Petty power moves don’t always go as planned, especially when they backfire at the worst moment.

What would you do if your boss insisted you call him every time you finished a shift, just to prove a point?

Would you grumble and go along with it?

Or would you find a way to make him regret enforcing the rule?

In the following story, one employee finds himself in this very predicament and takes advantage of the timing to teach his boss an important lesson.

Here’s what he did.

My Boss wanted me to call him so I did.

About two weeks ago, my boss hung onto some petty stuff about my work, and I thought he would punish me by ordering me to call him at the end of all of my shifts so I would sign off.

What he wasn’t aware of is that I always stay until the next shifts arrive anyway, and my colleagues like to come a little later on weekends.

Onto the main Story: I live in Germany, and we recently had public holidays where I mainly had night shifts while he was out, partying, and staying up late.

He didn’t say when to call.

So I did just as he said and called him while my colleagues had to sit next to me watching my grin and heard: Good Morning Sunshine! I wanna go home.

He was obviously confused, half drunk, and tired, saying: “Yes, yes, go.”

The next day, he didn’t pick up, so I called his boss to tell her I was going home.

At the end of the weekend, with holidays, he gave up and told me I didn’t have to call him anymore.

Wow! What a petty policy.

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit have to say about it.

This person would keep calling anyway.

Well, not fun for the one person.

Here’s someone else who would keep calling.

According to this comment, calling his boss is the best part.

What a satisfying story!

It serves the boss right for being so petty about people’s time.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.