be here until 3, so that’s when I get here and clock in now. I don’t want my hours messed up”.

The supervisor realized that this was a monster of her own creation, and let it go!

She didn’t even try to argue. The coworker was very upset.

She even screamed through the lab, demanding someone take her pager so she could go home.

It was still 20 minutes until her shift was done.

She’s literally a grown woman throwing a temper tantrum that she has to work until the end of her shift! Talk about immature!

Reddit loved to see OP stand up for herself, and many healthcare workers ran to the comments with their own hospital horror stories.

Or this person who was screamed at while violently throwing up…

Not to mention this user’s coworker who took advantage of them right up until they quit!

Finally, this user experienced the same exact thing as OP,  until their boss finally set the woman straight!

Oh no, you actually have to do your job? Sorry if I don’t feel bad for you!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.