Having to push through a job with arbitrary rules is frustrating, especially when they don’t seem fair.

How would you handle being punished for following a rule you knew was pointless?

One guy recently shared how he stuck up for himself in this exact scenario.

Here’s what went down.

Restaurant parking lot was for customers only so I made the owner’s daughter go find street parking 4 blocks away.

Years ago I worked as a parking lot attendant for a high end restaurant.

Parking was for customers only.

Not even employees could park there.

I got chewed out by a manager one day because I let a cook who was running late park there (the cook apologized to me because I got in trouble).

He was just doing his job!

One night the owner’s daughter (completely spoiled brat) showed up and I told her “Sorry, Customers Only.”

She flipped out on me but, again, “Sorry. I was just yelled at by Tony (the manager) and he said: CUSTOMERS ONLY.”

She wound up having to parallel park four blocks away and apparently scratched her bumper backing into a street sign.

Apparently, the owner’s daughter was an exception to the rule.

Tony promptly showed up and fired me on the spot.

This was a beer money job so I told him where he could stick it.

A couple days later the Owner called me and apologized for the whole thing. He said the whole situation caused restaurant drama because employees took my side.

The owner changed his mind.

I did the right thing by letting the cook park there and then Tony overreacted by yelling at me.

He obviously knew I was being a stickler because I had been yelled at and wouldn’t let his kid park there.

He offered me my job back but I politely declined.

Good! Poor management has consequences.

A couple months later I found out that the guy who replaced me got fired for taking bribes from people to park in the lot and never go into the restaurant.

Tony then got fired because turns out he was fudging sales numbers and stealing money from the till every night.

And the wheels on the bus go round and round.

Disappointing, but not surprising. Let’s see what the good people of Reddit had to say about this one.

Most acknowledged how much worse the story could have been.

And noted that Tony’s daughter wasn’t thinking outside the box.

Some shared their own experiences.

Others shared legends.

Though one person passed along some positivity.

So shines a good deed in a weary world.

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.