When it comes to almost any job, safety should always be the number one priority, and that is especially true for jobs at train stations.

What happens when a manager tells a new employee to do something that might help safety a tiny bit but causes all the trains to get delayed?

That is what the man in this story had to deal with, but he ended up putting his boss in his place.

Read on for the full details.

Nobody past the yellow line? Gotchya!

I had just started work at one of the big railway companies as a safety officer/customer service rep.

Now as you can imagine that is basically herding sheep and not very effectively.

Safety is the most important thing.

People have places to go but I’d rather they didn’t end up dead.

During probation one of the bosses got moved to my station, now this guy could not have fit the police description of a brown-noser more if he’d tried.

Ugg, I hate people like that.

Looked like he spent the last 40 years dreaming of having a badge on with significance and by God he was gonna use it.

On the platform of every station there is a yellow line on the floor, few feet from the edge, to signify where not to walk lest the turbulence turns you into a trains doormat.

Simple stuff, and when a train is pulling up you’re to keep everyone behind it.

No issues so far, that’s literally my job.

Now for weeks he’d been a stickler for his way but he would mask it as “this came from head office” but on this particular day, whatever bee was in his bonnet came out in full force and he was masking nothing.

Once a train was stopped, so long as you don’t have a full gaggle at the door, we usually have no issues with one or two people (you know, the London crowd who won’t wait) being next to the door ready, it’s efficient if nothing else.

The train had stopped, three people were waiting for the doors to open, they did, the train left.

This guy starts shouting from literally the other platform, in front of other travellers, roasting the heck out of me.

Safety yes, but this was obscene.

I’m sure the train company knew what it was doing, no need for a rogue manager.

So he decided to enact a rule of his own

“If you want to pass this probation i want to see everyone behind that yellow line for a full 30 seconds before you signal to let the doors open. If a single person moves you talk to them about safety and wait again”

“So let me get this straight, that 30 seconds resets for every time someone else doesn’t listen and crosses the line”

“Did I stutter?”

Did you what? Oh you’re on sweet child!

I bet the passengers were MAD!

Across that day, I was honestly looking at my watch more than I was anything else.

Remember, it’s for your safety after all!

Plot twist? Dual line station, one into the city, one on the way to London.

No way past it. If a train is delayed, nothing else moves.

Cue about two hours later and sure enough the dweeb manager comes charging down the platform.

You’d think the manager could figure it out.

“What the heck are all these delays for?! I’ve got head office tearing us a new one!”

“Just making sure we adhere to the thirty seconds boss! I’ve never had so much feedback about safety!”

“Well the feedback I’m getting is we now have a near ten train bottleneck at this station”

“Firstly, it’s you have a bottleneck its not us, second I’m merely doing exactly as you asked”

His face dropped, clearly understanding what had happened.

“Right then well you can talk to the area manager and explain this for yourself because he’s going to be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“He’s coming here? HAH! DEAL!”

Did he go as white as a ghost? Yes.

Did he try stopping me seeing the area manager? Yes.

Was he successful? No!

This guy was trouble from the start.

What ensued was maybe a twenty minute conversation between me and the area manager, me finding out that this manager had been moved more than a few times for “various issues.”

The meeting between them two lasted probably 90 seconds if that.

Then a very sheepish looking manager slowly slinked up to me and in the lowest voice ever said “you’re doing a good job, I trust you to use your judgement with the onboarding process” and then immediately scuttled away.

He’s moved on since, but apparently it was a personal request this time…can’t think why.

Why is it that so many people let power go to their heads?

Let’s take a look at what some of the people in the comments said about this story.

Exactly right.

A heads-up would be nice.

He really should have realized.

The difference can be subtle. lol.

He was doing exactly as he was told.

People in power should not be on a power trip.

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.