For some bosses, loyalty means being expected to drop everything at a moment’s notice.

So when one community college student tried to juggle classes, theatre rehearsals, and a job at Dairy Queen, his overbearing boss demanded he be there to serve the Sunday lunch rush.

So he decided to be there right on time — in full stage makeup.

Keep reading for the full story.

DQ – complying with owner’s demand to work right after college play

I was putting myself through community college by working at the local Dairy Queen (DQ) in a rural Midwestern area of the US.

My DQ pay was able to support my rent and tuition (late 90s).

For a busy student, this employee worked a fair amount of hours.

I balanced my work hours, which were close to 40 a week, with a full class load and my involvement in the theater program.

The owner of the DQ paid a little more than minimum wage to start out and reminded employees of that whenever he was through the restaurant making demands.

The owner was a bit erratic when it came to scheduling his employees.

He sometimes made changes to schedules well after they were posted without updating the employees, then would be upset that they weren’t aware of the change in expectations.

The employee came to notice that Sundays were a particularly busy day at the restaurant.

The DQ owner was part of what was basically the church all the wealthy people in town attended.

It was regular that after Sunday services, many of those people would patronize their fellow church-member’s business.

The clientele on that lunch shift was always a bit different than what we saw the rest of the week.

But this employee had more going on than just work.

I was fairly serious about my theatre work (I went on to do professional theatre after college) and had a show that I was an actor in.

We had two shows on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The owner seemed intent that he would work that day, even though the employee really wanted some time off.

I tried to take the entire weekend off, but there was some kind of staffing issue, and the DQ owner insisted that I come in right after the play ended.

I tried to protest this, but the owner pointed out that the young single mother who was also in the play was coming into work right after the play.

He points out that just because he wasn’t a parent didn’t mean his obligations weren’t also important.

I noted that beyond the theatre obligations, I still had other subjects that needed attention and that I was working to support my education rather than being in a situation where I was supporting a child.

The owner wouldn’t take any excuse and insisted that I be there on Sunday right after the play to work the front register.

So finally, the employee agreed, but he was going to make the owner regret it.

Cue malicious compliance.

“Fine, I’ll rush out right after the play and be there.”

Sunday rolls around, and right after the play ends and the audience is leaving the theatre, I went back to the green room to quickly change to my DQ uniform.

But he decided to improvise a bit on this part.

Rather than trying to clean off the stage makeup that included base, eyeliner, and lipstick, I gave it a quick refresh.

I sooo didn’t want to disappoint the restaurant owner and be late, so cleaning off that makeup would be out of the question.

Plus, I was pretty sure that the single mother who was also working the shift would be wearing makeup as well.

Knowing he would be front and center, his malicious compliance began to work like a charm.

I was the main cashier for that lunch shift and greeted each of his church members with a big smile.

The looks that I got from the people were priceless and completely worth working that day.

I was surprised that I was not confronted by the store owner about the makeup, but he came by after church just like the rest of the people, and the damage was already done.

He knew this would provide plenty of fodder for this clientele.

I am sure I left plenty of people in his congregation with something to gossip about.

I did other plays afterwards, and fortunately there were never any more scheduling problems that necessitated I rush out right after a show again.

He sure showed that pushy DQ owner!

What did Reddit think?

This user was hoping he’d don the whole costume.

The 90s really were a different time…

Stage makeup can look pretty crazy up close.

He showed up exactly when he was told, just with a little extra eyeliner.

Moral of the story: if you force someone to clock in mid-performance, don’t complain when they stay in character.

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.