It’s funny how quickly people stop caring about the rules once they start working against them.

So, what would you do if a new employee on your team suddenly started quoting labor laws because you asked them to drop off a letter at the post office?

Would you push back? Or would you stop the ask and wait for the perfect time to enforce the rules on them?

In the following story, one manager finds herself in that exact situation and does just that.

Here’s how it played out.

Rules are rules, unless you don’t like them. Office edition.

I worked in a pretty low-key, chill office of about five. It was mostly younger women with younger children (that’s kinda relevant).

I asked if they would drop mail at the post office or make a bank deposit on the way to or from lunch (they always went out). Both were on the way to/from lunch. I told them to take an extra 15 min or so as needed, so as not to rush their lunch time.

So, a new woman starts, and she and another person come to me and tell me that under the Fair Labor Act, and various other rules/requirements, they are to be additionally compensated, get mileage for vehicle use, and so forth…. and Rules are Rules and they are there for a reason.

A member of the staff needed to come in about thirty minutes late.

Yeah, they probably were correct on that point, so I removed the ask that they go to the bank and such.

Now, some days later, one of the staff came to me to say they will be about half an hour late on such and such day as their kid has to be dropped off for something.

No problem I tell her, but she might as well just come in at noon.

It didn’t take long for the employee to change her mind about the rules.

When she asked why, I told her that rules are rules, and the policy manual (the same one they quoted to me) states that if they are more than 15 minutes late, PTO must be taken. A second policy, same manual, requires PTO to be taken in blocks of four hours.

This was not a well-received announcement.

They quickly decided they didn’t need all those demands formally made, and we went back to them, going to the post office and such when convenient for them, and coming in late without penalty when needed.

Nice! She actually handled that quite well.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about what happened here.

This probably wouldn’t have worked well.

This reader gets it.

Here’s someone who’s seen stuff like this happen before.

What an interesting concept!

That woman sure learned quickly. It’s always incredible when people want to take but never want to give.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.