Some supervisors think they know everything.

This woman was the best employee in her office, but her supervisor still complained about her not working hard enough. So she explained to the owner that it was all because of her supervisor’s new rule.

Read the full story below for more details.

Overtime is no longer allowed? Okay!

The players (fake names):

Owner: Jack ; Direct Supervisor: Will; Colleague: Paula; and Myself

Here’s the backstory.

I began working payroll at 16 years old. I am incredibly good with numbers, as well as dealing with clients. Suffice it to say, I am wonderful at what I do.

Many years ago, I began working with a very small payroll company with only 4 workers. I really liked the owner, Jack, and honestly still do. He is a decent dude. I also really liked the work and the clients.

However, I was not fond of Paula or Will. Paula missed so much work, and I’m pretty sure no one has 5 grandfathers who died within 3 years. She doesn’t figure much into this story, other than to showcase that she was not a good employee.

Will was the worst supervisor I have ever had. He took smoke breaks every 30 minutes, he always thought he was right, he was very bigoted and misogynistic, and boy he loved to talk. There were times where he was monologuing to a client who had hung up 30 minutes prior (no I am not exaggerating).

However, he was the owner’s father-in-law whose prior business went bankrupt. Basically, he was never going to be fired.

In that work setting, I absolutely shone. I was the best employee by a huge margin.

This woman complied with Will’s no-overtime rule.

The malicious compliance:

Will calls me into his office and lets me know that I am getting too much overtime. This was a small business, and I needed to be careful. Now I never took much overtime. Overall, I usually had around 2 – 5 minutes by the end of the week.

This was simply because I lived 5 minutes away and clocked in when I got in and settled, even if it was a minute early. I agreed to the new rule with a bit of glee.

From then on, if I got in early, I would get ready to clock in and then play on my phone or read for 1 minute before clocking in. This drove Will absolutely crazy.

After I did this for a few days, he called me back into his office. He told me about the good old days when people would work even without pay in order to excel at life.

I politely reminded him that we were a payroll company, so he should be aware that it is illegal to not pay workers for time worked. From that point on, he would simply mutter under his breath and glare at me.

And then this happened.

The aftermath:

After 3 – 4 weeks, the owner, Jack, calls me into his office. Apparently, Will had been complaining about me, about how I wasn’t working hard, and was being disrespectful.

I explained the situation to him and pointed out that no clients had ever been unhappy with me, that I showed up to work every day on time, and that I had the most duties with the least problems. Basically, I reminded him I was his only good employee.

Jack was a little shocked/annoyed that my tiny amount of overtime was the reason I was sitting in his office. He told me that if I needed it, I could have up to 30 minutes of overtime without needing it to be approved, and he also gave me a small raise for being such a hard worker.

Finally, he told me that if Will ever gave me another rule that I disagreed with, I should go directly to him.

Jack then called Will into his office, and I heard quite a bit of yelling. When Will came back out, he looked like he had just sucked a lemon.

It is my fondest memory of Will.

No pay, no work. Simple as that.

Other people in the comments are chiming in.

Here’s a hilarious comment.

A sound point from this user.

Here’s a valid question.

Working for someone without pay is nuts.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.