Have you ever worked a job where you didn’t have a typical weekend? I once had a job where I worked Sunday through Thursday, so my days off were Friday and Saturday, just like the person in this story.

It can actually be really nice to have a less than typical schedule, but for the security guard in this story, the schedule is a big problem for his supervisor because his supervisor doesn’t understand how overtime works.

Let’s see why overtime might get someone fired.

Triple Time?! How dare you LET ME schedule you for Triple time?!

Several years ago I worked as a security guard for a large U.S. Defense Contractor. The guards were company employees, not contractors.

Guards protected several offices 24-7, so this meant shift work and weekend work. I worked evenings, 4pm-midnight from Sunday through Thursday, with Friday-Saturday off.

I did some digging on company policy regarding non-standard work weeks. The policy was confusing, but for me it worked like this: Since my normal work week wasn’t the standard Monday through Friday, the company “shifted” my work days to appear like M-F.

My Monday was Sunday, My Tuesday was Monday, etc. This was important on U.S. Holiday weeks. Per policy, on weeks when Monday was a holiday I got paid holiday pay for My Monday, i.e., I was paid holiday pay on Sunday.

Here’s how overtime worked and how timecards were turned in.

Two additional notes:

1) Overtime was paid at 1.5x normal pay for over 8 hours to 12 hours, and at 2x normal pay for anything over 12 hours. Holiday pay was paid at 1.5x normal pay on top of that.

2) We held our own timecards during the week and turned them in to the personnel office, so supervisors didn’t see them until after they were processed.

My supervisor understood the overtime bit, but couldn’t wrap his head around the My Monday part. He’d had it explained, but it did not sink in.

His supervisor didn’t realize what he was asking.

One holiday week my supervisor called me on Saturday and asked me to work double shift on Sunday. Come in early, work the 8am-4pm shift and stay for my 4-12 shift.

I told him that’s My Monday and tried to explain the policy, but he didn’t understand and dismissed what I was saying.

I worked 16 hours on Sunday – My Monday.

I turned in my timecard for the week showing Sunday pay at 8 hours of 1.5x pay, 4 hours of 2.25x, 4 hours of 3x pay.

This supervisor doesn’t seem too bright.

He freaked out!

He took me to the HR office, where HR gently told him that I was right.

He was quiet until we left, but when we were alone he basically said I had scammed him and that he’d fire me next time I pulled anything like that.

A few months later the exact same holiday situation came up again. Supervisor called me Saturday and asked me to work a double shift on Sunday.

He still doesn’t get it.

Supervisor: Can you work the day shift tomorrow? Come in at 8 and work through midnight?

Me: Sure. My Monday, right?

Supervisor: Huh?

Me: Sunday’s My Monday.

Supervisor: (Uncomprehending) Yeah, right, just be there on time.

Me: No problem.

He was smart to contact HR.

So I worked 16 hours that Sunday. Before turning in my timecard for the week I called the same HR rep who had handled our earlier incident. I told her about the Supervisor’s scheduling and said I was concerned.

She thanked me and said she’d be ready.

I turned in my timecard for the week – Sunday with 8 hours at 1.5x, 4 hours at 2.25x, 4 hours at 3x pay.

Next Monday morning, the Supervisor called me, ranted about me tricking him and fired me over the phone, effective immediately.

The HR rep smoothed things out.

I called the HR rep, relayed what had just happened.

She said to stand by, and that she’d make some calls.

About noon I got a call from the manager above my Supervisor. We had a long, calm talk, and he told me to show up for work as scheduled.

No one ever explained things openly, but the rumor was that the Supervisor was told that he’d be the one fired the next time he scheduled someone for 3x pay on a holiday.

There was only one big change.

I kept the job for another year before leaving for unrelated reasons.

The only change was that the Supervisor had someone else schedule overtime. He still did my performance appraisals, no change in performance rating.

The holiday overtime incident was never again mentioned.

It really was the supervisor’s fault for not understanding the overtime policy.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

I can’t read this without singing it.

Here’s another creative way of summarizing the story.

This is a good point.

This person may have found a loophole!

When you don’t understand something, it’s easy to make a big mistake.

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.