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Workplace agreements tend to become strangely flexible when management is the side feeling inconvenienced.

This hotel wanted complete availability from a part-time porter despite accepting his second job from day one.

Rather than reward his honesty, management quietly cut his shifts before making one final demand.

Check out how it all went down.

You want your uniform back? Come and get it.

“I used to work in a hotel as a porter.

We had to wear white shirts and black pants, and they provided us with a “uniform,” which was just a nondescript black vest.

I worked there part time, but also had another part time job at the post office. I told them about the second job before they hired me.

They were upfront about what was going on.

They asked me what I’d do about conflicting shifts, and I said I would work for whichever company booked my time first.

So if the post office said they wanted me next week on Wed-Sat, and then later the hotel asked me to work that time I’d have to say I was unavailable.

I would also naturally do the same thing if the situations were reversed.

I honored that agreement the entire time I worked for them, and it wasn’t a problem for over a year.

Huh?

Then one day I get told by the hotel that I have to work an upcoming weekend. I said I couldn’t accept the shift because I had already booked one at my second place of work.

My hotel boss said, “Well, this is a huge contract, we have a massive wedding taking place on the same weekend as a large conference, and we need all hands on deck”.

I reminded them, once again, that I couldn’t accept a shift if it conflicted with one I had previously booked.

Boss got real annoyed and pushy, and tried the “We have to be able to rely on you” spiel. I reminded him that they could rely on me doing exactly what I promised in my interview, and that they had been able to rely on me for over a year.

I also pointed out that it’s not reasonable to demand that I work a shift that I hadn’t agreed to work. Boss was still mad when he hung up.

They were treated badly…

They don’t fire me, but over the next month I couldn’t help but notice I never got any shift offers. It became obvious I was being “fired”, but without actually being told I was fired.

I called several times and asked if there were any shifts, but always was told, “We have nothing for you at this time” in a cold tone.

I checked with my friends who worked at the hotel and they all said that business was normal, and they could see no reason why I wasn’t being offered shifts.

No worries, I just picked up more shifts at the post office, and they paid almost twice as much, so cool by me.

Another couple of weeks go by, and my direct supervisor at the hotel called me to ask for my uniform vest back. I asked why, saying that I hadn’t been fired so as far as I know I still worked there.

Jeez, talk about being passive aggressive…

My boss just kept sidestepping my question, and refused to answer, and refused to admit that I had been fired.

He just kept saying, “We need that uniform, you have to give it back”.

I said no problem. He starts saying, “You can drop it off any time-” and I interrupted him to say, “No, I won’t be dropping it off.”

He stopped for a moment, flustered, then said, “But you have to, it’s part of your employment contract”.

“Yes, I know,” I replied, “I read the contract. It merely states that I have to return the uniform when requested. It doesn’t say I have to deliver it to you, so I won’t. You can send someone to pick it up at a time that is convenient to me”.

The hotel was in a different city from my home town, so it was about a half hour to 45 minute drive to my place.

My ex-boss tried to bully me, but funny how losing his ability to deny me work had shifted our power balance.

He sputtered and stammered as he tried to figure out some way to goad or coerce me into driving the vest to him, but finally gave up.

Come and get it!

He said he’d send someone, “Sometime, so be ready for whenever that is” and I told him no, that he’d have to contact me to pre-arrange a time that was convenient.

I said I’d check my calendar and he could call me back in a couple of days to make arrangements.

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Petty, I know, but hearing the exasperation and annoyance his tone as we spoke was very, very enjoyable.

He never did send anyone to pick up the vest, so I ended up using it as part of a Halloween costume (zombie hotel porter).”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

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Another person had a lot to say.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who got the perfect revenge after being told he can’t work from home.

And this Reddit user shared their thoughts.

After OP refused a conflicting shift, the hotel quietly stopped scheduling him while refusing to admit he had been fired.

When management demanded its vest, he followed the contract literally and required someone to collect it at a convenient, prearranged time.

Nobody ever came, so the abandoned uniform eventually became part of his zombie hotel porter Halloween costume.

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Author

Chris Allen