Imagine working in retail, and there’s a certain time of day that’s extra busy. This time of day also happens to fall exactly at the time your shift ends. That gives you two options. Do you clock out and go home, or do you work overtime to help out?

In this story, one coffee shop employee chose the second option until she got written up for working too much overtime. Instead of fighting it, she decided to comply.

Keep reading to find out what happens the very next day when it’s extra busy at the exact same time this employee is clocking out. It’s pretty satisfying!

“sorry, you revoked my overtime privileges yesterday”

This was several years ago when I worked at a [redacted big name] coffee shop.

My shift was 5am-1:30pm, and often around 1pm giant groups of kids on school field trips would come through the area (this was a coffee shop located in a major CA city, very close to a bunch of museums).

I had been working a lot of overtime because of it, to help my coworkers through the rush.

She was told not to work anymore overtime.

I got written up by my supervisor for doing too many overtime shifts without approval.

I was explicitly informed to not work overtime again, I had lost overtime privileges until corporate deemed I could have them again, and working overtime again prior to that would result in further disciplinary action.

The day after I was written up, right as my shift ended, 3 big buses FULL of kids unloaded and filled the shop.

The manager clearly didn’t think this through very well!

At 1:30pm on the dot my watch alarm went off and I went to go clock out.

The store manager who wrote me up the day prior said, “wait where are you going?”

I reminded her that I’d lost my overtime privileges, clocked out, retrieved the shift drink I’d made for myself right before the rush, and left.

The next day I was informed my overtime privileges had been re-instated…

That didn’t last long! It sounds like the manager realized her mistake pretty quickly.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person loves what she did.

I completely agree with this comment.

One person guesses at what the manager said/thought when writing her up for working overtime.

This person would’ve done things a little bit differently.

The manager really messed up, but to be fair, she learned her lesson super quickly.

The suggestion in the last comment, would be really petty. I wouldn’t want to watch my coworkers suffer. It’s not their fault. I think she handled it well by simply leaving at the end of her shift.

This isn’t really even malicious compliance, it’s just compliance. She knew it was going to be a disaster, but she was told not to work overtime. She didn’t really have any other option but to clock out.

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