Sometimes, bad planning is just as bad as no planning.

So, what would you do if management insisted that you were only supposed to work every third Saturday of the month, but they failed to account for the months with five Saturdays?

Would you make the change when the time comes? Or would you strictly work the third Saturday of each month?

In the following story, one retail employee finds herself in this dilemma and chooses the latter. Here’s what she did.

I will work on THAT Saturday YOU put me on the roster.

At my ex-place of work, they had the bright idea to switch the Saturday schedule. Instead of rotating 4 Saturdays, people would now be scheduled on either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Saturday of the month.

Rrrrright… (Those of you readers who have ever had to make work schedules already know when the problem will present itself!)

I repeatedly asked those planners before the introduction of the new roster if they were sure they wanted to implement this, in this way, they repeatedly assured me “Yes, this will be a more clear schedule and if everyone has a set Saturday there will be no need for further planning!”

If you say so…

She warned them that she wouldn’t be there.

I was assigned Saturday #3. No problem with that.

Now I was the *Veronika* there, my other colleagues were not interested in stirring the pot, so the 1st month, no problem. The 2nd month… 5 Saturdays!

So the team that was assigned to the 1st Saturday had to show up for Saturday #5. Then on the 1st Saturday of the following month, the team from Saturday #2 had to come in. And on Saturday #2, yep, they expected team #3 to be present.

And they were, except for this *Veronika*. Even on the Friday before 2 of my group (#3) colleagues mentioned to me something related to the next day, and I told those 2, “Oh, but I won’t be there.”

Quoting the new rule, she explained why she wasn’t working.

“But we’re supposed to do the Saturday shift tomorrow!”

“Not me, I am assigned Saturday #3, not #2.”

“But we are on the schedule!”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but they told me I’m on the schedule for Saturday #3, and tomorrow is the 2nd Saturday, so it’s not my turn. Definitely not.”

When the call came, her sister answered.

And what do you know… next morning, Saturday #2, at 09:35 the phone rang at my house. (We have to be at work at 09:00 to open doors at 09:30) You do understand that I had switched off my cellphone before going to sleep…

My sister answered. I could hear her from my room, where I was lazing in my bed. She said, “Hello?”

“…?”

“T? Yes, she’s home, but asleep.”

“…!”

“Work? I’m sure she doesn’t, she explicitly told me she’s gonna sleep in today because she isn’t scheduled!” (Yes, I told her that!)

She refused to wake her for the phone call.

“….?”

“Absolutely not! We have an understanding that when she’s sleeping late, I have to let her. I am definitely not waking her up when it’s her free Saturday!”

“…!”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that. I can tell her to call you when she wakes up, but it’s her free Saturday, so I can’t guarantee that she will. Or when.” (My sister can also be a *Veronika*)

“…!”

No one said a word to her.

” [Actually, she did not say the next words literally, but something in that direction:] /Well, not my monkeys, not my circus./ Have a nice day, goodbye!”

(I had wanted her to say that probably someone must’ve made an error in the planning of the roster, but the monkey thing was also very cool!)

After she hung up, she came to my room and we had a big laugh.

And the following Monday… NOT ONE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE PLANNING NOR MY SUPERVISOR NOR ANY OF THE HIGHER-UPS DARED TO CONFRONT ME ABOUT MY ABSENCE ON SATURDAY #2!

It took them a while to get he schedule right.

Nor on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday….

And on Saturday #3 I was there, alongside the whole team of Saturday #4… We had 1 surplus worker that day! 😂😂😂😂😂

But would you believe that I still had to send out an email every month to remind everyone that I will not work on Saturday #1, nor on #2, I will be present on Saturday #3, but not on #4, AND ABSOLUTELY DEFINITELY NOT ON SATURDAY #5❗️

Yeah, I’m that petty. They kept messing it up for almost a year.

Wow! That sounds like a mess for management.

Let’s see if the people over at Reddit have ever dealt with anything similar.

This person likes the reference.

This would work.

So true.

According to this comment, management is terrible.

That was well-played! Beyond that, this was one lesson those managers deserved to learn.

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.