When a boss makes a rule with “no exceptions,” it’s bound to backfire, and the person in this story knows that too well.

Imagine working in IT when there’s an emergency that needs your assistance, but there’s also a policy that you can’t work overtime. Would you help out anyway or refuse to help?

Let’s see how the person in this story handles it and how they get the overtime policy changed.

No Overtime – No exceptions!

I work in IT and worked with one client for years and years looking after their various networks. Normally it’s a 9-5 kind of job, but if something goes wrong after hours it can become a real emergency for them quickly.

One day the manager came down to visit our small team at this client’s office. We were told they renegotiated the contact and took a 5% cut on the job. So they asked if we would all take a 5% pay cut as well.

No. No one accepted that and we were ready to walk if they tried to push it.

The next week we were told there was to be zero overtime without prior authorization of the company president himself and there are no exceptions to this iron-clad rule. They had us repeat the new policy back to them and e-mailed it to us.

The only thing I said to them was “This is going to end poorly”.

It didn’t take long for a problem to come up.

Two days later the core router that connects all the different parts of the big data center failed at 9:00 p.m.

Our manager called my cell phone and said to jump in my car because the data center was down.

I told him that I don’t have authorization from the company president who had apparently gone camping for the long weekend with his family and was out of contact. I told him sorry. I can’t do any work as it hasn’t been authorized.

He refused to believe his manager.

He tried to say how he’s authorizing it.

I told him he specifically told us just earlier this week it has to be from the company president, and there are no exceptions. If he can get a hold of the president, then give me a call back.

He was mad. The client was mad as they were told I refused to help. He left an angry voicemail for the president about me.

They did get it fixed when the manager drove himself to the data center at in the wee hours of the morning to pull the bad circuit board.

He had the proof he needed.

The next business day first thing in the morning the manager, the client’s CIO and our company president were waiting for me to come in and told me to come in to the meeting room.

It went as expected with raised voices, accusations and many “final warnings” until I pulled out the e-mail and gave it to the clients CIO to read.

It took him 10 seconds to read, and then the CIO asked me to head back to my desk and carry on with my day.

The rule was changed.

I never heard what was said in the room after I left. But there was a new directive that afternoon that overtime work no longer must have prior authorization.

I worked another two years there before I left for a better job.

But to this day if there is rule with “No exceptions”, I relate this exact story and ask them to rethink what they are about to tell us.

Sometimes bosses don’t realize they’re making bad rules until they see the consequences. I’m glad OP stood his ground.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person can really relate to this story.

Another person has been in a similar situation.

Exactly!

Yes, they probably just didn’t want to pay.

There are situations where overtime is unavoidable.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.