Some companies are too meticulous to the point of stopping productivity.

This medical practitioner worked for facility that provides medical service to various contract companies on site.

One company was asking for too much time and paperwork, so him and the other staff found a way to teach the company a lesson on time management.

Read the full story below.

paperwork not good enough the first time? no problem, we will do it again. but you’re paying.

Years ago, I worked in an isolated location, all energy industry-related. Due to the extent of the isolation, the client company had its own medical facilities, one of which I worked in.

So, one contract company had a thing about needing excessive paperwork for their guys who were sick. See, the medical care was a line item in the client company budget—so nobody saw a bill. This made for a system that was easily abused, what with no financial dog in the fight.

So, this one company’s guys would come in periodically, appropriately sick. They weren’t burning time; they only made money on duty, so they wanted to work. We’d see them, and often give a day or two of bed rest before returning to work.

Everyone there was typically on a two-week tour of duty due to logistics, so a day or two like this wasn’t uncommon or unreasonable. The patient would be seen, given a note for the boss, go get some rest, and take your meds.

But that wasn’t good enough. Maybe for every OTHER contractor, but nnnooOOOOoooo, this contractor was SPECIAL.

The contractor wanted double the service and paperwork.

So, even though they’d been seen by qualified medical staff, and given prescriptions and a note on when they could return to work, this company wanted them evaluated AGAIN, and ANOTHER note saying they could actually go back on duty, even if it was 12–24 hours since the first visit.

Remember—no cost, so what do they care, right?

This didn’t sit well with us. We had long hours and busy days, often 18–24 hours awake and on duty (with a two-week tour of duty), and this was nonsense paperwork and time-wasting because someone felt like it—not because it was medically necessary.

If we’ve seen the patient, and given you a note on when they can go back on duty, my due diligence was done.

So, we decided, after a couple of months of this pattern, to accommodate them… on our terms.

So they made sure the medical staff made them wait.

Guys would come in, ready and willing to go back to work, but still needing another note, because apparently, the first one wasn’t nearly good enough, and the boss said so.

So, they’d get one, on our terms. After we’d seen all of the morning sick call patients. After our scheduled morning appointments.

They’d be on the clock until we saw them again, sitting in our waiting room, on the clock and drinking coffee… which was typically around three hours after the clinic opened. Each and every one of them, which was typically two or three guys, every day (they were a big contractor).

They were surprisingly slow to pick up on it. Took about a month of this approach. And once they put it all together, they were furious. Clearly, we were wasting THEIR time and ours? That doesn’t matter, we were on duty, and the care was free, so our opinion didn’t count anyway.

But our bosses backed us 100%—essentially saying, “If you went to your doctor and paid for a visit, would you pay again to be told the same thing the next day?”

After that, the paperwork from the medical staff was honored the first time, and everyone’s workdays were more efficient.

Waste our time? We’ll waste yours! Genius.

Other people in the comments are chiming in.

This person likes the story.

Another user weighs in.

Nicely done, says this one.

A valid suggestion.

This reader can relate to the story.

Unnecessary bureaucracy is never productive.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.