Almost all jobs have a set schedule where you are supposed to be working, but in most cases there can be some flexibility.

What would you do if your manager wanted you to be in trouble for being three minutes late even though you routinely stay after work without any overtime?

That is what happened to the employee in this story, so he started working his exact schedule and not a minute more even when his boss really needed him to stay late.

Check it out.

“You need to be better at timekeeping….” OK then, I will…

This one day in particular I arrived at work the same time as my Team Leader’s boss.

I walk across the car park and in through the doors to our office, merely seconds after him.

He doesn’t say anything to me from across the car park even though he saw me, he doesn’t even acknowledge me at all.

The time was 0703 and I was supposed to start at 0700 (just like him).

Later that day my Team Leader gets an email from this guy telling him to give me a bollocking for being late.

My Team Leader (who also happens to be a good buddy of mine outside of work) didn’t give me a bollocking, but instead replied and told his boss that I regularly work an hour or so later after work and don’t claim any overtime for it.

At the time I was young and didn’t have any commitments waiting for me back home and I was the type of guy who would want to finish a job off before leaving.

My Team Leader’s boss told him that he didn’t care, that my working day started at 0700 and he expected me at my desk at that time every day.

He said he was sick of my “relaxed” attitude towards timekeeping.

That’s the kind of boss you want.

My buddy showed me the email back and forth between them (which he wasn’t supposed to do) and just shrugged and said something like “At least now you know, I don’t give care, as far as I’m concerned you do more than your stated hours, but he’s clearly gunning for you. Just watch your back”.

So I decided I’d take the bosses words to heart and from that day until I left (for a much better job) I arrived at work at 0650 each morning, got myself a morning brew, and sat at my desk not doing anything until 0700, when I would start work.

Even when I got to the office early I’d sit in the car park until it was time.

And I left exactly bang on my finishing time of 1530.

Every. Single. Day.

The boss didn’t notice of course, until a few months later a big job dropped just before home time (as they often did) and they needed someone to stay on.

There was the usual rushing round and hushed discussions from the management about it and then the boss came over and asked me if I would mind staying on to do the job.

I was usually the guy for the job in these circumstances.

Most everybody else had young families they needed to be home for.

Now, I could have stayed on and earned myself some sweet overtime.

I had nowhere I needed to be or anything I particularly wanted to do.

But at the time he was asking me it was only a few minutes to home time.

I told the boss that I wouldn’t be staying on to do the job.

Simple and polite, I love it.

He asked why and I pointed to the clock and said “because it’s home time”.

With that I shut down my computer, put my coat on and went to leave.

He asked me if I had something to go to, if I had plans for the evening or something and I just replied blankly “nope” and then politely said goodbye over my shoulder as I left.

He was absolutely fuming, of course, but he had no power to compel me to stay and he knew it.

I found out in the days that followed that he blew his top and had asked my Team Leader to gather my timekeeping logs over the past couple of months since he’d ordered him to bollock me for being 3 minutes late.

He wanted to haul me over the coals for something.

When he realized I was keeping exactly the hours I was contracted to keep he pulled me into his office and asked me why I wasn’t being as committed to my role as I used to be, staying back late to get stuff done.

Hopefully he realizes that this is entirely his fault.

I just smiled and very politely explained that staying late after home time for no pay is something that is done out of good will.

And that he had eroded all of that good will when he had my Team Leader give me a bollocking for being 3 minutes late, on a day when I got to work the exact same time as him.

And I explained that from that point onwards my good will was gone and I was only going to do what my employment contract asked of me and nothing more.

He was so red in the face I could tell he just wanted to lose his mind at me but he had no legs to stand on.

My timekeeping had been impeccable and the work I was doing while at work was to a good standard.

He had nothing.

All he could say was that he was very disappointed that I felt that way.

Being professional and not getting upset is the best response.

I just shrugged and asked if there was anything else.

There wasn’t, so I got up and left his office.

I kept my nose clean for little over a year after that incident, but he was always trying to get me for some reason or another.

In the end I found a very nice job elsewhere.

And I heard that after I left just about the entire department followed suit.

Managers think they need to control every little thing and then are surprised when it doesn’t go well.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this.

Here is a great response to that type of thing.

I wish I was there to see it.

Now that is a great manager.

That is always the case.

This would have been a great response.

Hopefully this manager learned his lesson.

He probably didn’t, though.

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.