If your work computer took a long time to start up in the morning, would you arrive at work early so the computer has time to start before the work day actually begins, or would you arrive on time and not worry about the wasted few minutes while the computer starts up?

In this story, one employee took the first approach, but after her boss’s boss confronted her, she started taking the second approach.

Keep reading to find out what her boss’s boss said to make her change her mind.

Want me at work on time? Of course!

At my previous job I always arrived about 10-15 minutes early to get settled in and get my computer up and running, get logged into all my mail and accounts, pull up all my tabs and whatnot.

It took my computer about 10 minutes or so to boot up and get up to speed.

One morning I arrive at work about 5 minutes early instead of my usual 10 minutes.

I guess I scuttled up the stairs to make sure I was up and running by 8 — that is, to make sure I’m in the desk with my computer on at 7:55 at the latest.

This boss sounds really annoying.

Not 10 minutes later, my boss’ boss — not my direct supervisor — comes over and says he saw he jogging through the parking lot. He asked me, in that underhanded-confrontational way when one knows the answer already, if I was late that morning.

I explained just as I have in this post.

He says, “Oh, okay,” and that’s that.

I look at the clock. It’s like 8:02. I think to myself, “Oh … so that’s what kind of person you are. Got it.”

If you want me to arrive on time, I will.

Time to do things differently.

From then on, I go about my business, still arriving at the usual time 7:50 or so, but instead of setting up, I just set my stuff down and — oh, what a nice morning outside, I think I might take a little walk around the office park for 10 minutes or so.

Maybe I might go down to the lobby and get a cup of coffee or something.

Maybe I might sit at my desk on my phone — after all, it’s not technically business hours yet, right?

THEN, at exactly 8, I’ll turn everything on and let my computer spend the next 10 minutes booting up and get logged in.

The math isn’t mathing.

I did the math.

Two minutes late would’ve “costed” the company 63 cents.

I continued to work there for six more months before I got a better (salaried) job elsewhere, doing the same thing every morning.

10 minutes a day, 5 times a week, for 6 months — that’s over $400. Not a lot of money, really, but a hell of a lot more than 63 cents.

Really, there’s no reason to start work before 8am if you start at 8am. It’s not the employee’s fault the computer takes awhile to boot up.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

On time is early when you’re always late.

This is a good point.

This really would be a bummer.

I agree. Nobody should work for free.

Don’t feel bad about not working for free.

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.