Your boss might get nervous if you finish a project much earlier than the time and budget that was assigned to it.

Check out the strange, contradictory instructions this person got both times she finished project work early.

Oh, I can’t read? Bet.

I used to in the employee health department of a plant that needed someone to do drug screens on the new hires, plus some other duties and THE PROJECT.

THE PROJECT was a collection of every medical piece of paper in that plant scattered in boxes, stacked to the ceiling.

No sense of order at ALL.

I was enlisted to help one day and succeeded in only managing to screw up the Excel spreadsheet they were using to attempt to collate this mess.

On days when we were slow, if we had no patients, I’d stay at my post and read.

The nervous energy begins here. Holy productivity!

And one of those days, the boss lady came by and decided to take umbrage at that hobby.

“I’d really rather you not do that. I need you doing WORK. It looks bad.”

“Ok. What else needs to be done?”

“Nothing. You’re done. Just don’t read.”

So I sat. I’m not a good sitter.

The new order is familiar. How did she make data entry sound exciting?

A temporary new boss assigns me THE PROJECT. What had taken the other two nurses months on end took me a few weeks.

After that, I started a NEW Excel spreadsheet. Data entry is one of my favorite things and I’m FAST. Name, DOB, first date listed, last date listed. Easy peasy.

I was blowing through 20-30 boxes a day. I only took lunch and bathroom breaks.

The boss comes back from sick leave, walks in and goes pale.

“I’ve been working super hard. Is it not done right?”

“It’s great, but it’s GONE!”

“Yes ma’am, I’ve made decent progress.”

“We told them we needed at least X amount of time to complete that project and as fast as you’ve gone, there won’t be any work left to do.”

“So, what else can I do?”

So she can read now? Victory!

“Do a box, read a book. Do a box, take a nap.”

And that’s how I got permission to read in my down time at work. After 15 years it still makes me laugh.

Let’s see what people are saying in the comments.

So that’s why people want to work for the government! Sounds boring to me.

I liked that, too. What a wholesome comment.

Haha I doubt it, but it wouldn’t help! A lot of people said similar things.

Right? Nothing malicious here!

I love this response. It’s not an employee’s fault if the boss don’t know how to maximize a person’s value.

That reminds me, I need to find some books to read this summer.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.