Having a job as a teenager is a great way to earn some money and learn responsibility at the same time.

Unfortunately, the teen in this story also learned a lesson about how bad managers can make a job miserable.

Check out the details to see how she ended up getting good money, and her boss fired, after working a long shift.

“Clean the store TOP TO BOTTOM. Don’t leave until you do.” …yes boss

This happened when I worked in retail around 2005 (I was 15).

I was working at a very small grocery store and although it was a small store we were always busy, as it was near a popular beach and along a highway rest area.

As a teenager (or even an adult) at work, there is nothing better than getting double time!

The night before, I’d worked from 12am until 6am packing shelves (there was a huge delivery coming in that had to be stocked for the next day). I was offered double time pay for the shift so I jumped at chance to work it.

At 12pm that afternoon (6 hours after finishing the packing shift and barely getting 5 hours of sleep) I got a call from the assistant manager (Fran) who wanted me to come in to work a shift.

I explained that I’d just finished a shift and had only had a few hours sleep.

Why does Fran think it is her responsibility to cover a missed shift?

FRAN: “But the other girl has called in sick and you’re the closest person.” (I lived in the motel next door. My family were managing the motet at this point).

ME: (too naive to know that I didn’t legally have to come in and should have been payed overtime for working back to back shifts) “Fine. But I’m working on 5 hours sleep so don’t expect me to do much.”

I got dressed and walked like a zombie to the store.

When I arrived we were extremely quiet, with the occasional customer every 10 minutes or so. I was surprised she called me in at all, considering that even on a busy day, 1 person can run the store on their own.

FRAN: (around 2pm) “I’m going on my break. Will you clean the store while I’m gone?”

I picked up a duster, knelt down on my knees and proceeded to dust underneath the shelves (It had been thoroughly cleaned during the 6 hour packing shift I’d done a few hours ago so it didn’t need mopped).

FRAN: “No. Not like THAT. You need to get UNDER the shelf to clean it.”

ME: “Why can’t you do it? I’m exhausted and I’m doing my best not to fall asleep on the spot.” (I’d informed her that I’d done the midnight packing shift).

I can’t help but notice that Fran won’t work due to a sore back, but she doesn’t care about OP’s exhaustion.

FRAN: “You have to do it. I have a bad back.”

Fran then proceeded to grab the duster and lean down (against OSHA bending guidelines) and dusted underneath the shelf to demonstrate. Making it look easy for someone who “claimed” to have a bad back.

FRAN: “I’m going on my 15 minute break and by the time I come back I want the floors to be spotless. Don’t do anything else”

Oh, I can already see the malicious compliance coming.

ME: “Absolutely. Spotless. Got ya.”

It was 2:02pm at this point and I knew that ANY MINUTE NOW there would be a tour bus arriving (it arrived around 2pm every day).

Queue the malicious compliance. I started cleaning under EVERY shelf and EVERY display like my life depended on it, and a few minutes after Fran had left, costumers began to trickle in.

But I was under STRICT instructions to ONLY clean under the shelves. Customers began to cue at the register (this was before there was self serve registers).

CUSTOMER: (after noticing I was there but not serving them) “Hello? Are you working? Can I get some service please?”

ME: “I’m so sorry Sir.” (bringing out my innocent puppy dog eyes and red, tear dusted eyes from lack of sleep) “I was told I HAD to clean the floors and I wasn’t allowed to do anything else. I really don’t want to lose my job.”

The customer stormed out of the store and a few minutes later, came back with Fran in tow (she had been outside smoking).

CUSTOMER: (addressing Fran) “This poor young lady is in tears because you threatened her job. Fran, you have to stop doing this to your staff.

Frank (the manager in charge of Fran) will be hearing about this.”

ME: (feeling brave an empowered by this) “I TOLD you I’m working on 5 hours of sleep after working all might with Frank packing shelves.

I’m going to go home to sleep. I believe you have some customers that need serving.”

I was so tired and angry that I didn’t care if I was fired, so I went home and slept for most of the afternoon.

It turned out that that customer was one of Frank’s close friends and was the driver of the tour bus that arrived every day.

I turned up to work my regular shift the next day and explained to Frank everything that had happened and how Fran had treated me.

He told me to go back to work and he would take care of it.

Fran got a HARSH talking to about her behavior and conduct in the work place and was let go.

This was her FINAL warning, as she had been doing this for months to other staff members.

ASSISTANT managers don’t have as much power as they think they do. Oh, and her “bad back”? She didn’t have any back issues.

She just used this excuse to not have to do anything at work.

Good job taking the high road and being friendly here, I bet it drove Fran crazy.

I never saw Fran in work uniform after that but she did come in from time to time to buy groceries (we were the only grocery store in the area, apart from a takeaway shop).

I’d always give the same “Hi. Welcome to [store location]. How are you today?” with the BIGGEST grin on my face. Boy was that sweet!

This is a great example of her following the letter of the law rather than the spirit.

And the results were golden.

Let’s see what other Redditors had to say about the story.

Exactly. There are way too many bad bosses out there that need to learn this lesson.

Fran knew exactly what she was doing, and it came back to bite her in the best way.

A lack of sleep really can be torture (though I’m not sure getting 5 hours rises to that level).

When will bosses learn that they have to treat their employees with respect?

Apparently never, if Reddit is anything to go by.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.