Imagine working in a position where you have to take your breaks at specific times, and there’s also a meeting you’re required to attend every day. If you knew this schedule would mean you wouldn’t be very productive at work, would you insist on a change, or would you let the supervisors have their way?

In this story, one employee is in this situation, and she tries to explain the problem. In the end, the only way of getting the supervisors to understand is to comply.

Keep reading for all the details.

Dense supervisors inadvertently force me to do less work for the same pay: A Saga Continues

I was working at an absolutely filthy factory in the campus in which i was contracted.

I worked there for a number of years, but then began to develop issues with my lungs.

As filthy as the job was, I’d actually liked that position, but I decided to bid on a different position at a much less risky facility. Part of this move is that I began to float between buildings as needed, which was incredibly convenient for my union work.

The only negative is that for whatever reason employees at that building had a different shift negotiated in to the contract, meaning I had to be clocking in at 6 am every morning.

This was less than ideal.

I am not a morning person so this was almost a deal breaker, but I reasoned I’d have more flexibility in my university schedule if I switched, so I went for it.

I scheduled my classes according to this schedule change, and worked there for a bit over a year with no issues.

The only small complication is that I was one of two people who staffed this building from my department, and the other lady had suffered a serious medical event and was off on leave indefinitely… leaving me alone most of the time.

That was fine, I was able to keep up well enough, at first.

But it quickly went from fine to fainting.

I was really in to fitness at the time and had been going to the gym every day after work and class, so generally I had no issue with the physical labor at the previous building, and no issue running back and forth between buildings at this new site.

I also had to drive between locations to assist with other tasks, but that wasn’t an issue either….

Until I suddenly began to get dizzy spells I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I was alone on site so I couldn’t slow down, so I just powered through.

It got bad pretty quickly.

The first time I fainted I actually didn’t know for sure that I’d fainted, I actually assumed I’d tripped and ate the cement so quickly I just couldn’t process it.

The second time there was a witness, and it became a whole deal, ambulance called and the works.

I couldn’t explain what had happened so I had to go out on short term disability until I got clearance from cardiology to return to work (yes, it was just run off the mill POTS, but I wasn’t allowed to return without clearance, per the contract).

I wound up being out for about 6 months, and I wasn’t happy about it, so when I was finally cleared to return, I was informed that they had given my job to someone else, and I was starting at a different facility I definitely didn’t want to be at, and at a different shift.

There were multiple reasons this was a big problem.

This was a problem for multiple reasons, firstly I’d scheduled my classes based off of the job I’d been hired for, not whatever shift they decided to “give me” when I returned.

Secondly they couldn’t give away the job of someone out on short term disability without consent of the person on disability, and I had definitely not consented to this change.

Thirdly, they DEFINITELY couldn’t change my shift without my consent, this was especially well protected in the contract.

OP was willing to negotiate.

Unfortunately, the girl who’d taken my job was a new hire, but had bid for my position through the appropriate process and had done so to be on a shift that allowed her to not have disruption in her childcare.

Switching shifts to the job they’d unceremoniously shifted me to would mean she wouldn’t have anyone to take care of her child after preschool.

I felt for her, and decided I would grieve the matter and make sure we both walked away from the situation with what we wanted.

After a lengthy negotiation, a lot of swearing and threats (mostly from me to the supervision about what would happen if they pulled this ever again), I negotiated that I would permit the girl to keep the job I’d been in previously, but only if they met my demands at the new facility.

OP didn’t just fight for what she wanted. She also stood up for the new hire.

Firstly, I was going from a generalized labor position to being… an office cleaner. I told them no, I wouldn’t do that, as it was a downgrade of my role. They would have to find me a position in my role and I would not be engaging in the role of the cleaners, if they needed to hire more cleaners, then that was their problem.

Secondly, I insisted I would NOT change my shift, it was non negotiable. I didn’t care of I was the only person out of 50 starting at 6 am, it wasn’t going to change.

Thirdly I caught wind that they’d moved the girl to my role, despite her not being paid for the labor role… they’d paid her just over minimum wage as a cleaner to do labor duties. I insisted they give her every penny of back pay she was due for the work she’d been doing, but this time at the proper rate.

In the end, supervision had no way to argue it, and while I wasn’t happy, it was a small victory.

But there was another problem.

Then I had another fight…

This facility insisted on having set break times honored. I didn’t have a way to argue this as break times were mentioned in the contract, but we didn’t have specific language allowing for flexibility.

The first time I encountered this was my first day, as this was the only facility that also had a mandatory beginning of shift meeting.

I arrived at work at clocked in by 6 am, and by the time I had my lunch in the fridge and my lights turned on and machines unplugged for the day it was ~6:25 am… and I had to walk close to a mile through a building (I could slightly shorten this if I cut through an alley) to the main offices for the 7 am shift meeting.

This really does seem like a waste of time.

Initially I thought that seemed absurd, and I had asked for permission to not attend as the walk alone ended up being close to 40 minutes round trip, not including however long the meeting ran.

I was told I absolutely could not miss this meeting, and she was really smug about it too.

I asked her if she remembered my hours, but she rolled her eyes at me.

I mean, ok, if you insist… I did try to warn you.

It was a very unproductive start to the day.

So, as instructed, I was forced to attend this understated meeting AND honor my strictly scheduled break times.

My day ended up looking like this:

6 am arrival and lights turned on / equipment unplugged 6:25 am, walk between buildings for shift meeting 7:00 am shift meeting 7:20-7:30 am return to work location 8:00 am break

So the entire first two hours of my shift I was unable to get any work done. Nothing.

Having everything in writing is key!

After my break, I still had to prep all equipment, check equipment for safety, replace any parts needed (often very time consuming), check and organize my work orders… and then I was on lunch at 10 am.

So by the time I had my lunch break, all I had time to do from 7:15 to 10 am was get my equipment ready for the day. Things I would have normally done before my first break, but… I was told I had to attend that meeting and didn’t have time to start a project before I had to take my lunch.

My supervisors came over a day or two later, absolutely spitting with rage and ready to write me up.

Unfortunately for them I’d written out the entire schedule.

The supervisors finally understood the problem.

As they’d told me, my break times were non negotiable. It was also non negotiable that I had to attend this shift meeting a building over.

I asked if they remembered the explicit instructions they gave me in this regard… for some reasons they looked absolutely thunderstruck.

They had inadvertently ordered me to accept a schedule that prevented me from getting more than about 4 hours worth of work done.

The kicker was that they couldn’t take it back without setting a precedent that exceptions could be made at that location.

They never did change her schedule.

I could see the cogs trying to turn as they tried to figure out if there was a way to punish me, but I had only done exactly what they insisted I had to.

So, yeah, I did as I was told, and they inadvertently gave me a job that prevented me from doing more than half a day of work, but I had to be paid for the full day regardless.

It also allowed me a lot more time to work on union paperwork as I wasn’t constantly getting in and out of PPE, and was able to catch more of their contract violations being closer to the main office.

I’d like to think that I made their lives just a little bit more hellish, and it was in large part facilitated by their mess up trying to mess with my work location and hours, and failure to notice what they’d done to my schedule by ordering me to hike a country mile for this meeting.

I worked in that position for the last few years I was there, and it was a running joke the entire time.

That didn’t work out well for the supervisors, but for OP, it ended up being an easy half day of work with a built in morning walk. Not too bad!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

It does seem this way sometimes.

Another person found the story hiliarious.

This is probably the best part!

Another person gives OP lots of bonus points.

It was a win for everyone except the supervisors!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.