Some people really make it their life mission to be mean towards everyone, and it’s horrible when one of those people happen to be your boss!

Imagine being reprimanded for being two minutes late to work, but then you find out you weren’t actually being paid for those two minutes anyway. Would you make sure you arrive for work early, or would you insist on back pay for every minute you worked but didn’t get paid?

This guy shares how his mean boss wouldn’t let go of him being two minutes late, but he has a plan to prove to his boss just how ridiculous he’s being.

Check out the full story.

“We don’t pay you to be 2 minutes late, over the course of a year, it’s hundreds of dollars.” Then I find out an interesting detail.

I’ve worked at many retail chains… have had MANY terrible bosses… here’s one story I think I can give up without any repercussions.

At a small specific retail store, 5-6 years ago at this point, I was confronted by my old boss on a specific event that I was late by two minutes.

This is where it gets worse!

Previous day, he had asked me to come in on my day off – and at an earlier time than I normally do.

I agreed to come in on my day off and work a shift I am not normally used to -but it’s retail, it cannot be that difficult.

My old boss asked me to work 7AM to 4PM, and I showed up at 7:02AM. Which, in my state, there is a 5 minute window for everyone, and this was 100% not a habit of mine at all. I am normally one to show up 5 minutes early everyday and wait aside the time clock.

I clocked on, and walked to my department with a drink I had already purchased the previous day.

That’s INSANE!

As I walked into the department, the manager greeted me then said, “When I schedule you at 7AM, I expect you to be IN department by 7AM. Not a minute later. We can’t pay you to clock on, buy something, and then start working.. over the course of a year that adds up to hundreds of dollars of lost labor for one individual.”

I told my old boss that my drink was from the previous day, and that I just clocked on 2 minutes late.

My old boss replied with, “That’s not my problem, you need to plan better. You were scheduled at 7 and we are losing cost of labor each minute you are not here. Be in department AT scheduled time!”

Which is not true.

He was being so UNREASONABLE!

I spoke regularly with a payroll employee – and she explained to me quite some time prior, that the company does not pay you 3 minutes before or after your scheduled time.

So if you clock on at 7AM, you are not getting paid until 7:03AM. If you clock on at 6:57AM, you are not getting paid until 7AM.

Same for when you return from lunch. However, if you clock on at 7:04, after that 3 minute window – you begin getting paid immediately that minute.

My boss was right, I NEED to plan better.

This guy had to find his way around it!

I asked for a print out of my time stamps going back as far as they had record of… and I tallied up EACH day that I had arrived 3 minutes early – and did not get paid for it.

I counted well over 330 minutes within a three month span that I was not getting paid for – which ended up being a little over $110.

I gave my old boss a copy and said, “You can pay me for these dates where I was in department, on the dot, without getting paid for it.”

He said what he had to!

My old boss then replied, “That’s not how our company policy works.” He then went into detail, to explain to me, exactly what I had already known – and gave him a copy of… yet my old boss is now recognizing that he’s contradicted himself and willingly lied to me.

When everything clicked in his head that he’s contradicted himself – it was far too obvious because his face went bright red and he started smiling… imo, like he had been caught.

My old boss: Well you know the policy, we can’t pay you for that. 🙂

Me: Then I will begin my shift when I am getting paid, not the minute you schedule me. It’s not like you’re losing labor if you’re not even paying the employees that window of time.

Boss was SHOCKED!

Schedule me at 7, if you like but I will not be clocking on until 4 minutes after the scheduled time, as you will not be losing any cost of labor for it, and I will not be losing pay over your personal policy.

For about three weeks, I clocked on 4 minutes late everyday, no matter how early I arrived. I eventually got a warning from the building’s HR that it’s riding the line and very close to getting a write-up, and down the discipline road.

I explained to her the entire story, as she seemingly did not like this manager of mine either, she laughed pretty hard at the whole thing and offered me a department transfer, with a higher pay.

She reminded me that my behavior was listed under a category that could get me terminated, and thought the transfer would be a fresh start.

He got more clever with his schemes.

Instead, I put in my two weeks notice and thanked her for the wonderful opportunity.

The funniest part of all of this, years later I saw my old manager working at a new chain, in a similar position to what he was doing when I worked for him.

He smiled, waved. I smiled, waved, continued on.

Cherry on top!

As time went on, I also bumped into the old HR manager, who was working in an entirely different field… I asked her why my old boss left that company…

She laughed and said, “He didn’t leave, we fired him for time theft!”

Apparently my old boss would take a lunch, leave the building, and never clock out for it.

YIKES! That sounds exhausting to deal with!

Why didn’t the boss simply accept his mistake?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows the boss was a bad person!

This user shares a similar story.

That’s right! This user thinks this guy almost crossed the line.

This user thinks retail is run by mean people.

This user knows that this company can go down for their time theft!

If the boss had let go of those two minutes, things wouldn’t have gotten so bad!

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.