Micromanagement feels even worse when it targets someone who was already going above and beyond without being asked.

An employee who arrived early, started checking emails before her shift began, and spent her last few minutes wrapping up before heading out found herself on the receiving end of a hallway ambush about “productivity” and tracking from her boss.

The employee couldn’t believe it. Her boss seemed to totally ignore all the things she was already doing right.

Suddenly this employee started thinking about all the unpaid minutes she’d just handed her employer for free.

This boss had just made an enemy, one who vowed to never let herself get walked all over again.

Keep reading for the full story.

Boss told me to stop leaving early one minute before EoD

She came up to me on my way out for the day and said, “You need to stop cutting out early. You need to stay productive until the end of your shift. This kind of thing is being tracked.”

I was so stunned by the suddenness and casual manner in which she said it that I thought she was joking at first — but then it set in on the drive home.

This boss didn’t seem to recognize that she more than makes up for this time.

I am always early to work.

One of my biggest pet peeves is not being punctual, and I like getting to work a bit early to prepare myself for the workday and finish eating my breakfast.

Sometimes I’ll be checking emails several minutes before I’m officially on, just because I’m ready to start my day.

So come the end of the day, she feels she’s earned the right to leave a bit early.

At the end of the day, I spend the last 10-15 minutes entering time and cleaning up my cubicle.

If I happen to be a few minutes ahead, I’ll pack up my stuff and head out.

By the time I’m out of the building, my shift is over.

Clearly the boss doesn’t see it this way, though.

However, she insisted today that I was still on the clock for one minute and needed to be productive for that one minute.

On the way home, I thought about all the times I came in early and wondered if that counted for nothing.

Now the employee is starting to feel a little over-surveilled.

The part she mentioned about “tracking” just grossed me out — because that either means someone is looking at what times I badge in and out of the building, or is physically watching me in the office or on camera, which is so creepy to me.

Why nitpick to that degree?

She wonders where this is all coming from.

Is it pressure coming down from the top, or is it just her own way of needing to feel in control of someone?

I’m not going to change my behavior because it’s not wrong, but I am going to start documenting interactions like these from now on.

Micromanager alert!

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a hardworking employee whose management refuses to give them one single break.

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

Sometimes you have to quit a bad boss in order to find a better one.

Bosses like this have their priorities way out of wack.

This employee may actually benefit from a little malicious compliance here.

This boss may one day regret ever mentioning this.

The word “tracking” was probably meant to land as a thinly veiled threat, but instead it landed as an invitation.

This employee was already giving more time than she was taking, so she responded by deciding her manager’s behavior was worth logging too.

Micromanagement works best when the employee isn’t paying attention. She is paying attention now.