November 30, 2025 at 6:35 pm

A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

by Matthew Gilligan

man reading a book at his desk

Shutterstock//Reddit

Does reading a book and getting paid for it sound good, or what?

I sure think it does!

And this Reddit user live the dream, baby!

Check out what he had to say.

Boss demands overtime pay for zero work?? Okay!!

“I used to work for a company where the boss had this habit of demanding that we stay late, even when there was absolutely no work left to be done.

Ugh…

It was one of those toxic environments where productivity was measured by the hours you spent at your desk rather than the actual output of your work.

One day, after wrapping up all my tasks well before the end of the day, my boss came over and told me that I needed to stay late because “that’s just how things are done around here.”

Mind you, there was literally nothing left for me to do.

Sure!

Now, instead of arguing or trying to reason with him, I decided to play along with his ridiculous demand for overtime pay.

I nodded, grabbed a book I had been meaning to read, and settled back into my chair. For the next two hours, I sat at my desk, flipping through pages, occasionally pretending to jot down notes, and looking as busy as possible.

At the end of those two hours, my boss came by to check on me, expecting to see me toiling away at some imaginary task.

Instead, he found me reading a novel.

He looked puzzled and asked, “What are you doing?”

LOL.

With a straight face, I replied, “Well, you asked me to stay late, so I figured I might as well put in some overtime. This book has been on my reading list for a while.”

Needless to say, my boss was speechless. He couldn’t really argue with me since he had asked me to stay late, and I was technically still on the clock.

From that day forward, he never asked me to stay late unless there was actual work to be done.

Malicious compliance at its finest.”

Check out what people had to say on Reddit.

This person spoke up.

Screenshot 2025 11 19 at 8.44.38 AM A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2025 11 19 at 8.44.51 AM A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

Another individual weighed in.

Screenshot 2025 11 19 at 8.44.58 AM A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

This person spoke up.

Screenshot 2025 11 19 at 8.45.12 AM A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

And this reader shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2025 11 19 at 8.45.25 AM A Worker Was Told They Had To Work Overtime Even Though There Was No Work To Do, So They Sat At Their Desk And Read A Book For Two Hours

There’s nothing like kicking back and reading a book on the clock!

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.