Good managers know when to appreciate a hardworking employee.

This man had been giving his company free overtime for years.

However, his new boss complained about him taking short breaks in between.

So when he was instructed to work during his contracted hours, he decided to follow the rules to the letter.

Check out the full story below to find out more.

Boss wasn’t happy with me taking a small break every day

I’ve worked at my current company for around 3 years now.

And it’s fair to say I’ve earned a reputation as a hard-working employee.

I would typically get in an hour early because I hated sitting in traffic every day.

I would also leave around 10 minutes after my day was supposed to end.

This man was instructed by his new boss to work during contracted hours and avoid taking breaks.

Since it was my choice to come in early, I had no problem staying until when everyone else did.

One difference, however, was that I would take a small 10 to 15-minute break an hour or two into the working day to grab breakfast.

After some recent changes in management, however, my new boss had a discussion with me about the break I was taking.

He told me that I must be working during my contracted hours.

He complied and stopped coming in to work early.

So, around 2 weeks ago, I stopped coming in early.

I got into work 1 minute before I was meant to start.

I took every minute of my lunch break.

I also finished as soon as the clock ticked over to 5 p.m.

The upper management easily noticed the drastic change.

A few days into the changes, a lot of upper management noticed the difference.

I suspect they’ve spoken with my manager to find out why I’ve changed.

Safe to say that my company now probably loses out on 7 to 8 hours of unpaid overtime every week.

All because my manager didn’t like me taking a 10-minute break.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This user wants to clarify something.

An employer speaks up.

Well done, says this one.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Finally, here’s a similar story from this person.

Never fix what isn’t broken.

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.